This type of program typically comes into existence because of issues around the quality, integrity, or usability of data.

It may be sponsored by a Data Quality group or a business team that needs better quality data. (For example: Data Acquisition or Mergers & Acquisitions.)

These types of programs almost always involve Data Quality software, which may be used by business staff, technical staff, Data Stewards, Data Governance teams, or others.

These types of programs may begin with an enterprise focus, or efforts may be local to a department or a project. Sometimes, such governance groups adopt the philosophy of “act local, but think global” so the program will be ready to scale should other groups in the enterprise want to reap the benefits being realized by early adopters.

What type of data do such programs generally address in early iterations of the program?

Sets of Master Data
Sensitive Data
Acquired Data
Data of interest to stakeholder groups

A charter for this type of program may hold Data Governance and Stewardship participants accountable to:

Set direction for Data Quality
Collect Data Quality rules from across the organization into a set that stakeholders, Data Stewards, and other Data Governance participants can access
Reconcile gaps, overlaps, and inconsistencies in Data Quality rules
Monitor Data Quality
Report status for quality-focused initiatives
Identify stakeholders, establish decision rights, clarify accountabilities

As you perform the activities needed to gain support and funding, remember that your program may plan to address multiple focus areas. Each new effort should be introduced using the seven steps of the life cycle. Even specific governance-led projects, such as creating a set of data standards, will want to follow the Data Governance Life Cycle steps.

Defining Organizational Structures

There is no single “right” way to organize Data Governance and Stewardship. Some organizations have distinct Data Governance programs. Others embed Data Governance activities into Data Quality or Master Data Management programs.

Focus Areas for Data Governance: Management Alignment

This type of program typically comes into existence when managers find it difficult to make “routine” data-related management decisions because of their potential effect on operations or compliance efforts.Managers may realize they need to come together to make...

Focus Areas for Data Governance: Data Warehouses and Business Intelligence (BI)

This type of program typically comes into existence in conjunction with a specific data warehouse, data mart, or BI tool. These types of efforts require tough data-related decisions, so organizations often implement governance to help make initial decisions, to...

Dealing With Politics

It’s essential that Data Governance and Stewardship program facilitators avoid being “caught up” in politics. It’s our jobs to acknowledge the realities of the situations we work with, while avoiding taking sides or engaging in behaviors that could be perceived as favoring one set of data stakeholders at the expense of others.

Focus Areas for Data Governance: Policy, Standards, Strategy

This type of program typically comes into existence because some group within the organization needs support from a cross-functional leadership body. For example, companies moving from silo development to enterprise systems may find their application development teams...

Starting a Data Governance Program

A successful Data Governance program does not begin with the design of the program! Before you start deciding who goes on what committee, you should be clear about your program’s value statement. You should have developed a roadmap to share with stakeholders. Those...