Demystifying 'the fog' in Data Governance -Unravelling the What & Why of Data Governance
With so much said and so much debate around Data governance. You may be wondering - why is this discipline still a puzzle to many? With so many definitions out there joggling for a position, little wonder why these definitions almost sound like an organized confusion for most people trying to wrap their minds around it. There's hardly a day I don't get people asking what it all means for them.
To this effect, I thought it's worth revisiting this fundamental if we're to be successful in its adoption. We simply need to get the narratives clearer to our audience in a consumable way.
Foremost, to unravel this, I'll like for us to ignore the noise around most of the eloquently pitched definitions we've heard in the past. Follow along with me as we try to unpack this together.
In simple term – 'Governance' is a cultural state. It is a desired state an organization should aspire to position itself for success with its data asset. It's a cultural transformation that needs certain activities to be in place to get you closer to that desired state - A Governed Data Environment.
I'll like to parallel this to a state of 'being healthy'. For instance. There are certain things we need to do to attain a healthy status. Those activities must be continuously nurtured and maintained to remain in that status. Hence, It's a journey and not a destination. The same goes for Data Governance.
If you're like many, maybe your organization have so many competing data needs and demands. You're joggling regulatory demands, market demand, operational needs and trying to drive growth through your analytics offering at the same time.
You're also trying to make sense out of this data governance adoption. You're not sure if it should be kicked off as a project to operationalize it. You have question marks all over the place around what it is and what it isn't. You've heard people say you need to develop a framework, write policies, standards, and procedures. You've done all that. You're looking good on paper. You've even built Data Dictionaries and Glossaries. You've bought the greatest tool in the market pitching themselves as the 'magical' data governance tool.
But you're still wondering how these all fit together. Wondering what it all means and why you need to build governance around your data? What is the purpose? You've read multiple definitions around Data Governance and you still don't get it. But you're driving along because everyone else is kicking off Data Governance initiative one way or the other. The biggest question you have is - how do I know I'm on the right track for success? How do I know if I'm doing the right things to being in a governed environment?
Does this resonate well with you? If it does, you're simply not alone.
To this effect, let's try and peel the onions around this in a simplified way:
What is Data Governance?
The word 'Governance' means to rule over by right of authority: to govern a nation. to exercise a directing or restraining influence over; guide: the motives governing a decision. to hold in check; control:
By the same token, the definition of 'Governance around Data' is very similar.
Data Governance can simply be defined as a discipline of formalized oversight of people's accountability around key controls required to enable an organization to manage, optimize, protect and leverage its data asset for multiple needs.
At the heart of this governance oversight is a 'community of people' with assigned roles & responsibilities to achieve the stated purpose – 'aka stewardship'. These are the conduits of exercising and adopting governance. Governance defines what, Stewardship drives how. Everyone in your organization is a Data Steward. If you engage data in any way, form or shape, you’re a data steward. You may not have the title, but you have a role to play in the activation of stewardship in your organization. Your roles & responsibilities should be defined for you and you should be trained and equipped for it as part of the broader stewardship team. I talk about this in my article Data Stewardship- Heartbeat of Effective Governance.
What role does Tools & Technology play in this?
Data Governance & Stewardship have a huge appreciation for Tools & Technology as enabler to accelerate governance journey. It must however be called out that tools and technology are partners in the governance journey. They do not replace the community of stewards assigned cumulative responsibilities around your enterprise data asset. Once Stewardship is activated, it’s important to equip and empower your stewardship team with the right tools and technology to help accelerate the journey. Tools in the hands of your trained and empowered data citizens & stewards to do what they know how to do best will help accelerate and optimize governance adoption in your organization. Engagement of tools & technology must however happen after you have successfully define your ‘What’ with Governance and the ‘How’ with Stewardship.
So, Why Governance Around Data?
Governance around data is established to put a formalized structure in place to address, mediate and resolve questions and issues around enterprise data. i.e.ownership, metadata, data sourcing, lineage, data quality standards and other issues that impact the integrity of the enterprise data.
The primary goal of Data Governance is to ensure the highest degree of data integrity across your enterprise data asset. Achieving this goal will help your organization fully harness the full potentials in your data asset. You will be creating a trusted, business-ready data environment to help fuel and optimize all your current and future competing data demands. You will be positioning your organization for greater success as you start lowering the operational cost of data fix and cleansing by bridging Data Quality leakages and infusing quality around your enterprise data value chain.
So, how do I know I'm on the right track in my governance adoption?
To answer this question, you must be able to reasonably affirm the following governance activities have been kicked off and are in motion in your organization:
You have engaged and gotten buy-in from your senior executive and provided the right level of expectations and support needed from them to achieve success in the overall governance adoption in your organization.
You have defined your Data Governance Framework with your competing data needs and scope of governance in mind.
You have developed Standards, Policies, and Procedures of your Governance Adoption.
You have set up oversight committees for your adoption.
You have identified your Data Domain and started building communities of stewardship around your enterprise data.
You have identified roles and responsibilities to help realize your governance expectations.
You have hired, trained and equipped your key resources into their roles and responsibilities
You have activated stewardship to fulfill your defined governance mandate around your data:
Ownership has been established by Data Domain in each community to ensure ethical use of data as well as making sure data is fit for use & managed to the defined standard
Both Technical & Business Metadata have been defined to help articulate the use and purpose of data. These have been documented and enriched in your Dictionaries & Business Glossaries to establish a common language across the enterprise.
Data Lineage has been mapped to show total transparency around your enterprise data journey- Showing how & where data originates, is transformed and consumed.
Data Quality Rules & Thresholds have been established to set parameters around your data control, data access and ethical use of Data. Continuous monitoring of enterprise quality rules is in place.
Data Quality Issues Management process has been defined, is being tracked and monitored for faster resolutions.
A change management process is in place to manage ongoing changes around governed data.
If you can confidently say 'yes' to the above, you're on your way to a successful cultural transformation of a governed environment.
If you're wondering how to achieve this? what this look like in reality? If you need help kicking off and operationalizing your Data Governance. Moving it from desired Standards & Policies on paper to a practical governance activated environment.
Book a Free Call with me to discuss your challenges and explore simple strategies for actualizing and operationalizing your Data Governance & Stewardship journey: