Data Governance

Data governance encompasses the people, processes and technology required to create a consistent, enterprise view of an organization's data in order to:

Increase consistency & confidence in decision making
Decrease the risk of regulatory fines
Improve data security
Create consistent information quality across the organization
Designate accountability for information quality

In practical terms, this means putting personnel, policies, procedures, and organizational structures in place to make data accurate, consistent, secure, and available to accomplish organizational mission. It takes on special focus for our clients with legal requirements related to sensitive customer data. Effective data governance will require participation and commitment of both Information Technology and business management as well as senior-level executive sponsorship.

Data governance should be planned, managed and implemented through a three-level structure:

The Executive Data Governance Council (Executive Council) provides strategic direction, ensuring that data governance effects address all relevant and mission critical needs of the enterprise. It manages data governance as an integrated program rather than a set of unconnected projects
The Strategic Data Governance Steering Committee (Strategic Committee) carries out plans and policies to implement guidance from the Executive Council. It prioritizes the data governance efforts, communicates with stakeholders and identifies staff (data stewards) to oversee areas of data (data domains)
The Tactical Data Governance Work Group (Tactical Group) implements plans and policies developed by the Strategic Committee, and analyzes and resolves any tactical problems that arise.

Scope of Services

Define initial data governance organization
Determine our approach
Establish a structure
Explicitly define Roles & Responsibilities
Identify individuals for these roles
Provide on-going training and capacity building
Identify an issue escalation / resolution process