More on Data Governance (or as the cool kids call it, DG)

How do you define data governance? According to TDWI, DG is some form of controls for data and its usage. What kind of controls? Controls can tighten access to data to meet compliance to certain security standards, keep your clients from fleeing or create market opportunities by truthfully showing potential clients that their data is secure. You can also use data governance controls to enhance your data integration efforts by either improving access needed data or standardizing the structure of that data.

What are the critical attibutes of data governance? First, the report talks about the "four Ps": People, Policies and Procedures enable the Process. Second, DG must be cordinated with other forms of governance. What are some of the most important? Third, data itself is not really what is governed here rather how the data is accessed and managed. Fourth, a DG initiative intersects with many different business initiatives, and it often is a critical services. I think a good DG program may be incubated in many data-driven business initiatives. Fifth, DG also touches many data management practices so any automation you need might be found in the tools you already use for many of your data managment practices. Last, DG is a balancing act among many competing priorities in your business. All this means that a good data governance program is cross-functional so shouldn't the data governance board be staffed by cross-functional personnel and led by people who have both the politcal and inherrent power to drive the program? Are there other ways to get a strong enough mandate?

Why do you need a DG program? Is compliance important? Do fines and jail terms scare you? How about clients abandoning you because of bad data management? Could you lose revenue? High quality, auditable data decreases costs and improves the quality of initiatives that consume the data. I've found that a DG progam can even ferret out broken, obsolete or otherwise useless business processes. In one case, certain data-entry codes were only known to a certain person nearing retirement. All organizations are subject to the possibility of mergers, acquistion or reorganizations. DG reduces the risks associated with these events, speed up the time period it takes to complete such a project and otherwise reduces other costs.

What are some of the other benefits of data governance? What are your barriers? What have you automated and how did you do it?