I love the word ‘data’ but that ‘governance’ part is scary. What do you think about when you hear the word governance…I hear government. Then I think; big, impersonal, political, expensive, complicated, overbearing, and the list goes on.
Of course, we should break that term down a bit and drill into it. The root word for governance is govern and our founding fathers really got it right when they defined our government – which is an organization that governs.
So, a governance structure breaks down to three functions. A data governance group must be well balanced and provide the following ‘services’:
Create rules about data. Ensure that these rules are followed. And finally, deciding what to do when they are broken. Sound familiar – these three services are in fact the pillars of our government.
Legislative service – Creating laws . Another way to put this is… publishing policy that consists of best practices. These best practices are built upon standards which were developed from principles that grew from the data governance group.
Executive service – Developing an implementation plan. This plan puts into action the laws. This action is outlined in a roadmap that contains a strategy. This is socialized to gain traction and momentum and the trek begins.
Judicial service – Dealing with rule breakers. Soon, laws will be broken. When they are, it is the responsibility of the data governance group to decide the course of action.
More to come…
~ Scott Felten
Filed under: Data Management | Tagged: Cincinnati, Data, Data Analysis, Data Governance, Govern, Information Technology, Scott Felten
