Table of Contents
What is data governance and why do you need it
Data governance outlines how decisions about data are made, the process for how to access, use and share the data. This is important in business environments where there are multiple parties using the same information. Data governance plays a vital role in ensuring all individuals and organizations can have access to what they need without causing issues that could lead to unnecessary damage or mistakes. Data governance helps to ensure key data is not left out of reports, or used in an incorrect manner. Data governance helps ensure the accuracy of data making it easy for the company to use the information properly and easily. It also helps ensure companies can easily make decisions quickly and comply with legislation. Data governance has become of the most important aspects of business today and is a must for any environment that uses data.
What is data governance?
Data governance outlines how decisions about data are made, the process for how to access, use and share the data. This is important in business environments where there are multiple parties using the same information.
What are the benefits of data governance?
Data governance plays a vital role in ensuring all individuals and organizations can have access to what they need without causing issues that could lead to unnecessary damage or mistakes. It helps ensure key data is not left out of reports, or used in an incorrect manner. It also helps ensure companies can easily make decisions quickly and comply with legislation.
How does data governance work?
The benefits of data governance
Data governance ensures that the right people have access to the right data, and not just anyone. This helps to avoid potential issues later on with the data. A lack of governance can result in less relevant information for the end user. When someone is working in a department that uses certain data, they can receive information from different sources, which can make it difficult for them to do their job effectively. By having data governance in place, those using the information can have access to the most relevant data at all times. This saves the company time, money and manpower when creating reports as it is not necessary to have many people ask for data from various sources, which results in multiple reports that have all of their information compiled together.
Data governance can also help to ensure that the data you receive is accurate. An audit trail can prove this as it logs who accessed certain data and when they accessed it. If someone found an error in the information, they would be able to report it immediately, which helps to avoid potentially inaccurate data being used when reports need to be created. By using a governance tool, it is much easier to determine which departments have access to what data and when they will no longer need that information. This helps to reduce the number of people needing access to the information, which in turn helps to save money.
How to implement a data governance framework in your organization
Data governance can be implemented in many different ways. Each company will have its own unique preferences and needs. By having your department lead the data governance process, you can ensure the proper results for your organization. Everyone who uses the information should have access to it and not just those who are working on a specific project. Anything that is being collected or used should be clearly stated in a document, making it easy to understand who has access to what data. Your organization should have policies in place for how to retrieve, use and share data. Then you will also need to have a person at the top of the organization who is responsible for setting up and implementing the data governance framework. When there is no clear, documented plan in place, it can result in many people doing both. This can cause problems with employees knowing where they can go to get certain information and what they are getting as a result of their work. This is easier to avoid by having your department head ensure all policies are followed.
The department head should also be overseeing the training, so all employees can easily access data and ensure only those who need to use it can. This will ensure that every person who is using information for a specific project can be held accountable for the data they are collecting and any decisions that are made based on it. When you do have your department head in charge of overseeing all these tasks, it is important to check in with him or her regularly to ensure everything is being handled properly.
Best practices for data governance
Being proactive with your data governance can ensure you are always prepared for any future issues. You can avoid dealing with these issues by having a solid policy in place. Each department within the organization should have a person who is responsible for keeping track of the data and where it is supposed to go. When creating policies, you need to make sure you keep a list of the data and who has access to it at all times. This is so that if someone forgets to send an email requesting data, they can have it sent again when they are reminded of the need for it. You can create a checklist that everyone on your team follows which will ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to where they get their information from and what they use it for. You can also have a policy protecting the data. Everyone is encouraged to encrypt the data for added protection. There are also a number of tools you can use to make sure everyone does not edit and delete the same piece of data in error.
Common challenges with data governance and how to overcome them
There are many different challenges that can arise when implementing a data governance program in your company. There may be resistance from others who do not see the benefits of having data governance in place. Your team might also find it difficult to implement the process. If you have done a successful job at setting up your policies, this may be the only challenge you encounter. If the issues are minor, you can simply have a meeting to discuss them and come up with a solution quickly. There might be instances where someone needs access to data for a specific project, but they do not realize that it is also needed elsewhere. You can avoid this by having your department head make sure everyone who may be working on the project has data governance policies in place. This will prevent them from any conflicts with each other, and they will be able to get the data they need. It is important to set up a process so that everyone who is working on a project knows where to go if they need access to data for it, as well as where it can be stored and all of its rules in place.
