Planning: Step One to Data Governance

July 14, 2011

A recent article underscores how important careful planning is before implementing a new data governance program. The article states, “When some people think about data governance they immediately jump to the conclusion that a technological solution is a holy grail for defining an answer to this substantial task, writes Finn Rye, CISSP. While a technology solution is an integral part, it is just one aspect of an overall holistic approach a company should follow to achieve success. Most experts agree that successful data governance is arrived at through planning and communication, rather than focusing on it as a typical IT project. There are several core elements that, when correctly undertaken, can increase the likelihood of achieving your data governance goals.”

The first thing to plan out is funding and support: “You cannot count on executing a widely adopted data governance model in the business without first developing management support for the project. The team tasked with data governance efforts will need to find an executive sponsor to sanction the work and to give the project some priority. The data stewards should be the ones to make the pitch to the executive sponsor because they can best articulate the benefits of applying the strategy and the risk associated with not having a strategy. Data stewards representing the core business processes should make up the data governance council. This formal council is intended to be a working group that evaluates, arbitrates, and decides on the range of enterprise data governance issues at hand.”

Next a project charter should be determined: “It is important to define what needs to be accomplished and how the project is going to achieve the objectives. The project charter is the foundation of the project that takes a rough idea and turns it into a consolidated single source of information for stakeholders. The charter is a communication tool and is also used as a reference throughout the project. The project charter also documents authorisation from the executive sponsor.”