by Angela Guess
Clarke Patterson recently shared some tips for enabling successful data governance in your business. Patterson says, “It should come as no surprise that there really isn’t a single be-all, end-all approach to data governance. Organizations come in all shapes and sizes and as such, so too could your data governance program. What’s important to consider is that the people, processes and technology within your organization will help in identifying where your efforts should start.”
Patterson continues, “Take technology, for example. It can be said that data quality and master data management (MDM) provide a foundation for a data governance program. Depending on who you talk to, however, some organizations start their efforts by building data quality best practices and later add an element of MDM. Conversely, some organizations start with MDM, creating a single, authoritative view of customers or products and then add data quality. Regardless of where you start, what’s important is to realize that both play an integral role and that your data governance strategy should ensure that at some point those two technologies converge.”
Patterson points out another useful tip for explaining the value of data governance to your business’s leadership: “By focusing on articulating the role data quality can provide in driving financial performance, productivity improvement or managing risk, for example, successful organizations help bridge the gap between business and IT to help get their data governance efforts off the ground.”
