How can an organization thrive in the 2020s, a changing and confusing time with significant Data Management demands and platform options such as data warehouses, Hadoop, and the cloud? Trying to save money by bandaging and using the same old Data Architecture ends up pushing data uphill, making it harder to use. Rethinking data usage, storage, and computation is […]
How to Influence Data Quality Through Data Stewardship
To get value from data, data stewards must understand business requirements and apply them. When business ambiguity arises about best serving data stakeholders, data stewards need to know how to find out this information and with whom to speak. Then these data trustees influence Data Quality for the better by aligning fit for purpose with business needs. Data stewards […]
Expanding Data Governance into the Future
Shortened time frames to leverage business insights and navigate data privacy and ethics call for the next generation of Data Governance (DG). This DG describes a collaborative, thoughtful, long-term framework consisting of processes managing trusted data assets across the organization. Kelle O’Neal, Founder, and CEO of First San Francisco Partners, sees a need to make firms […]
What Is Data Quality?
The Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBoK) defines Data Quality (DQ) as “the planning, implementation, and control of activities that apply quality management techniques to data, in order to assure it is fit for consumption and meet the needs of data consumers.” Since expectations about Data Quality are not always verbalized and known, an ongoing […]
What Is Database Management?
Database Management allows a person to organize, store, and retrieve data from a computer. Database Management can also describe the data storage, operations, and security practices of a database administrator (DBA) throughout the life cycle of the data. Managing a database involves designing, implementing, and supporting stored data to maximize its value. Database Management Systems, […]
What Is Data Literacy?
Data literacy describes the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data, according to Raul Bhargava and Catherine D’ignazio from MIT and Emerson College. Easy access to data sets are essential to exercising these skills. All employees in an organization involved with data-driven decisions should learn to think critically about the data they […]
Case Study: Jerry’s Foods Improves In-Store Data Infrastructure
The ability for people to be able to buy food and essential supplies, in-store IT and data infrastructure must be kept running. Jeff Miller, Director of IT at Jerry’s Foods, a national chain with fifty grocery, retail, hardware, and liquor stores, knows this reality very well. Miller explains that each Jerry’s Foods franchise includes many […]
What Is Data Architecture?
Data Architecture describes the models and artifacts that connect a Business Strategy and Data Strategy with its technical execution. Primarily, Data Architecture provides a foundation for people and systems to work with data most efficiently. “Data Architecture is as much a business decision as it is a technical one, as new business models and entirely […]
Updating Data Governance: Set Up a Cohesive Plan First
Enterprises are taking Data Governance—planning and programming to control and secure data—more seriously. In a recent DATAVERSITY® Trends in Data Management Report, 76 percent of organizations have a Data Governance program in place or such a plan for the future. This makes sense as companies focus more on security and business growth. Data breaches have […]
What Is a Data Catalog?
A data catalog centralizes access to all of an organization’s available data assets through a metadata inventory. This repository facilitates dataset search and retrieval so that users and systems can easily find the information needed for business. A data catalog differs from a data dictionary in its ability to search and retrieve information. Data catalogs “may […]