Pete Stiglich recently wrote for the Perficient Health IT blog, “When you hear some talk about Data Governance, it is hard to decipher whether they’re really talking about Data Governance or if they’re really talking about Data Management or some ambiguous conglomeration of the two. The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management defines Data Governance as ‘The exercise of authority, control and shared decision making (planning, monitoring and enforcement) over the management of data assets.’ DAMA has identified 10 major functions of Data Management in the DAMA-DMBOK (Data Management Body of Knowledge). Data Governance is identified as the core component of Data Management, tying together the other nine disciplines, such as Data Architecture Management, Data Quality Management, Reference & Master Data Management, etc.”
Stiglich continues, “Many people are completely on-board with Data Governance – up to the point of working collaboratively across business units, where only roadblocks are envisioned. Data Governance is definitely disruptive but in a positive way (if approached properly). It does entail change – including organizational change (e.g., Data Governance Council, Data Stewardship Coordinating Committee, etc.). We’re not talking about a guerrilla approach to Data Governance where some visionary, but under-authorized data architect tries to effect change using influencing skills! But what exactly is meant by exercising ‘authority, control and shared decision making … over the management of data assets’ and what are some practical ramifications of this? Exactly who needs to exercise ‘authority, control, and shared decision making?’”