Wetterlands Ranch DMF - EDMLC Data Governance

Data Governance

The process of adding or updating Conceptual Data Elements in the Conceptual Metadata Repository by a group of Data Stewards from various positions within the organization is called Data Governance. The additions or changes to the existing Conceptual Metadata Repository is a natural result of completing the Data Base Design Document (DBDD) by applications or projects within the EBS context.

Data Elements listed on the Conceptual Data Element Template either currently exist in the Conceptual Metadata Repository and can be mapped to a Conceptual Data Element as an alias or they are candidates to be added to the Repository. Occasionally, a listed Data Element will require a change to an existing Conceptual Data Element in the Repository for a variety of reasons. These updates or changes to an existing Conceptual Data Element and the proposed new Conceptual Data Elements that can not be mapped to an existing Conceptual Data Element, will go through a process called Data Governance.

The data governance framework includes the intersection of and relationship with data quality, metadata management and master data management (MDM) for a comprehensive information management strategy administered by data stewards. (Note: owners and stewards are not interchangeable. Owners have power and control; stewards manage on behalf of the owner, perhaps without control over the resource/object.) The data steward acts as the conduit between IT and the business. The data steward (which is often not just one person, but a collection of people) aligns the business needs with the IT systems providing both decision and operational support. The data steward has the challenge of guaranteeing that one of the corporation's most critical assets - its data - is used to its fullest capacity. Four common roles are seen in almost all data stewardship organizations: executive sponsor, chief steward, business steward and technical steward.

Process development is the core focus for data governance, in conjunction with implementing the technology of an MME. Processes for governance include coordinating, managing and monitoring the development and use of organizational audit and control procedures and data standards and policies. One critical area involves managing metadata standards, because metadata allows the organization to understand its data sources, definitions, uses and relevance. All data standards and policies should be controlled within the data governance program, so policies are consistent and changes can be sent throughout the organization when necessary, using the technology of the MME to facilitate this coordination and communication.

Two groups with responsibility for an organization's data governance program are the data governance council and the data stewardship team. A data governance council consists of management representatives from business and IT along with the data stewards. They:
Coordinate and direct data governance strategies and processes across the enterprise;
Ensure that data governance strategies and processes support the organization's mission and objectives;
Develop and direct data standards across the organization and within projects;
Assign roles, responsibilities and authority and implement governance through a number of organizational layers;
Provide mechanisms for coordination, communications, information sharing, prioritization and conflict resolution within the organization and across projects; and
Provide accountability for the successful implementation of all governance efforts, whether at the enterprise level or within lower organizational levels (division, group, project).

Data stewards are the glue that holds a governance program together. Stewards define subject area boundaries in conjunction with IT and business leaders; collect feedback and enhancements for specific subject areas; resolve data integration issues; act as the conduit between business and IT; and serve as quality control point for the subject area. In the context of their defined subject area domains, data stewards define/describe business data elements; define data domain values; establish and validate data quality rules; identify and help resolve data quality issues; help develop data domain business rules (algorithms, calculations, processing requirements); and define security requirements. Data stewards for each functional area should be identified and given training in the basics of data and metadata management. The governance council sets the standards, policies and procedures for the data and metadata that is required for their organization, and stewards are the enablers of the data governance council and the executors of the standards and policies that the governance council develops.