A lot has been said and written about Data Governance (DG) and the importance of having one. However it is still a mystery for many companies to create an effective DG. Based on our experience majority of the companies in their early stages of DG fall into one of these areas:
- Had too many false starts
- Not much impact and the DG lost much of the support
- No clue, not even attempted
Why is it so difficult to set up a reasonably functioning Data Governance?
The typical scenario is that IT leads the Data Governance initiative, as part of the overhaul of the IT or as part of a new initiative like re-building Data Warehouse / launching Master Data Management program. Too often companies tend to establish DG with limited vision and narrow scope with minimal business involvement. The problem areas and possible pitfalls companies run into can be broadly classified under three major areas for the DG establishment phase viz., Vision, Preparation and Sponsorship & Support.
Vision
Getting the Executive buy-in and setting the Data Governance vision is a process of evolution. Typically this takes 3 – 12 months of pre-work through casual meetings and by including DG topic in the strategy meeting agendas for discussion. Awareness through common education by attending industry seminars/ conferences is another dimension for setting the vision. If DG concept has been discussed and socialized for some time, then leveraging the common understanding to launch the program is the next step.
Preparation
Being prepared is the best way to avoid false starts. Opportunity to launch the DG happens when you are least prepared. It is not easy to devote time to DG incubation when you have burning issues around you. But those burning issues especially the catastrophic events may escalate the urgency for DG and may gain unprecedented Executive support or even mandate from the top. Now you are definitely stuck if you are least prepared.
Sponsorship & Support
Once you get the go ahead, approaching DG without a holistic vision and complete picture will water down the momentum and slowly the support will start to disappear. Keeping the executive team committed to DG means, producing meaningful results and engaging the business in the planning through execution of DG.
Execution
DG Establishment is followed by the organization’s ability to successfully execute the DG mandates. Again putting together a solid approach of people, process and technology will guarantee the success of DG.
In the next segment let’s look at nimble and effective strategies to keep the DG a successful organization from establishment through execution.
