Data Governance

Data Governance, more identified with the GDPR both in the world and in Ireland, is more than that.

People have started having difficulties in managing even the personal data on their phone or computer. Things are get complicated when you consider the management, security, and backup of the data of all information systems such as customers, suppliers, vendors, partners, brands, products, services and assets that company employees work with.

Another dimension of data has become more important as a result of the sanctions imposed with the personal data protection law and data security laws, which are enacted all over the world, including our country. With this importance, data management and data governance departments and data governance consultancy companies were established in many companies. For this reason, data management experts and data governance are needed.

The lexical meaning of governance means multilateral direction and management as a business, as well as managing jointly in organizations by interaction and interaction. Data Governance is a four-way framework that includes availability, applicability, integrity, and security. It is a set of processes used by stakeholders who use technology to manage and protect important and critical data. It involves regulated coordination of individuals, methods, and innovation in an order that leads to the realization of the value of data for any organization.

It is a set of methods that manage data end-to-end within the organization. Data Governance aims to make accurate, consistent, and timely decisions by including policies, processes, standards, technologies, and people. It has 3 basic dimensions: Organization, policy, and technology. The 3 topics mentioned before are indispensable but not sufficient for a successful governance activity. It should be ensured that the necessary cultural changes are realized in order to increase governance awareness in institutions and to become a data-oriented institution. Examples of organizational roles include: Data Owner, Data Steward, Data consultant, IT Data supervisor, subject matter experts (SME), critical stakeholders, and committees. The policy consists of processes, standards, and definitions. It forms the backbone of governance studies. All studies shape around this policy. It is very important to follow all these governance activities through various technological tools. Among these, we can consider Masterdata Management, Metadata Management, Data Quality, Business Glossary tools. 

Why is Data Governance important?

Data Governance is necessary to ensure that an organization's information assets are managed in a formal, accurate, proactive, and efficient manner across the organization to ensure trust and accountability.

Data Governance ensures that data is collected, reviewed, and standardized, and suitable for use. It makes the data consistent; It ensures that critical data are presented to the right person at the right time in a standard and reliable manner. This allows business operations to be better organized. Adopting and implementing Data Governance can increase the efficiency of organizations.

 

What can be done for successful Big Data Governance?

It is difficult to scale an enterprise-specific Data Governance program, but it is very important when it comes to Big Data and related projects. At least time-consuming manual tasks can be automated relatively easily, making it much easier to track data in the company. The benefits of implementing an enterprise Data governance programs go far beyond running analytical projects.

In addition to comply with regulations, we can say that internal and external data related to more efficient processing of data and increased business are driving factors for Data Governance. Whereas full visibility into data assets and controlling how data is used, who uses it, and where it is stored is invaluable. Implementing them can improve data protection and accelerate digital transformation.

Aslihan Yilmaz

References: 

1. Stedman, C. (no date). ‘What is data governance and why does it matter?’, Available at: https://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/definition/data-governance#:~:text=Data%20governance%20(DG)%20is%20the,and%20doesn't%20get%20misused. (Accessed: 9 April 2021)

 

2. Teachey, D. (no date). ‘Data Governance Framework: What Is It and Do I Already Have One?’, Available at: https://www.sas.com/en_ie/insights/articles/data-management/what-is-a-data-governance-framework.html (Accessed: 9 April 2021)

 

3. Kidd, C (2020). ‘Data Management vs Data Governance: An Introduction’. Available at: https://www.bmc.com/blogs/data-governance-data-management/ (Accessed: 10 April 2021)

 

4. What is Data Governance? (no date). Available at: https://www.ibm.com/analytics/data-governance (Accessed: 10 April 2021)