Data Governance

Data Governance

Chris Grossman, Senior VP of Enterprise Applications, Rand Worldwide, says:

Developing a data governance policy requires buy-in and participation from the entire organization. However, the payoffs from creating this type of policy can be great, both in terms of reduced business risk and improved business agility. Here are three reasons why organizations often craft a data governance policy:

1. Higher levels of regulatory compliance

It’s common for regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and others, to include stipulations about how organizations use data. Non-compliance can lead to fines and other penalties. One way to avoid these risks is to develop a data governance policy which includes risk management controls. It’s common for organizations to define controls that are designed to prevent risks, as well as corrective controls that are implemented if a risk occurs.

2. Greater competitive advantage through enterprise data

When organizations have access to a holistic view of their business information, it enables them to make business decisions more efficiently. However, attaining an enterprise view of data can be a challenge – it’s usually only possible by engaging stakeholders from different functions throughout the organization. This can be accomplished by creating a data governance policy.

3. Improved transparency and accountability through access to trusted data

When organizations have confidence in organizational information, people have more visibility into the health of the business. A data governance policy is the first step toward maintaining information in a way that it can be trusted. Accenture suggested in its Model for Data Governance that ideally, data should be maintained so it is consistent across different functional areas of the business, but flexible enough be used for different business applications.

About the Author

As a Senior Vice President, Chris Grossman manages the Enterprise Applications division of Rand Worldwide, including the Rand Secure Archive division. Contact Chris at cgrossman@rand.com or visit www.randsa.com.