Welcome to the Pricey Laura weblog collection! As I’ve been working to problem the established order on Knowledge Governance – I get lots of questions on the way it will “actually” work. I’ll be sharing these questions and solutions through this DATAVERSITY® collection. In 2019, I wrote the guide “Disrupting Knowledge Governance” as a result of I firmly consider that poor Knowledge Governance applications are getting in the best way of knowledge applications being as profitable as doable.
Learn the newest weblog posts on this collection right here and right here.
RUNNING AN EFFECTIVE DATA GOVERNANCE PROGRAM
Learn to plan, design, construct, and preserve a profitable Knowledge Governance program with our dwell on-line coaching – March 13-16, 2023.
“Pricey Laura,
It’s the worst time of the 12 months, at the least for me. It’s finances time. Yearly it looks like the identical previous factor. I run a big analytics crew and we do an excellent, well-appreciated job for the group. We’re cautious and pragmatic about investments and because of this have garnered lots of belief with executives. That’s true apart from Knowledge Governance. For the final 4 years whereas I’ve led this crew Knowledge Governance has been re-started twice, and annually they ask for (and I agree they want) extra finances however that’s all the time the very first thing that will get reduce. I do my finest to play little video games with the budgeting like pad one-line merchandise so I can transfer it over to Knowledge Governance later however that solely will get me to date. I do know that if my present Knowledge Governance chief doesn’t get the cash she must do the work, I shall be searching for a brand new chief subsequent spring. Assist!
Determined in Denver”
Hello Determined,
Sorry to listen to of your predicament. It’s not an uncommon state of affairs, unhappy to say. First off, I’ll say that it’s irritating when organizations insist they want Knowledge Governance however refuse to fund it. If you happen to want it, then help it. That’s all there may be to that. Nonetheless, it’s a little bit of a tricky spot for lots of executives as a result of Knowledge Governance is a type of issues that appears time-consuming, costly, summary, and infrequently isn’t a price add.
There are a number of methods organizations attempt to get round it – fearmongering appears to be the most typical. That’s simple to do these days with massive fines coming down from regulatory our bodies actually quoting lack of “Knowledge Governance.” Sadly, fearmongering is a bit like these one-hit wonders all of us love. For a brief burst of time, you possibly can’t consider some other tune, however then one thing else comes alongside and also you all however overlook about it. Most individuals suppose they will make a couple of small changes or investments to chase away Uncle Sam after which they wipe their arms of it. Concern-mongering backfires.
Associated to fearmongering you actually might throw round compliance points. For the reason that starting of GDPR the connection between Knowledge Governance and compliance has been conflated. We had the problem earlier than, in fact, however to not this diploma, now everybody engaged on Knowledge Governance thinks their job is to put in writing insurance policies and procedures and shield information property. It’s actually a part of their job however not on the threat of shedding the opposite pillars of Knowledge Governance – growing information utilization, enhancing information high quality, creating and sustaining information lineage, and, lastly, making certain safety.
See, the difficulty is, once you ignore the opposite pillars, you lose the lengthy recreation. Avoiding fines by creating a robust privateness and compliance program is the job of your chief compliance officer, a place significantly better positioned (usually) than the lowly Knowledge Governance supervisor buried 5 layers deep in an obscure IT perform. I guess should you requested your CEO who’s accountable for shielding the group from fines related to the present in-fashion laws related to information privateness, she would let you know it was the final counsel or chief compliance officer. Perhaps the privateness officer or CISO. I doubt extremely she would say Knowledge Governance chief.
So, I ask you, Determined, which camp do you end up in? In case your Knowledge Governance chief has ignored these different pillars, then maybe she shouldn’t get the finances as a result of she’s not delivering worth to the group. Give attention to the opposite pillars, construct a contented alliance along with your privateness, safety, and compliance crew, and construct metrics to point out enchancment in areas everybody sees as excessive worth comparable to growing utilization and enhancing information high quality. Then subsequent 12 months, I guess you received’t have any drawback getting finances.
Do you may have a query about Knowledge Governance you’d like me to reply? Electronic mail me at Laura at moxyanalytics dot com.
