Best Practice

Define Your Mindful Data Governance Initiative Best Practices

Posted on by Paul Kukk

By defining and committing to best practices within the Mindful DG Initiative is critical to the success of the initiative for your business. To help build your best practices for your Mindful DG Initiative think of the final results and what that looks like. Knowing what that final results and goals looks like ensures that the path you select to get there is correct. Here are some sample goals and results:

Improve data security
Remove the collection of duplicate data
Use data to increase business profits
Make consistent, confident business decisions based on trustworthy data aligned with all the various purposes for the use of the data assets within the enterprise

These are just some examples of goals that you might be thinking about as a final result for the Mindful DG initiative. It is a very good exercise to go through and I do highly recommend that you do it, as it will give you a good vision of what the initiative will accomplish at the end.

Define your best practices for your business: When going thru your best practices and deciding on which best practices that need to be in place for your business ask yourself two questions when deciding. Is the practice applicable to do and can it be done in my business? Will the Mindful DG Initiative be at risk if the best practice is not done?

If you do not answer yes to both of these questions then the practice that you are defining is not a best practice and should not be implemented in your business. Remember businesses will share some best practices but not all best practices will work for every business. Some questions to be asked about best practices that might be put into place at your business.

Will the lack of communication and buy in by the Senior management cause the initiative to not be successful?
Will are Data governance be at risk if Senior management does not support or buy into DG Initiative?
Data Governance principals will be established and used daily through out the business?
If we do not establish quantifiable measurements will the DG initiative be successful?

The best way to complete the process of building best practices is conducting interviews of managers in the different business departments. Involving them early in the best practices not only gives them the feeling that they are part of the initiative but they are helping build the initiative which gives them more feelings of ownership. Prior to meeting with them, one of the best things you can do is forward any best practices that you already have in place, as well as the two questions that you should answer yes to in order a statement to become a best practice. This will help keep your meetings short and focused.

Once you have the best practices in place you can start to implement them in phases, remember we want to convert the nonstandard data governance to a formal data governance. Not only will this help you see how your best practices are working quickly but will also allow you to evaluate them and see if they need to be improved.

Roles

Building Your Data Governance Team (Keys Roles and their responsibilites)

Posted on by Paul Kukk

Key Roles and responsibilities can belong to many people or one person can have many roles, it really depends on the size of your company as well as the culture. The ideal person to lead the Mindful Data Governance initiative is the Chief Data Officer (CDO) if one exists in your business, other wise select the best senior level employee that will be the ideal data evangelist to represent Data Governance and implement the Mindful Data Governance Initiative. Remember Data Governance is a team effort but the roles of each of the other members of the data governance teams are different but interdependent on each other. If you think of the roles of data governance as positions on a soccer team, it is great to know who are the strikers, midfielders, defenders, and the goal keeper so the team is unified but everyone has a different role to play in the team. I do want you to remember when implementing the Mindful Data Governance Initiative that their is no title changes for the employees that are assigned to these roles as the responsibilities. These responsibilities should not take up much of the employee’s time and become part of the ever day life and culture.

Data Steward
Data stewardship is a functional role in data management and governance, with responsibility for ensuring that data policies and standards turn into practice within the steward’s domain. (Domain = Data that is collected within their subject area).

Specific Accountabilities:

  • Implement data standards.
  • Ensure that staff who maintain data are trained to follow standards.
  • Monitor data quality.
  • Work with technical and operational staff to create a process for identifying data entry errors and correcting the data to match business standards.
  • Report to the data owner any issues that may require larger action on behalf of the business’s data governance structure.
  • Handle inquiries about data.
  • Receive and respond to any inquiries related to data that originates from the area they oversee; e.g., questions regarding access, standardization, organization, definition and usage, etc.

Data Owner
A Data Owner is concerned with risk and appropriate access to data. In comparing these two roles, often the data steward doesn’t care who uses the data as long as they use it correctly. Often the steward wants a lot of people to use the data! An owner, however, is concerned with who can access data, and tends to be more conservative with granting access. There is a natural conflict between these two roles, but in some organizations the same person plays both roles.

Specific Accountabilities:

  • Approve data Glossaries and other data definitions
  • Ensure the accuracy of information as used across the Enterprise
  • Direct Data Quality activities
  • Review and Approve Master Data Management approach, outcomes, and activities
  • Work with other Data Owners to resolve data issues and lack of harmony across business units
  • Second level review for issues identified by Data Stewards
  • Provide input to the Data Governance team on software solutions, policies or Regulatory Requirements that impact their data domain

Data Custodian
Data Custodian manages the actual data. This role manages servers, backups, or networks. This role may provision access per the data owner’s rules, and this role has mastery of a data schema and lineage. In comparison with steward and owner, a custodian has little knowledge of the types of decisions that are made using the data. In other words, a custodian knows exactly where data is located but does not know how to correctly use it.

Specific Accountabilities:

  • Provide a secure infrastructure in support of the data.
  • This includes, but is not limited to, physical security, backup and recovery processes, and secure transmission of the data.
  • Implement data access policies.
  • Grant access privileges to authorized system users, documenting those with access and controlling level of access to ensure that individuals have access only to that information for which they have been authorized and that access is removed in a timely fashion when no longer needed.
  • Ensure system availability and adequate response time.
  • Install, configure, patch, and upgrade hardware and software used for data management, ensuring that system availability and response time are maintained in accordance with university policies and/or service level agreements.
  • Participate in setting data governance priorities.
  • Provide details on technical, systems, and staffing requirements related to data governance initiatives.

We used the above labels to identify the roles and responsibilities of the team members of the data governance but these labels can be changed to fit your business better. The important part here is the understanding that there is a specific responsibility for each of the roles no matter how you label it. These three roles take up the majority of the work for data governance so having a clear definition will help the person that is assigned to this role exactly what their responsibility is. In smaller businesses, the same person may play all three roles. Even in large business, sometimes the steward and the owner are the same person. Because of the particular nature of each role, it is helpful to articulate each role even if they are assigned to a single person. Each role makes particular types of decisions and brings a particular perspective and skill set to governance work.

Putting each of these roles descriptions down on paper and personally communicating that roles responsibility to the individual, will help that individual perform the role successfully. Formally assigning roles makes it easier for colleagues to approach an individual playing a particular role and ask for assistance.

5 Levels of Mindful Data Governance Initiative

The Mindful Data Governance Levels. What level are you?

Posted on by Paul Kukk

Quick Overview of Mindful Data Governance:
In my previous blog I went over why I decided to create Mindful Data Governance and the meaning. Now I would like to go over the different levels of Mindful Data Governance as well as the first step. Within Mindful Data Governance the first thing a business would do is a self evaluation questionnaire to know exactly where the business is starting from, prior to the initiative kickoff meeting. This self evaluation will allow the business, as long as they answer the questions honestly to see what level (or state) their departments and/or business is in before implementing the Mindful Data Governance Initiative. Remember implementing Data Governance does not have to be a hinderance, a distraction or even time consuming. Lets get to the levels.

The Level of Mindful Data Governance Initiative:
So after much thought I came up with the five levels Unknowing, Acknowledge, Acceptance, Mindful and Enlightenment. I will go over each level in detail so you know exactly what each one means.

1 – Unknowing: There is no data governance, security, accountability or ownership in place. There is no informal standards that is known, what this means is that everyone in the business is doing their own thing. There are no business glossaries, no metadata management, no data models existing in the business. Information is fragmented and inconsistent throughout the business systems. Business Decisions are made with inadequate information or with no information at all. Your business does not treat its data as an asset and the business is undisciplined and very reactive. There is most likely duplicate and inconsistent data being stored.

2 – Acknowledge: The business starts to become mindful for the need to control the inconsistent information and do something about the poor data quality. The lack of data ownership and lack of executive support has become evident. The acknowledgement for the need for tools, processes, policies, and standards have been made. The business starts to understand the value of quality data that can be shared and used across the business. Your business recognizes that there is a cost to enter data into multiple systems. Employees are still being utilized to manage and move data. Business has also acknowledged that there is redundant data.

3 – Acceptance: The business understands the values of quality data that can be shared and used across the business. Data is starting to be shared across transactional systems and departments. Data governance polices and standards are be created but following them is almost nonexistence. The majority of the work that has been done within Data Governance is around the retention of data. Business has processes in place but some departments remain separate from others. Formal data management documentation is building. Vision and data strategies have been defined and implemented. Metrics and standards are transpiring around the use of the data

4 – Mindful: Data is being viewed by the business as a top asset. Data governance policies and standards are developed, circulated and well understood throughout the business. A governance body is in place to resolve cross-departmental data issues and they are identifying best practices that should be implemented through out the business. Roles and responsibilities are assigned, they are being followed and data quality, security, usability, and accessibility are increasing through out the business. A formal training for on-boarding new employees in place to ensure quality and standards are met day one.

5 – Enlightenment: The business recognizes that the data that is being collected give them a competitive advantage and it is used to create value and efficiencies through out the organization. Data Management and Data governance are seen as a daily part through out the business. Service level agreements are in place and are enforced. The business has achieved their goal in Data Management and Data Governance. Overall data management if fully aligned and in place and supports the business’ performance. All business’ processes are automated and repeatable. Data management Roles are well established. Monitoring off data is in place and metrics and audits are used to continuously improve data quality.

Below is the questionnaire that you can take to see where your business is at and where you can move up to. To get your score, simply sum up the values of your answers and divide that answer by 13 and you will have your average, take your average score and match it to the number next to one of the levels of the Mindful Data Governance Initiative above.

Mindful Data Governance Initiative Questionnaire

How does your business feel about your data as an asset?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

How accessible is the data that is required to make decisions for your business?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

How is your data quality (Example duplicate data, completeness of your data, etc.)?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

How integrated is your data sources?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Is your data storage replicated and data security ample for your business?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Is there a data warehouse in place?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Some apps have their own database that is accessible
3 – Data is pushed manually into the warehouse
4 – Some of the apps are pushing data to the warehouse (automated)
5 – All data collection applications are pushing data to the data warehouse (automated)

Is each of your data transactional systems documented (Processes and procedural)?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Is your data accessible from within inside departments that collect the data?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Is the data that is collected in each department accessible to other departments?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Are there policies in place around who can use data, how they can use data, which parts can they use, and for what purposes?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Do you have security policies and considerations need to be in place for each of the data sources? (HIPPA, SOC are just examples)
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

What is the attitude from your C-Level or Leaders in the Organization around Data Governance?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

Does your C-Level or Leaders make decision based on the data collected by the business?
1 – Non-existent
2 – Poor
3 – Fair
4 – Good
5 – Excellent

The power of integrating your systems

Posted on by Paul Kukk

The first thing that I always hear from businesses is that they do not have integrated systems because of COST and the the effect of resource consumption. The biggest resource consumption that you can save on is your employees time. To be able to put an end to swivel chair technology in your business will not only save you time and money, but will ensure that one of your business most important asset (your business data) is kept valid and clean. Your business should be driving to get all your systems integrated as much as possible to leverage the existing processes, people, technology and information that you have. Security is another another important factor why system integration is important to businesses. If your business uses many systems in its day to day operations then integrating those systems should be at the top of your IT’s implementation goals.

What integrating your business systems can mean to you:

  • Better Management of Information: If your systems are not integrated it is impossible to get a complete picture of how your business is doing. When you have several systems that you are inputting data, some of those systems will be out of sync for longer periods of time especially during high traffic times of sales or as your business starts really to scale up. So what that means different managers in different departments that are using different systems are not seeing the same picture.
  • Higher Productivity: Dealing with many different standalone systems can consume time and with employees manually entering data into these systems (swivel chair tech) that is time be wasted when those employees can be redirected to higher priorities. Not only is this type of process time consuming but has the potential of creating bad data as employee can enter different information in each system. The scalability and expansion that system integration can give your business for growth can be achieved without adding more employees, so what does that mean. Well that means as your business increase so does your profitability.
  • Cost Savings: The return on investment (ROI) that you will see not having to manage the data input for multiple systems will be seen extremely fast, what you will also notice is that you data will be cleaner and all the different different departments will be seeing the same picture at the same time.
  • Greater Customer Satisfaction: Having multiple systems that are not integrated can mean that it can take extra time to fulfill your clients orders as well as respond to their enquiries or complaints. Nothing can increase customer satisfaction more like real time data flow between your systems.
  • Improved Security: Most businesses deal with some type of sensitive information that requires protection. By integrating your systems, you can easily build in the security tools necessary to prevent access by unauthorized users. Integrated systems will also help your business keep access to other systems to only the employees that need it, lowering the potential of issues and security threats.

    • If you are one of those businesses that is thinking can I really afford to integrate my systems, think about it this way can you really afford not to integrate. Integrating systems does not have to be done all at once, it can be a phased approach keeping cost a little more spread out while seeing the benefits and savings sooner.

    Unfocused Data

    Why aren’t business focusing on Data Governance and what does that mean to them.

    Posted on by Paul Kukk

    There are so many reasons why businesses are not focusing on Data Governance, but I think the main one is that the Executive teams really does not understand what Data Governance is and it’s benefits. Based on my experience and what I have been observing is that most businesses are focused on getting their systems (separate transactional system(s)) up and running so that their businesses are making money and they are processing their customers through some type of sales life cycle. I truly understand that mentality but your business does have to grow down the road. If businesses cannot fully understand the data that they are collecting from those transactional systems and how it ties back into their business strategy, I believe they are building a black hole within their business.

    Another big reason I hear businesses are not doing Data Governance is because of the cost. Let me say plain and simply that statement is just not true, Data Governance can be implemented in phases and the ROI can been seen much quicker as long as you have Executive by in, do not under estimate the total amount of work, do not get bogged down with meetings and process discussion without any hands on work. Lastly make sure you understand that within a business definitions of terms may vary based on what department is defining the business term.

    With so many business are under competitive pressure and the desire for financial transparency and regulatory compliancy with HIPPA and Sarbanes-Oxley you would think those business would drive Data Governance into their culture.

    Below are some things that businesses will not be able to do without Data Governance:

  • Trust. Data Governance can give the business more trust in the data they are collecting and then what the data is telling the business. Be transparent on why and how you are collecting customer information, sharing that information and especially on how your are protecting that information
  • Identify areas that can be automated. You can reduce manual effort or completely get rid of time consuming processes that are done by your employees. A lot companies do not have an idea that there are employees spending a lot of time manual working with data and not spending their days doing what the actually were hired for.
  • Use data to retain more of their customers. Information from a acquisition and retention study existing customers are 51% more likely to try new products and spend 31% more than new customers.
  • Create consistency and make better decisions through out the business. When different parts of the business are using different data sets problems will ensue into the business. Data Governance can enforce a process where all employees are using the same consistent information
  • Strengthen your ROI. The impact Data Governance can have on a business’ ROI is tremendous for all the above reasons and more. When you apply Data Governance around the collecting of information on what your customers are doing what motivates you then have knowledge on what they want to buy.

    • Remember Data Governance is not about technology it is about defining, implementing and enforcing policies and processes for how information is generated, stored, maintained, and used across the entire business.