Data governance is the process of managing the data’s usability, security, availability, and quality within an organization using internally set and enforced rules and policies.
Data governance is a must for any organization that seeks to use its data for analysis. It creates an environment where data can thrive as a source of useful insight that enables the organization to prosper. Without it, data may fail to meet the quality standards necessary for usable insight extraction or be exposed to security threats that compromise its integrity thereby putting the organization at the risk of being sued.
Data governance provides consistency across all the organization’s businesses thereby making efficient data integration possible. Governance goes beyond insight extraction and security provision by governing who within the organization can access the data and how they can access it.
Benefits
- Provides consistency in compliance: Data protection regulations such as EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) and US HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) are very strict on how data should be managed. Failure to comply with these laws can lead to the organization incurring hefty fines and damaging their reputation. Data governance takes into consideration all the requirements of the applying laws early on thereby protecting the organizations’ data.
- Improved quality of data: Strong governance ensures that all points of data creation function with data quality as a priority. This leads to an overall improvement of data quality within the organization.
- Readily available and accurate data map: By defining where the data is and how it can be accessed, data governance works like an address book for all the data in the organization. This ensures there is no data that is isolated by errors of commission or omission from the overall organization’s rules and policies.
- Improves data management: The code of conduct and rules established by governance ensure that data management is made easier. It makes it possible for the management of the data’s security and legal compliance.
Data that has integrity issues can not be relied on by the management for profitable insight. Therefore, any organization that is seeking to extract value from their data must first come up with a data governance system that touches on all the data they wish to use and protect. Every organization has different needs for its data and thus the need to come up with rules and policies that are customized to an organization’s needs.
Conclusion:
Data governance sets the rules to be followed throughout the organization while interacting with the data. Strong governance ensures that the data is secure in storage when it’s being accessed and high quality when being created. With strict data regulations being introduced in different jurisdictions, data governance ensures that the organization remains compliant with the laws in all the jurisdictions it operates it. The governance matters to an organization that intends to use their data for analysis and remain compliant because it ensures consistency, integrity, and security of the data. By improving data quality and proper data use, it increases efficiency within the organization and saves a lot of time for the data users. To successfully implement it in an organization, the data users should be trained on the policies of governance to ensure they understand what will be required of them. DQLabs’ agile data governance tool makes it easier for an organization to set up strong governance by providing a framework that is comprehensive and is guaranteed to increase the organization’s data value as well as ensure compliance.
