Practitioner's Guide to Operationalizing Data Governance

CHAPTER 9Operating Procedures

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT WITHOUT OPERATING PROCEDURES

One of the first things people tend to do when they are assigned a role in a Data Governance program is ask questions like:

• How much time am I going to have to spend on this?
• When do we meet?
• How do I prepare for meetings?
• Who else will be there?
• Who is in charge of meeting preparation?
• What does the agenda look like?
• Do I have to do work in between meetings?

If you define how the program is going to operate, people will have an easier time committing and participating. And if they don't commit and participate, the program is off to a bad start. There might be differing opinions on the level of program engagement needed or different groups might choose to operate differently from each other. Such an approach then becomes chaotic for all participants.

OPERATING PROCEDURES

Defining operating procedures for each of the identified decision‐making bodies is key in your program becoming operational. Operating procedures are a beginning, not an end. As the different groups begin to work together, they may want to change how they operate and should have the ability to update operating procedures.

If you are writing operating procedures, here are the sections I would be sure to include, depending on the body the operating procedures apply to. Remember some of these to‐do's were accounted for during ...