CHAPTER 13Policies

Data Management. RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT WITHOUT POLICIES

Policies are core to providing oversight for data management activities. If policies do not exist, the Data Governance program is an academic exercise at best. The people involved will apply their own processes, methodologies, and rules. People will not know who to ask questions of and fall back to the individuals who have always been able to help them, regardless of whether that was their responsibility. People will not understand where business rules exist and how they impact data, causing distrust in reporting results. There are plenty more examples, but you get it. You end up with a chaotic data environment, not Data Governance.

BREAKING DOWN A POLICY

There are several inputs and considerations when developing a Data Governance policy. They consist of the policy statement, procedures, standards, and identified best practices that become Data Management processes. The breakdown of each of these components is shown in Figure 13.1.

An illustration of Components of a Policy.

Figure 13.1 Components of a Policy.

Policy

A policy is a formal set of statements that define how the data resources will be used or managed. The statements should be as short and concise as possible so stakeholders will understand what is mandated. People also need to understand why ...

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