Tag Archives: Information Lifecycle Management
Build A Prioritized Data Management Roadmap
In my recent white paper, “Holistic Data Governance: A Framework for Competitive Advantage”, I aspirationally state that data governance should be managed as a self-sustaining business function no different than Finance. With this in mind, last year I chased down Earl Fry, Informatica’s Chief Financial Officer, and asked him how his team helps our company prioritize investments and resources. Earl suggested I speak with the head of our enterprise risk management group … and I left inspired! I was shown a portfolio management-style approach to prioritizing risk management investment. It used an easy to understand, business executive-friendly visualization “heat map” dashboard that aggregates and summarizes the multiple dimensions we use to model risk . I asked myself: if an extremely mature and universally relevant business function like Finance manages its business this way, can’t the emerging discipline of data governance learn from it? Here’s what I’ve developed… (more…)
Data Governance: How Immature Can You Be?
No organization begins to implement a data governance program from an entirely blank slate; every organization likely has some capabilities to leverage. Determining an organization’s current level of data governance maturity is a useful and necessary first step in developing a customized plan that is both relevant and executable. So how do you assess your maturity? Well throw a rock in any direction and you’re likely to hit a software vendor, consulting company or industry analyst that offers a maturity model and assessment tool to support your data management and data governance efforts. Actually don’t throw rocks, you could hurt somebody. (Yes, we offer one too – more on that below). (more…)
Introducing GovernYourData.com!
I’m excited to officially announce the public launch of www.GovernYourData.com, a new one-stop data governance resource center and online community hosted and sponsored by Informatica. This vendor-neutral site is open to all data governance stakeholders, solution providers and thought leaders (no relationship with Informatica is required) and we welcome any non-promotional content and contributions that share best practices, tips and tricks that aim to help data governance evangelists succeed. (more…)
Data Governance Program Management: Herding Chickens – Really Important Chickens!
For the final facet of our data governance framework, I’ve intentionally saved Program Management for last. I felt to fully demonstrate why your organization must invest in skilled program managers I should first introduce all the simultaneous moving parts that make up a comprehensive data governance strategy. (For links to my posts deep diving into each facet, see my blog page). (more…)
Comparing Native Oracle Database Tools to Third Party Solutions – The Missing Link Part 1 of 2
As one of the founders of Informatica’s Smart Partitioning capability, I am constantly asked, “Why can’t we just use (insert DB vendor here) tools to accomplish the same thing?” What a great, simple, straightforward question…and what a nuanced answer! Instead of talking about how great our technology is or walk through all the features and functionality, I thought it would be best to answer the actual question, “Why can’t we do this on our own?” In this two part series, we will explore the manual process of implementing Oracle database partitioning and compression in complex OLTP applications. (more…)
Data Governance Measure & Monitor Processes Open a Window to Data and its Value
As mentioned in my post describing the major business processes that comprise a data governance function, the Measure and Monitor processes i) capture and measure the effectiveness and value generated from data governance and stewardship efforts, ii) monitors compliance and exceptions to defined policies and rules, and iii) enables transparency and auditability into data assets and their life cycle. (more…)
Data Governance Apply Processes Operationalize Human and Machine Roles
As mentioned in my post describing the major business processes that comprise a data governance function, the Apply processes aim to operationalize and ensure compliance with all the data governance policies, business rules, stewardship processes, workflows, and cross-functional roles and responsibilities captured through the Discover and Define process stages. (more…)
Data Governance Define Processes Capture Business Policies, Rules and Standards
As mentioned in my post describing the major business processes that comprise a data governance function, the Define processes documents data definitions and business context associated with business terminology, taxonomies, relationships, as well as the policies, rules, standards, processes, and measurement strategy that must be defined to operationalize data governance efforts. This process runs parallel and is iterative to the Discover process stage as Discovery drives Definition, and Definition drives more targeted focus for Discovery. (more…)
Data Governance Discover Processes Assess and Scope Your Environment
As mentioned in my post describing the major business processes that comprise a data governance function, the Discover processes capture the current state of the organization’s data lifecycle, dependent business processes, supporting organizational and technical capabilities, as well as the state of the data itself. Insights derived from these steps are leveraged to define the data governance strategy, priorities, business case, policies, standards, and the ultimate future state vision. This process runs parallel and is iterative to the Define process stage as Discovery drives Definition, and Definition drives more targeted focus for Discovery. (more…)
The Process Stages of Data Governance
To truly manage data as a valued enterprise asset, data governance must be managed as a business function like finance or human resources. A finance function is comprised of multiple core business processes such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and financial planning. So to manage data governance as a function, what are the core business processes that comprise data governance? (more…)