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    The Essential Questions Data Governance Teams Must Answer

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    Four Steps to Ensure Your Big Data Investment Pays Off

    If you’ve ever wondered whether your data governance committee is covering the right issues, then you’ll want to read Joey Jablonski’s recent column, “12 Step Guide for Data Governance in a Cloud-First World.”

    Despite the title, five of the steps are actually a great strategic discussion list for any data governance group. Jablonski says organizations should cover each of the following:

    • An assessment of the data’s value, including the cost of generating the data, the value if it were lost and any value derived through analysis
    • The data’s creation and storage locations
    • Risk the data presents to your organization—For instance, does it store credit card information that would trigger a customer alert or costs if the data is hacked or lost?
    • An inventory of data decision makers—You’ve heard that you should identify key roles like data stewards and data owners, but this inventory requires going a step further by requiring specifics: What data do they need? When do they need it? What tools will they use to access it?
    • Accuracy of results gleaned from the data—Of course, any governance committee worth its salt will look at data quality, but you should also put standards to paper.

    The column also covers unique governance practices for the cloud. For instance, Jablonski writes that integration and transformation are distinct problems in the cloud, and so require separate policies.

    Actually, you might also want to read David Linthicum’s InfoWorld column this week, which discusses three specific integration problems that companies encounter with the cloud. One problem is an “inability to define the metadata or what the data truly means,” which is something a data governance team should understand and address.

    Many of Linthicum’s cloud best practices are also recommended for Big Data governance, including tracking metadata across the organization, setting a lifecycle for data, and keeping security rules when data moves between systems.

    For more on Big Data governance, check out my series on Big Data governance challenges. Wednesday’s and Thursday’s posts shared tips for dealing with these challenges.

    Webinars

    Tuesday, February 3, at 2 p.m. EST, “Big Data, Decisions & the Simulated Experience,” with Robin Hogarth, an emeritus professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and the All Analytics community. Hogarth will discuss how simulated experience — rather than just analysis — can be used to understand complex data.

    Loraine Lawson is a veteran technology reporter and blogger. She currently writes the Integration blog for IT Business Edge, which covers all aspects of integration technology, including data governance and best practices. She has also covered IT/Business Alignment and IT Security for IT Business Edge. Before becoming a freelance writer, Lawson worked at TechRepublic as a site editor and writer, covering mobile, IT management, IT security and other technology trends. Previously, she was a webmaster at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and a newspaper journalist. Follow Lawson at Google+ and on Twitter.

    Loraine Lawson
    Loraine Lawson
    Loraine Lawson is a freelance writer specializing in technology and business issues, including integration, health care IT, cloud and Big Data.

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