Data Governance and Data Quality Management – Best Practices for Ensuring Data Accuracy and Integrity

Big data is king these days. We live in a data-driven world today by all accounts. Not only do businesses base their decisions on data, but ordinary people also use it to improve their lives. It is a critical asset for organizations of all sizes and industries.  

The ability to collect, store, process, and analyze data lies at the heart of a successful modern-day enterprise. It is crucial for helping a company make informed business decisions, identify opportunities and risks, and stay ahead of the competition. However, in BI & data analytics, volumes and sources continue to grow, and so do the challenges of managing and maintaining data accuracy, completeness, consistency, and security. It is here that data governance and data quality management become crucial tools for data management and utilization.  

This article discusses the core concepts and best practices for ensuring data accuracy and integrity through effective data governance and data quality management. 

Let’s begin. 

What is Data Governance? 

Data governance is the process of managing the availability, usability, integrity, and security of the data used in an organization. It involves putting into place a set of policies, procedures, and standards for how data is collected, stored, processed, and shared across the enterprise.  

Organizations establish and maintain data governance policies and frameworks to ensure employees use enterprise data effectively and efficiently. Another reason is to ensure that the data is high quality, reliable, and trustworthy.  

A well-defined data governance framework can help organizations achieve the following: 

• Improve the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data 
• Reduce the risk of data breaches, data loss, and non-compliance 
• Enable better collaboration and decision-making across departments and teams 
• Increase the value and ROI with cms of data assets 
• Enhance the reputation and trustworthiness of the organization 

What is a Data Governance Framework? 

A data governance framework is a set of guidelines and principles that define how data is managed, controlled, and used within an organization. Organizations use such frameworks to ensure employees use data in a consistent and secure manner, one that allows them to leverage its power.  

A data governance framework usually includes the following components: 

• Data Governance Policies: These are the high-level rules and principles that determine how data is managed, stored, accessed, and used in the organization. These governance policies must align with a company’s strategic goals, legal and regulatory requirements, and industry best practices. 
• Data Governance Processes: These are the workflows, processes, and procedures that support the implementation and execution of data governance policies. Business processes should cover the entire data streaming lifecycle, from data collection to data disposal. Similarly, data governance processes must involve all the relevant stakeholders responsible for data management. This ensures that every stakeholder’s data concerns are addressed. 
• Data Governance Standards: These are the specifications and benchmarks that define your enterprise data should be structured, formatted, and validated. Standards should be based on industry standards, best practices, and the specific needs of your organization. 
• Data Governance Roles and Responsibilities: These refer to the roles and responsibilities of individuals and teams tasked with managing and using data in your company. You should clearly define the roles and assign responsibilities based on relevant skills, experience, and knowledge. 
• Data Governance Tools and Technologies: These are the software applications, platforms, and tools that support data governance processes, such as data profiling, data lineage, metadata management, and data quality assessment. 

Best Practices for Data Governance 

Best practices are vital to unlocking the true potential and benefit of any company or industry. Data is an industry in its own right. As such, we have listed some of the best practices for implementing a data governance framework in your organization: 

1. Establish a Data Governance Council: This is a cross-functional team that oversees the implementation of data governance policies and procedures. You should include representatives from all the business units and various departments in this council. These representatives should be employees closely tied to the data management processes.  
2. Define Data Ownership and Stewardship: Smart Data discovery ownership refers to the responsibility for the overall management of a specific data set, while data stewardship refers to the day-to-day management of data quality and usage. Assign data ownership and stewardship roles to individuals or teams who have the necessary skills and knowledge. 
3. Define Data Quality Standards: It is critical for you to identify and define the data quality standards you want to maintain at your company. These must be relevant to your organization’s goals and objectives. Data quality standards include aspects like data accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness. Make sure that your data quality criteria are in line with your business requirements. It is also necessary to have a team monitoring and reporting on compliance with these standards. 

More Data Governance Practices

1. Implement Data Classification and Protection: Data classification is the categorization of data based on its sensitivity and risk level. Implement a data classification scheme that aligns with regulatory requirements and industry best practices. You should also make certain of the implementation of security measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or disclosure. 
2. Establish Data Governance Policies for Data Sharing and Integration: You also need to develop policies and procedures for data sharing and integration across teams, departments, and business units. For this, you need to put into place data-sharing agreements and ensure that data integration processes are standardized and documented. 
3. Develop Data Governance Training Programs: Data governance will remain a far-fetched dream if you embark upon it without providing adequate training to your workforce. Conduct awareness and training programs for your employees and stakeholders to inform them of the importance of data governance and their respective roles and responsibilities under the framework. Moreover, training sessions should be conducted bi-annually or quarterly to ensure that everyone is up to date with the latest data governance best practices.  

What is Data Quality Management? 

While data governance is critical, it will amount to little if you don’t plan and implement a data quality management plan. 

Data quality management is the process of ensuring that data is accurate, complete, consistent, and timely. It involves identifying and resolving data quality issues and improving data quality over time. Companies undertake data quality management to ensure the provision of reliable and trustworthy data for improved business decision-making, analysis, and reporting.  

Effective data quality management helps organizations do the following: 

• Reduce the risk of errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies in data 
• Improve the accuracy and reliability of business insights and reports to help drive improved business outcomes 
• Increase customer satisfaction and loyalty by ensuring accurate and timely data 
• Enable better decision-making by providing high-quality data 

What is the Data Quality Management Process? 

The data quality and product lifecycle management process usually involves a set of actions. These actions include the following: 

1. Data Profiling: Data profiling is the process of analyzing and assessing the quality of data. It involves identifying patterns, anomalies, outliers, and inconsistencies in data and assessing data completeness, accuracy, and consistency. 
2. Data Cleansing: Data cleansing is the process of identifying and rectifying data quality issues. You have to remove duplicates, do a spell-check, fill in missing data, and standardize data formats. 
3. Data Validation: Data validation is the process of verifying whether your data meets the predefined quality criteria or not. It involves comparing data against predefined rules, such as data type, range, and format. 
4. Data Monitoring: This is the step where you regularly check data quality and ensure that it remains accurate and consistent over time. Data monitoring is all about setting up alerts and notifications for data quality issues and regularly reviewing data quality reports. 

Data governance and data quality management are critical components of any successful data management strategy. By implementing an effective data governance and data quality management program, you can ensure the accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness of your data. You can then use this high-quality data to make better business decisions and improve the quality of your analysis and reporting.  

It is also imperative to follow industry best practices when carrying out data governance and data quality management programs. These best practices ensure that your governance framework delivers the results you are looking for.  

Wrap Up  

To sum it up, data governance and data quality management are crucial to the success of any organization. Every company generates tons of data these days. However, without such frameworks and policies in place, companies miss out on the opportunity to grow their business by leveraging the power of organized, reliable, and secure data.  

Therefore, you must prioritize the generation, organization, and provision of high-quality data to your teams so that they can leverage it to drive business growth and enhance workforce efficiency. It is only by doing this that you can ensure your company’s survival in an era characterized by the power of big data. Otherwise, data-cognizant competitors will push you out of business. 

Drop us a line today at [email protected] to learn how our experienced business intelligence and data analytics team can help you improve your data governance and data quality management processes.