Establish Sustainable Data Governance

Leaders across the institution must invest in data governance efforts and establish a baseline understanding of the important role of quality data in campus operations and innovation. First, educate stakeholders about the avoidable costs and risks that bad data governance perpetuates, then focus on high-performing peers and best practices to build consensus for action.

Review the data governance process overview to get started.

Most institutions have some data governance processes in place, but each university or college varies in its areas of strength and weakness. We identified hallmarks of high-performing institutions, noting tight interdependency between some areas of maturity. Fill out the brief diagnostic to find your institution’s areas for focus.

If you’d like to understand multiple perspectives on your current data governance maturity, our maturity self-test is available as an administered survey of select campus community members.

The structure of data governance oversight is the single most important factor in success. When designing your capability oversight structures, aim to create responsive, agile workflows able to withstand campus change—whether from strategic direction shifts, leadership transitions, or technology and asset overhauls.

When building out an institution-wide data dictionary, leaders should first assess campus strategic priorities and tackle high-use data. Focus on high-priority data early in the process to demonstrate early value and secure lasting resources for ongoing data governance efforts.

Finally, leaders should ensure that clean, appropriate enterprise data is made available to the right decision-makers. To create a seamless, responsive delivery mechanism data governance groups must provide reliable data access, monitor data sources for quality, and review emerging needs to guide future data strategy.