Data governance is the collection of data management processes and procedures that help an organization manage its internal and external data flows. It aligns people, processes, and technology, to help them understand data to transform it into an enterprise asset. The essential aspects of a winning business operating model and roadmap should encompass: Identifying stakeholders; defining handshakes and handoffs; discovering and standardizing processes, and procedures based on policies and guidelines; motivation, goals, and performance assessment plan to measure progress and report; change control with well-planned stakeholder communication strategy; implementation roadmap with a work breakdown structure.
We will discuss 2 specific types of governance models: Centralized and Decentralized for the Human Resources and Finance departments respectively.
Centralized Model: The traditional model of governance sets a standard where the board is responsible for oversight and planning while delegating management of daily activities to an Executive Director or CEO. In some organizations, that person may also be accountable for managing master data and distributing it to users as needed or upon request. Often with the centralized model, we observe the following benefits:
- The skills gap is bridged
- The processes yield consistent outcomes irrespective of the business unit
- Reporting is much easier
- Decision-making and executive buy-in at C-level are synonymous
- Continuous feedback elicitation, improvements, and change management can be planned for effectiveness.
- This model is cheaper
At the same time, operation rigidity, and reduced motivation in mid-level managers, limits creativity.
DeCentralized or Federated Model: Decentralization is a concept that historically describes local governance structures where the responsibilities of planning and decision-making are not made by a centralized authority, but rather distributed throughout its membership. In decentralized organizations, formal decision-making power is distributed across multiple individuals or teams. Some benefits of this structure are:
- Decentralization ensures better control and supervision as the subordinates at the lowest levels
- Lower levels will have the authority to make independent decisions.
- They have a thorough knowledge of every assignment under their control and are in a position to make amendments and take corrective action
However, decentralization can be more expensive.
