Drive Confidence, Not Concern
Does your Data Governance feel like a house of cards? Let’s get the foundations right. Learn to define, maintain, and use your data in the way that works best for you, with Data Governance consulting from Oakland.
At the end of the day, effective governance is about winning the hearts and minds of your teams. Using our Data Governance Assessment, we’ll see how mature your data governance is now – and what it could become. Data quality benchmarks of completeness, accuracy, consistency, validity, uniqueness, and timeliness are considered every step of the way.
For compliant, consistent Data Governance you’re confident in, choose Oakland.
Get startedData Governance You’ll Be Proud Of
Your data is only as valuable as the integrity that it’s managed with. Get that right, and you’ll lower regulatory risk, boost data literacy, and enhance data quality and accountability.
“The success of any Data Governance programme is not just about the positive movement against an agreed set of KPIs on a dashboard. It’s the warm and fuzzy feeling you get from talking to the people within your organisation when you know your efforts are cutting through.”
Rob Lancashire – Data Management Lead
People: The missing element in Data GovernanceWhy Choose Oakland’s Data Governance Consultants?
Whatever your data priorities and struggles are, we’ll help organise your datasets into valuable assets you can rely on.
We do it via The Lighthouse Method, a model we’ve developed from 40+ years of pure data experience. We spotlight the immediate value and long-lasting benefits of new thinking around data while establishing sound governance principles.
“Don’t be taken in by the industry trend of building out all- encompassing data governance frameworks until you’ve at least demonstrated repeated value from lightweight data improvement projects that help you ‘smuggle’ in the fundamentals of data governance.”
Rob Lancashire – Data Management Lead
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Our Approach to Data Governance
Please scroll to understand the Data Governance services we offer.
Case Studies: Data Governance Consulting Success Stories
See how we’ve helped businesses win over the hearts and minds of data owners – and turned data burdens into data confidence.
Data Governance Consultancy Starts Here
Call us on +(44) 113 234 1944 or fill out the form below to speak to us about your Data Governance focuses.
Questions About Data Governance?
Our experts have the answers.
What does ‘good’ data governance look like?
In our eyes, the primary goal of data governance is to make sure your data assets are managed so they align with:
- Business goals
- Regulatory requirements
- Industry best practices
To achieve this gold standard, you need a framework that clearly outlines the policies, roles, and tools necessary to ensure data is accurate, high-quality, and secure.
How is data governance different from data management?
Data Governance involves how data is processed within an organisation. It looks at the policies, procedures, and responsibilities of how data is accessed, stored, and used. Governance revolves around data:
- Sources
- Ownership
- Access
- Definitions
- Quality
- Mapping
- Improvements
- Compliance
- Protection and privacy
Data management is the overarching term for all data-related activities across an organisation. For instance, it’s where the policies and procedures for data governance are created and implemented. Head to our Data Management page for a more detailed breakdown on what’s involved!
We dive into everything governance in our guide: Data Governance for Humans (and a little for AIs).
How often should data governance policies be reviewed?
Given how rapidly the data (and AI) world is changing, we recommend that policies are kept in line with evolving regulatory requirements and data needs through regular reviews at your Data Owner Forums.
How best to implement data governance?
At Oakland, we’re big believers in a pragmatic approach to governance, with a simple four-pillar approach:
- Resist the urge to build an ‘all-encompassing’ governance programme, by limiting the level of early investment.
- Focus on creating value by delivering several tactical ‘Lighthouse Projects’ that show immediate value and signpost longer-term gains.
- Gradually establish your data governance programme for meaningful buy-in from stakeholders.
- Lock in the foundational cornerstones as each Lighthouse Project is delivered for strength in numbers.
Our guide, Data Governance by Stealth: The Lighthouse Concept, goes into more detail about best practices for implementing governance.
How does data governance contribute to data quality?
Data quality is all about making sure data is accurate, consistent, reliable, and complete. The more watertight your governance processes are and the stronger the engagement of your team and stakeholders, the higher your data quality will be.
Data governance policies and procedures establish the standards, rules, monitoring, and cleansing that needs to be followed to enhance data quality – and reduce the risk of incomplete, inconsistent, or error-prone datasets.
Check out our article for more details on the links between data quality and your wider data activities: Why Invest in Data Quality?
How to implement a data governance framework?
Developing a data governance framework for the first time is no mean feat. Set yours up for success by following our three-stage process, designed to minimise resistance and maximise impact:
1. Set the direction and capture management intent.
When choosing a project to put your first data governance policies and supporting structures into place (e.g. data stewardship frameworks), look for ones that people are already engaged with and excited about.
2. Plan the execution.
It’s a bit of a balancing act to keep leadership and owners of key levers of change happy. Make sure you are the one managing the narrative, particularly around expectations and delivery times.
3. Execute your proof of concept.
When our tactical ‘Lighthouse’ approach is taken, you’ll realise the power of engaging the business smaller improvements that:
- Capture attention
- Build momentum
- Reduce resistance
For an in-depth look at successfully implementing a framework like this, please check out our guide: Data Governance by Stealth: The Lighthouse Concept.
What data governance tools do I need?
We recommend focusing first on how you organise your people and processes to support your Data Governance implementation. Having the right people in clear roles and defined accountabilities will ensure your business knows who to turn to for those critical data decisions or to drive the work to improve data issues. Having the right processes ensure those people know how to perform their roles in a clear and consistent manner.
Tooling can then be a huge support in making your people and processes more efficient and bring visibility to your data governance progress.
Tooling makes it easier to circulate the resources you create along your Data Governance journey. For instance, policies and procedures, data dictionaries, and business glossaries. The tools most suited to the job depend on the challenges you’re facing with your data. When starting to compare tools, make sure you ask yourself questions such as…
- How will the tooling help solve our issues?
- What systems would it be nice for the tooling to connect to?
- If we need to change or add a feature over time, how easy (or tricky) is this to do?
…to understand how useful – or not – each tool would be. (Find the full checklist in: A Guide to Selecting the Right Data Governance Tooling.)
Our Data Governance services are designed to support you in making the right tooling choices for your use cases.
Please get in touch to find out more.