Page 18 -

Preface xvii

The following chapters present a comprehensive view of the work and behaviors required to
implement data governance. The longer you delay the adoption of some or all of the elements and
components, the harder and harder your information management challenges will become. Does your
organization want to do advanced predictive analytics? You had better know that the data used by the
analytics tools is accurate. Do you want to create single sources of truth for reporting, business
intelligence, or just getting your customer list nailed down? Then you need to start data governance
now. The longer you wait, the harder the decisions will be as the data explosion continues. This is not
a trivial request from someone who likes working with data. This is a business imperative.
You will see that data governance can be accomplished by executing a series of steps along with
consideration of certain success factors. There are plenty of “nuts-and-bolts” activities to be per-
formed. But there are also cultural, personal, and philosophical changes required to truly treat
information as an asset. Data governance is the discipline that encapsulates these changesdbut it is
also a long-term commitment to doing business differently.