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18 CHAPTER 2 Definitions and concepts

E for Enterprise

Data governance is an enterprise program. It can be implemented locally, but must never be considered
as a localized project. Would you implement financial controls in one department but not in another?
We need to view DG the same way.
Business Program

Data governance is for your business or organization. It is never an IT program. Later, we will talk
about why the CIO should never be in charge of DG. In fact, IT and technology areas are just as likely
to be changed or enforced, as is a business area when it comes to managing information. For now, just
keep in mind that we are building a business program and that program must add value over time.

Evolution vs. Revolution

Data governance needs to be implemented iteratively, in a carefully designed deployment. You need to
learn how to govern. It is not instinctive. It is not a big-bang suitable endeavor. Only the hardiest or
most desperate organizations can tolerate a massive shift to governed data from non-governed data.
Look at the road to DG logicallydif you are reading this book, you are not sure how to do it. You need
to evolve through a process to learn how to do data governance. There are four distinct stages to
learning, which apply to organizations as well as individuals.
1. Rote–repeat, but not understanddThe organization can express definitions of data governance
concepts.
2. UnderstandingdThe organization can comprehend the nature and importance of data governance
(a lot of DG programs stop here).
3. ApplicationdThe organization knows enough to start to apply the concepts of DG, but only as
a direct response to a trigger (e.g., data quality is poor, so we start to govern data quality).
4. CorrelationdThe organization can apply the concepts creatively and to more complex situations
(e.g., retrofit some kind of governance to an ERP or MDM program that has gone bad).
Information Management Maturity

A widespread method to view an organization’s ability to execute information asset management is
through the lens of a maturity scale. There are as many flavors of information management maturity
(IMM) scales as there are consultants and vendors providing information solutions. There is a thorough
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coverage of this in “Making EIM Work for Business” but we have summarized in Table 2-1 the most
common expression (a capability-based model) of information maturity. (Figure 5-2 in Chapter 5
shows a comparison of the various expressions of maturity as well.) IMM is a key concept in that it
represents a broadly understood means to measure the progress and effectiveness of DG. If IMM
improves, DG is working.
Don’t confuse maturity with the levels of learning. They are not interchangeable. They support
each other. Depending on your organization’s culture and environment, you may possibly need to
execute all four layers of learning to get through each maturity level.

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Ladley, John, “Making EIM Work for Business,” Morgan Kaufman, 2010.