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CHAPTER

Scope and initiation

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In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
dDwight D. Eisenhower

As we said earlier, starting the deployment of your DG program entails standard program startup
activities. Therefore, we must ensure that scope and span are adequately understood, and then produce
a plan that will sufficiently guide the team through DG deployment.
As with any other effort related to EIM, our practice has observed that, simply stated, it is difficult
to get started. This is usually due to the need for some specialized activities. Most companies have
experience with projects but bog down in starting the new activity. Like any other EIM-type effort,
there will be the need to execute new activities that are unique to data governance. This chapter will
cover those in detail.

OVERVIEW

Remember that traditional activities such as timelines, participants, project administration, and
communications need to be established. Additionally, if you are working under an MDM or similar
effort, there will or should be documents that need to be reviewed. Gather them up or find out where
they are, and get permission to access them, if permission is required. Like any other strategic effort,
knowing what you have and what you need to dig up makes a large difference in estimates. Lastly,
remember that this phase will confirm a common understanding of the DG program’s success measures.
Figure 6-1 and Figure 6-2 show the details and flows of the DG “Scope and Initiation” phase.
Please do not assume this is a casual exercise. In our practice, the typical program/project plan
deliverable from this phase averages 400 tasks. We have produced DG deployment plans that span
three years and contain nearly 1000 discrete tasks. You may not follow each and every task, but you
need to comprehend the amount of activity that can possibly take place, and how the workload will be
addressed. Hence, the quote at the beginning of the chapterdthe planning activity sets the tone and the
team. Perhaps the most well-planned activity in history was the Operation Overlord invasion of Europe
(sometimes referred to as D-Day). That event took two years to plan. The invasion was successful, but
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the plan was quite fluid once the event started. Therefore, the plan itself will change over time, but the
focus and artifacts will help sustain the DG effort.

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Near as we can tell, the planning and execution of the Normandy invasion gave rise to the quote, “The reason you have
a plan is so some SOB can change it.” We never have been able to track this one down, but it certainly captures the essence
of DG planning.
Data Governance. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-415829-0.00006-X 59
Copyright Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.