Data governance compromises frameworks that specify who can perform what action with defined datasets, when they can do it, and situational circumstances. The purpose is to protect digital assets throughout their lifecycles, which involve capturing, storing, maintaining, accessing, transferring, sharing, archiving and disposing of data.
Data is only as good as its quality, and governance ensures its accuracy and relevance. High-quality data enables businesses to maximize its value by accelerating decision-making processes, increasing efficiency and productivity, enriching customer service, managing risk more effectively, and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Data professionals seeking to advance their careers in data-centric senior management and executive roles will gain a competitive advantage by completing the Murray State University online Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) with a concentration in Information Security program. Murray State’s program equips graduates with the necessary cybersecurity, technology, information systems and data management skills for careers in this space.
“Data governance is one of the top three differences between firms that capture this value and firms that don’t. In addition, firms that have underinvested in governance have exposed their organizations to real regulatory risk, which can be costly,” McKinsey & Company warns.
How Do Professionals Acquire Technical Expertise to Lead Data Governance Initiatives?
Data governance and information security (infosec) are distinct but related operations. Governance pertains to accuracy and relevance throughout the data lifecycle, while infosec protocols protect data integrity and confidentiality. When integrated, they provide reliable, secure data management.
The accredited MSIS in Information Security curriculum offered online by Murray State equips graduates with skills and expertise they can apply to data governance and infosec. Program studies include:
- Networks and distributed systems: Data governance develops frameworks for managing data traffic, ensuring data reliability during transmission and protecting against data breaches.
- Database management: Governance is a key component of data management, according to Tableau. While management involves data architectures, policies and procedures, governance assigns ownership, access, security measures, protection and privacy.
- Business analytics: Atlan recommends integrating business analytics processes and governance to maximize the value of data while maintaining its integrity and security. Ultimately, it says, the integration will produce competitive advantages.
Organizations cannot fully utilize data for decision-making without structures in place. As Secoda puts it: “Embrace the journey towards effective data governance and unlock the full potential of your data assets.”
Understanding Data Governance: What Are Principles Behind the Frameworks?
Data governance comprises policies and procedures organized in a framework that ensures data integrity, security and management across an enterprise. The overall objective is to increase the value of data and minimize data-related costs and risks. The Data Governance Institute identifies eight personnel and policy principles embedded in successful plans:
- Integrity in planning activities regarding constraints, options and impacts for data-related decisions
- Transparency to ensure all planning and implementation teams and end users understand the strategy, benchmarks and goals
- Auditability and documentation of decisions, processes and controls to support regulatory and internal compliance
- Accountability, as defined by the governance policies, for cross-team data usage, processes and controls
- Stewardship defining the data governance responsibilities for individuals and teams
- Checks and balances among business and technology teams, data managers and users, and personnel to implement standards and compliance policies
- Standardization of data formats, definitions, models and coding to simplify integration and sharing, optimize analytics and provide better compliance
- Change management that supports proactive — including data governance development and deployment — and reactive change, such as addressing and resolving quality issues or anomalies discovered during audits and identifying root causes of data issues
Why Do Data Governance Strategy Initiatives Fail?
While most business leaders understand the why, data management, governance and security consultant Veritas says many are stymied by the how. “No longer a recommended best practice, data governance is now a necessity, as organizations increasingly depend on data for decision-making, operations, and customer engagement, all of which directly impact their success and reputation,” according to Veritas.
Topping the list of implementation challenges is the failure to set and get stakeholder buy-in on clear goals and milestones to mark progress toward them. Cultural change is another high hurdle: Developing a new corporate agenda for data must be a collaborative effort.
An over-reliance on technology to the exclusion of the human factor also contributes to change aversion. Governance cannot fix data that is bad to begin with. Policies that do not adapt to changing business strategies and regulations fall apart over time, and failure to educate personnel on their roles in the governance regime can doom the initiative.
On the other hand, Veritas notes that governance initiatives led by professionals with superior communication skills and expertise in planning and executing systems projects produce effective, sustainable solutions. These solutions can then be scaled and aligned with overall business objectives.
How an Advanced MSIS in Information Security Can Help
Several factors impact the success or failure of governance strategies. Graduates of Murray State’s online MSIS in Information Security program have the necessary knowledge to implement and measure effective data governance. Specifically, the Data Management course and Data Communications and Networking course prepare graduates for the complex world of collecting, managing and communicating information.
Learn more about Murray State University’s online MSIS with a concentration in Information Security program.
