What Are Data Governance Principles?

Businesses increasingly rely on collected data to help make better decisions, increase value, and improve processes and operations. However, the amount of data collected is typically massive and requires deliberate planning to ensure it’s stored safely and securely. Data governance principles are guidelines businesses use to keep their data storage and management practices in regulatory compliance and help ensure the safety of sensitive information.

Read on to learn more about data governance principles, what a data governance framework looks like, and what types of jobs exist within the data governance field.

Core principles of data governance

The core principles of data governance help to standardize the definition of data across an entire business. They help ensure that the data used for different goals is trustworthy, consistent, and employed correctly. Data governance frameworks include the following principles:

Data quality

Data quality involves examining collected data to ensure it is complete, relevant, and accurate. Timeliness and uniqueness are also considered. This helps keep data accessible across multiple platforms and ensures that the professionals interacting with it use the best possible data to derive insights or actionable strategies.

Data security

Data security involves creating a secure network with tools such as firewalls, encryption, and tokenization to protect sensitive information from cyberattacks. Access control mechanisms help to prevent unauthorized users from accessing confidential data or exposing it incorrectly. 

Data usability

Data usability helps to support the right access for different teams so that they can each work with the right type of data efficiently and safely. This principle involves creating a consistent view of data that increases reliable and accurate implementation.

Data responsibility

Assigning data responsibility makes it easier for businesses to stay within regulatory compliance since each person helps to monitor and protect data. This way, there won’t be any gaps in coverage, and each person knows exactly what their role is in managing the data sets.

Data compliance

Data compliance is a necessary facet of any data governance framework. It can help you maintain compliance, bolster customer trust, and avoid the risk of hefty fines. Data compliance ensures that your data collection, management, and storage processes exist within regulatory guidelines, keeping everything safe and secure.

The importance of data governance principles

Data governance principles are fundamental because they help ensure the accurate and safe use of all the data a business collects. Data governance makes sure that the frameworks fit your business’s specific needs and goals. This, in turn, makes it easier for those frameworks to scale as you grow.

Without data governance principles, you run the risk of using data that doesn’t provide any benefit to you. You might incorrectly label data as it’s collected, making it inaccurate and not as useful for analytics or insights. These data errors influence the outcomes of many different departments, and your business might not grow as quickly as you’d hoped.

Data governance helps ensure more access to accurate data. This means employees feel more confident in the safety and value of the data, which fosters innovation and creativity.

Who benefits from data governance?

Everyone who works with data or makes decisions based on data benefits from data governance. Without accurate data, businesses can’t make informed strategies or set the best goals for their growth. Professionals such as data engineers, data stewards, or executive sponsors all directly benefit from the security and accuracy that data governance provides. Customers also benefit as they can feel confident sharing sensitive data with your business.

Implementing data governance principles

Implementing data governance principles often starts with a strategic plan that identifies the specific data assets in use and what existing processes you might already have. Once you can identify where you need to implement new frameworks, such as assigning new responsibility roles or creating a more robust security system, you can develop a timeline with milestones and needed resources. It’s helpful to remember that the best frameworks match your business’s specific goals. Review the principles and see where your organization might benefit the most, from including new processes or tools to support a secure data collection and management system.

Implementing data governance principles sometimes includes purchasing software that is designed to address the building, management, and implementation of data governance frameworks. 

Benefits and challenges of data governance

The benefits and challenges of data governance are multi-faceted. With the right data governance framework, you can make better decisions more quickly. It helps to prevent data silos that make it harder for employees to access the required data. Accurate data makes it easier to identify new opportunities and increase customer satisfaction. Perhaps, most importantly, it helps keep your business in regulatory compliance with the federal government.

Some challenges of data governance to consider include that some employees might be reluctant to adopt a new framework that requires more work on their behalf. A lack of the proper data architecture, or tools, might make it difficult to implement new processes. Additionally, some businesses adopt a too-narrow view, which means their frameworks only address one or two aspects of data governance and don’t necessarily result in better results.

How to pursue a career in data governance

If you’re interested in a career in data governance, you might choose to pursue a role such as a data specialist. Data specialists, like other data scientist roles, typically need a four-year degree in subjects such as computer science or mathematics, though some employers also prefer advanced degrees. You’ll want to choose opportunities that allow you to develop your database management and analytical skills, either through internships or through roles adjacent to the one you’re seeking.

Once you feel confident that you have gained the necessary experience and expertise, look for jobs that include data governance in the job description or ask about opportunities to work with data governance during your interview.

Learn more about data governance on Coursera

Data governance principles are key frameworks to ensure that data remains safe, accurate, and compliant. If you’re interested in data governance, explore the courses and certificates available on Coursera. With options such as the Coursera Instructor Network’s Introduction to Data Protection and Privacy or Google’s Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about data fundamentals that can help you explore this field.