Data governance is the process by which an organization manages and secures its data. It includes the procedures and policies governing how data is collected, used, protected, and shared internally and externally. It also helps organizations to ensure that their information is accurate, complete, and consistent.
Data governance is critical to business analytics, which requires accurate, complete, and consistent data. It helps to ensure that businesses have the data they need to make the best decisions; it shapes how and in what contexts that data is used to improve security and outcomes.
Data governance is a complex process no matter the environments in which it operates, but one can break it down into three key components:
Data governance technologies and techniques also determine who has access to specific data and tools, inside or outside an organization. As Gartner describes, it is “the specification of decision rights and an accountability framework to ensure the appropriate behavior in the valuation, creation, consumption, and control of data and analytics.”
Some of the most notable benefits of recent data governance technologies and applications include the following:
As it evolves, so too do its benefits. New technologies and applications are emerging all the time that can help organizations to improve how they govern, manage, and protect their data.
Access to data alone is not enough to support meaningful decisions, especially among nontechnical professionals. That’s why data governance technologies are often paired with or even a part of modern business analytics technology platforms.
For example, the Decision Intelligence Platform from Pyramid Analytics includes built-in security and governance tools that scale with an analytics environment. Along with customizable dashboards that can be individualized for various users, Pyramid Analytics supports robust yet simplified data governance capabilities to ensure no risks or limits to how many people data leaders choose to provide data access.
The Pyramid Analytics implementation of data governance is unique in that it can connect any number of users within an organization to the same data sources in controlled, contextually relevant ways. With secured access across all types of users, organizations are less likely to end up with data silos, inconsistent data, old data, or a lack of data awareness. Critically, Pyramid Analytics ensures each user can visualize and appropriately share data in ways that are easy to understand, no matter their level of technical training.
Contact us today to learn more about how our decision intelligence and data governance environment can support better decisions within your organization.