{"id":5331,"date":"2021-03-02T11:16:57","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T11:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theoaklandgroup.co.uk\/?p=5331"},"modified":"2024-02-21T15:46:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T15:46:30","slug":"how-to-build-a-data-governance-program-by-stealth-introducing-the-lighthouse-projects-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weareoakland.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-data-governance-program-by-stealth-introducing-the-lighthouse-projects-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"How to build a Data Governance Program by Stealth: Introducing the Lighthouse Projects Concept"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chances are, you’re reading this article because you’ve been asked to launch, or support, some form of data governance initiative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Firstly, congratulations. You’re embarking on a worthy endeavour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here at Oakland, our <\/span>Data Governance Team<\/span><\/span><\/a> have trodden a similar path as we guided our clients across multiple data governance implementations. The results have been profoundly beneficial; often in ways the organisation had never considered at the outset.<\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, having delivered a number of these programs, we’re in the fortunate position to look in the rear-view mirror and identify those critical-path activities that were the keys to success. We’ve curated several of these learnings in this article; the first in a series of best-practices we’re keen to share with our clients and community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, we wanted to provide a ‘warts and all’ account of what you’re about to experience as you embark on a data governance journey. As you’ve no doubt experienced, every project is unique, so if you would like to discuss how our approach and experience could help within the context of your data initiative, please book a <\/span>discovery call<\/span><\/span><\/a> to discuss further.<\/span><\/p>\n

Building the foundation for a successful data governance program<\/span><\/h2>\n


\nWhat motivates the next generation of Data Governance stakeholders?<\/span><\/h4>\n

We typically see the demand for an enterprise-wide data governance process initiated as part of a broader data foundation or enterprise-wide digital transformation. Many clients we work with are keen to embark on their data journey in a quest for monetisation and the creation of new opportunities through innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a growing realisation that better enterprise data leads to increased business performance, smarter decision-making and significantly reduced risk. As a result of these strategic triggers, we increasingly find executive stakeholders reaching out for guidance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Making enterprise data management changes centrally in these organisations can be a challenge because they are often organised around different segments or geographies. There is also a lot of autonomy in large organisations, so to make changes centrally you’ve got to be business-led.<\/span><\/p>\n

People have to see the value in the changes you want to make.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Data Governance Process: ‘What vs How’<\/span><\/h4>\n

If you’ve spent time sifting through the vast amount of books, articles, webinars and frameworks on the topic of data governance, you’ll soon realise that the ‘whats’ of data governance are reasonably well understood and readily available. Most organisations we speak to know <\/span>what<\/i><\/b> is required to get the basics of data governance in place.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, particularly with larger, federated businesses, the translation from the ‘what’ into the ‘how’ is where many data governance programs begin to struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n

This question of <\/span>how<\/i><\/b> to deliver data governance in a way that engages and motivates the business, whilst simultaneously laying a future data governance foundation, is a challenge we’ve obsessed over for many years at Oakland.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s through this obsession that led us to the realisation that many business cases are not positioned correctly to launch a successful platform for data governance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Re-thinking the data governance business case<\/span><\/h4>\n

In the early beginnings of our data governance practice, we would collaborate with clients to build defensible business cases for data governance, often as as a request to help construct a large data transformation program.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Data Management fundamentals<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Large-scale data and digital transformation programs typically incorporate a broad swathe of data fundamentals such as:<\/span><\/p>\n