In difficult economic climates, responsible leaders look for opportunities to contain costs. Data governance programs are well positioned to assist in these efforts. This paper outlines seven ways that data governance & stewardship programs can help manage costs and a mechanism for quantifying the return on investment (ROI) for those contributions.

Why Data Governance Can Help

Data governance programs come in many “flavors.” Some concentrate on supporting compliance, security, and access to data. Some focus on supporting data quality. Others focus on enabling data integration, increasing the value of information assets, and enabling transformative efforts. Data governance programs may be tightly focused on a single repository, set of data, or business problem. Or, they may cast a wide net, seeking to implement standardization, auditability, and appropriate decision-making across an enterprise.

Regardless of the flavor of data governance, all programs eventually address certain activities:

• Defining/aligning policies, standards, and rules
• Establishing decision rights
• Setting data-related accountabilities
• Providing mechanisms for issue escalation/resolution
• Identifying data stakeholders and understanding their needs
• Communicating with data stakeholders

These are cross-functional activities, undertaken by representatives from across the enterprise. As a result, data governance programs and participants develop unique capabilities.

• They become aware of gaps and overlaps in management efforts
• They learn about software products and how they can be leveraged to achieve multiple goals
• They observe proactive, reactive, and ongoing processes
• They see where money is being spent, and they often see where costs could be trimmed

Following are seven value propositions for data governance. If even one applies to your organization, you may find that data governance can pay for itself simply by avoiding other costs. If more than one of these value propositions applies to your situation, you may find that your budget for data governance is some of the smartest money you’re spending these days.