Most organizations today have concluded that they need to move to formal data governance. The arguments are compelling:

• Formal data governance helps make cross-functional decisions effectively.
• It helps identify data stakeholders and gives them a voice in establishing rules and policies for how information is managed and used.
• It provides a mechanism for orderly and thorough escalation and resolution of data-related issues.
• It brings together business and technology representatives with multiple perspectives to collaboratively examine issues and suggest controls.
• Data governance helps establish standards that contribute to increasing the value of information assets, to cost containment, and to compliance.

While these are common outcomes of data governance programs and projects, not all data governance efforts are equal. Some are large, involving many participants and areas of an organization, while others may consist of one facilitator/administrator and scattered input by others. Some data governance programs look only at strategic issues and decisions, while others dive into detailed needs and processes. And while some data governance programs may exist to support IT-centric efforts such as data warehouses, master data management (MDM) or metadata management projects, others may focus on bringing cross-functional perspective and power to the work of setting policy, aligning business rules and definitions, or supporting architectural decisions.

Regardless of the primary focus of a data governance program, there are two efforts that nearly every program is expected to support in some way: data quality/standardization and compliance.

How much attention should any data governance program give to these efforts? How much should be spent, and what is the expected rate of return or return on investment (ROI) for the involvement of data governance – especially in the area of meeting compliance requirements? When is it reasonable to measure ROI, and how do we go about measuring it when our data governance efforts do not directly result in revenue? In this paper, we’ll look at the role of data governance programs in supporting compliance efforts. We’ll look at the types of contributions they make, especially in the area of managing compliance costs. And we’ll introduce an ROI formula you can use in those circumstances where it’s important to quantify the value of those contributions.