The IBM Data Governance Unified Process

Data Governance has become an industry buzzword, but it means different things to different people. The definition of Data Governance is similar to the tale of the blind men and the elephant. Depending on their background and business situation, practitioners tend to equate Data Governance with one or more of metadata, business glossaries, Master Data Governance, Analytics Governance, Security and Privacy, and Information Lifecycle Governance. All these definitions are correct but they are incomplete. Data Governance is the discipline of treating data as an enterprise asset. It involves the exercise of decision rights to optimize, secure, and leverage data as an enterprise asset.

Several Data Governance initiatives start and stop with a maturity assessment. So you’ve discovered that you are relatively immature; now what do you do next? What are the steps to implement a Data Governance program? This book describes a unified process targeted at Data Governance practitioners. It provides a rigorous explanation of the 14 steps and almost 100 sub-steps to implement Data Governance based on IBM products, services, and best practices over hundreds of client engagements.

Any practitioner who has implemented, or is looking to implement, a Data Governance program within their organization should read this book. It includes examples from different industries, job functions, and geographies. And regardless of the maturity level of Data Governance within your organization, there is something in here for you.

Sunil Soares is Director of Data Governance within IBM Software Group. He works with a team of more than 200 industry consultants to help IBM’s top clients build out their Data Governance programs. Sunil has helped more than 100 clients across multiple industries assess their Data Governance maturity and determine the appropriate processes and tools to move forward.

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Sunil Soares