The Data Governance Oratorio

Boston Symphony Orchestra

An oratorio is a large musical composition collectively performed by an orchestra of musicians and choir of singers, all of whom accept a shared responsibility for the quality of their performance, but also requires individual performers accept accountability for playing their own musical instrument or singing their own lines, which includes an occasional instrumental or lyrical solo.

During a well-executed oratorio, individual mastery combines with group collaboration, creating a true symphony, a sounding together, which produces a more powerful performance than even the most consummate solo artist could deliver on their own.

The Data Governance Oratorio

Ownership, Responsibility, and Accountability comprise the core movements of the Data Governance ORA-torio.

Data is a corporate asset collectively owned by the entire enterprise. Data governance is a cross-functional, enterprise-wide initiative requiring that everyone, regardless of their primary role or job function, accept a shared responsibility for preventing data quality issues, and for responding appropriately to mitigate the associated business risks when issues do occur. However, individuals must still be held accountable for the specific data, business process, and technology aspects of data governance.

Data governance provides the framework for the communication and collaboration of business, data, and technical stakeholders, and establishes an enterprise-wide understanding of the roles and responsibilities involved, and the accountability required to support the organization’s business activities, and materialize the value of the enterprise’s data as positive business impacts.

Collective ownership, shared responsibility, and individual accountability combine to create a true enterprise-wide symphony, a sounding together by the organization’s people, who, when empowered by high quality data and enabled by technology, can optimize business processes for superior corporate performance.

Is your organization collectively performing the Data Governance Oratorio?

Data Governance and the Buttered Cat Paradox

Beware the Data Governance Ides of March

Zig-Zag-Diagonal Data Governance

A Tale of Two G’s

The People Platform

The Collaborative Culture of Data Governance

Connect Four and Data Governance

The Business versus IT—Tear down this wall!

The Road of Collaboration

Collaboration isn’t Brain Surgery

Shared Responsibility