There are many paths to create data governance (data intelligence) content for organizations such as higher education institutions. Creation of the path should be determined by institution priorities, size of organization or amount of available resources.
Here is one recommended path with 12 steps that we suggest gained from our knowledge of providing data governance products and services.
Recommended path:
1. Determine initial data governance content for best practices – decide on what you want to focus on first such as data system inventory which is a finite and known
2. Determine champions and organizational scope such as a certain department that wants to take the lead on data governance content
3. Create initial data stewards group who are motivated and knowledgeable of the institution’s data
4. Select knowledge base tool where information will be stored such as the Data Cookbook tool
5. Identify simple communication process for stewardship
6. Create initial data system inventory within scope area including shadow systems
7. Start populating data dictionary by importing or entering
8. Document 10 to 20 critical data deliverables such as key reports like a fact book or enrollment reports
9. Implement a data request process that everyone at institution knows
10. Create a data policy repository where policies such as data access, data sharing and privacy can be stored and are accessible
11. Tackle data quality including creating a data quality resolution process so that quality can be improved
12. Expand scope and content by figuring out the next data governance content to work on.
Feel free to use this path to create great usable data governance content or create your own path depending on your priorities and resources. Keep it simple and non-controversial. If you are interested in learning more about the Data Cookbook, the leading data governance solution for higher education institutions, or about our data governance services, 
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(image credit StockSnap_NDQHGBZ85F_DGContentPath #1061)
