When you switch solutions, migrate to a new system, integrate between two data systems, or implement a new tool, is the perfect time to enhance your data governance (or data intelligence) efforts by linking these efforts to the technology project so that the project succeeds. In this blog post we will cover examples of technology projects where data governance will help along with additional helpful resources, opportunities caused by major projects, some data governance best practices related to these projects and the ROI of data governance when linked with major technology projects.
Examples of Projects Where Linkage with Data Governance Should be Involved:
- Implementation of a new ERP solution
- System integration project between systems
- Migrating to a new reporting tool
- Putting in a new operational data store (ODS) or data warehouse
- Moving from one database to another such as a Colleague Unidata to Colleague SQL change
- Switching to a CRM solution
- Performing a survey and reporting results
Project-related Data Governance Resources Available:
- Video: Example Best Practices During Major ERP Implementations
- Video: Challenges, Opportunities and ROI During an ERP Migration
- Video: Example Best Practices Migrations
- Video: Strategy for Bulk Report or Data Flow Migration Leveraging Data Governance
- Blog Post: Apply Data Governance Best Practices to Technology Projects
- Blog Post: Using Data Governance During System Integration Project
- Blog Post: Data Governance Challenges, Opportunities and ROI During Technology Projects
- Blog Post: System Integration Project Best Practices - Part 1
- Blog Post: System Integration Project Best Practices - Part 2
- Blog Post: Transitioning to Something New? Here is the What, When and How!
- Blog Post: Out with the Old, In with the New?
- Recorded Webinar: Implementing Data Governance During a Data Warehousing Project
- Recorded Webinar: Benefits of Data Governance and Data Cookbook During ERP/Reporting Migration
- Recorded Webinar: Best Practices for Leveraging Data Governance During Major ERP Implementations (30 minutes)
- Recorded Webinar: Implementing Data Governance During a Systems Integration Project
- Recorded Webinar: Implementing Data Governance for Survey Data
Data Governance Opportunities During Projects:
- Great amount of data and reports is looked at, so issues and mismatches are identified so that they can be resolved
- While looking at reports during the project it is a good time to document these reports and their data definitions and put them in a knowledge base
- Excellent time to provide training on data and determine system ownership and data stewardship
- Chance for project stakeholders and data governance committee members to work together and form relationships which will have long term benefits
Major Projects with Data Governance Return on Investment (ROI):
- More efficient work as there is reduced re-work and duplicated work
- Makes results more accurate
- Increases trust in data
- Creates a knowledge base for future use
Some Thoughts and Best Practices:
- Remember the saying “Garbage In is Garbage Out”? You want to clean up the data in the old system before migrating to the new system. Focus on data quality and trust in data which is an important part of data governance. Make sure that you have data quality rules in place in the new system and that these rules are documented.
- Remember the saying “Measure Twice Cut Once”? When you are working with different data systems, spend the time to map the data and make sure that reference data is consistent.
- Do not use the excuse of “We cannot focus on data governance right now because we will be starting the XXX technology project soon”. It is the perfect time to focus on data governance and link the efforts to the technology project.
- Do not forget to document, document, document. Make sure that there is documentation on the critical reports including the definitions on the reports. Make sure that this information is accessible in a data governance solution like the Data Cookbook. Write up a new specification about the integration between two data system. Document reference data that is in the new system and how it relates to other systems. There will be terminology differences that should be documented and put into a knowledgebase.
- For any new systems such as a new ERP, new CRM, or a new database, add the system to the data system inventory in your data governance solution so that others can access information regarding this new data system.
- Add information about the key reports of the new systems so that they can be accessed by users while in the report.
- Expect issues to happen during the project so make sure that there is a good, easy to use, data request system in place so issues can be resolved quickly.
- During the project is a great time to look at what is getting used and what is not getting used. Also look at who owns each data system or report involved in the project. Make sure that this information is documented in your data governance knowledge base. Determine your data stewards for the new data system.
During a technology project you will be closely looking at the data. You will see issues and mismatches that need to be understood and rectified. That is why it is important to link data governance with the project. We hope that this blog post was beneficial to you and your organization.
IData has a solution, the Data Cookbook, that can aid the employees and the organization in its data governance, data intelligence, data stewardship and data quality initiatives. IData also has experts that can assist with data governance, reporting, integration and other technology services on an as needed basis. Feel free to contact us and let us know how we can assist.
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