You receive a data-related request. Maybe there is a request for a new report. Maybe it is a question on an existing report. Maybe there is a data quality issue – real or perceived. Maybe it is a technical request such as a change to an integration. Or maybe it is a simple request such as getting access to a certain data system.
What happens after you receive that request? That depends on many things.
- Do you have data stewards in place that can handle the request?
- Do you have a knowledge base in place that can be searched for the answer?
- Do you have a data system inventory in place that describes data access?
- Do you have a data governance or data intelligence tool in place like the Data Cookbook or an IT help desk system that has a data request workflow where data stewards are automatically assigned to the request?
In this blog post, we will discuss the recruitment of data stewards and what to do after a data-related request is received.
Once a data-related request comes in, you want to route the request to the correct data steward or subject matter expert. If you have a data governance / data intelligence solution in place like the Data Cookbook this is done automatically. Tools like a ticketing system or a data governance solution often allow for the defining of request handling workflows and data steward roles.
If no solution is in place then it needs to be manually assigned to a data steward. We feel that there are four different types of data stewards (subject matter experts, data owners, data governance accountability, and triage) that can assist with the request. The request might need a general support person, a functional domain expert or a technical expert. You are rarely going to find someone who can handle all the various request types within an area. When you receive the request you ask yourself who is the right person to handle the request.
Say we have a data quality issue in human resources, in the payroll data. The issue should be assigned to the human resources payroll data expert. Sometimes it is the owner of the payroll system. But in this case, you do not have a specific owner or that person is unavailable. We suggest if no data steward is available that instead of it just sitting in limbo that the request is either sent to the data governance oversight group or if available, to a data governance triage support person. This triage person might try to answer the request or are empowered to go find an expert.
An expert does not have to be an existing data steward. It can be someone in the organization who is an expert in the requested area. The triage support person would ask this non-data steward nicely if they can help with this data-related question. Tell them that this question seems to be up their alley and they can serve as the proxy to engage with that collaborator, or they can pull that collaborator in.
We think the biggest killer of a data governance initiative is to define the data steward roles and then tell all the data stewards to write 20 definitions and to document the last 50 reports created. This comes across as a bunch of homework. This homework is not tied to any person currently asking a question. It is no surprise that often the data stewards either do not do it or they push back on doing it. Or, they begrudgingly do it and then they do not want to be involved anymore after that. A better first experience as a data steward is to educate them on the data steward role and the importance of handling data requests that come in.
Say there is a question here from Ida who wants to know if this data is PII or how you are calculating this value on a report. You go to John or Deb, who are experts in this area and ask, can you help answer this question? There is an open request on this. Go and get them involved. Maybe write a new business glossary definition into this or update the report specification and get back to Ida so after that happens you route this to approval.
Maybe there is a second support layer where it is going to go to someone like Marcy and ask them is this how we define that. Or if not necessary, go back to Ida saying I got this answer. Is this what you want? And she would say yes and closes the request. You now have an updated knowledgebase. John or Deb is left with a rewarding experience for having helped Ida. You had marginal Interruption to his or her day to have done that. Ask John or Deb if another question like that comes in, would they be willing to answer that as well. And ask them if they would they be the functional data steward or the technical data steward for this area. If they say yes, you can add them to the process and provide them with any necessary data steward training.
We hope you received benefit from this blog post. Additional data-related request resources (blog posts, videos, and recorded webinars) can be found on our spotlight page located at www.datacookbook.com/data-requests-spotlight.
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.
Photo Credit: StockSnap_2JLS3VKVCP_WomanSupport_DataRequest_BP #B1283
