What is Data Governance?
Data Governance is a product of the Quality Initiative, a project started in 2013 with the aim of facilitating continuous improvement at the University through the implementation of a decision support system. Data Governance is intended to increase the quality and ultimately maximize the value of institutional data at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock).
Data Governance uses the principle of data stewardship and has a number of guiding principles intended to set proper use of institutional data as technology evolves and information systems change. It is important to understand that adopting data governance policy framework does not by itself create any policies controlling data management. The purpose of the data governance policy framework is to define the process by which the representatives of data stakeholders from across the university have a voice in creating the policies that will control data management.
Data Governance deems a representative mode of communication as essential and outlines mechanisms by which all academic, technical, executive, data user and stakeholder personnel can participate in data management decisions, but this document does not make data management decisions. In short, data management is the day-to-day decisions made about handling and processing data, whereas data governance is the framework for creating the policies for how these decisions are made.
The Data Governance Policy Framework establishes the charter, authority, and structure of the data governance program at UA Little Rock. It also promotes an iterative approach to implementing specific data governance policies based on priority areas (i.e., student enrollment data) of the University. It’s important to note that the Policy Framework only applies to institutional data (see Scope) and does not include instructor notes, materials, or data generated from sponsored research.