What is data governance?

While there are many definitions for Data Governance, key themes are agreed upon by many: data Governance involves the organisation of people, processes and technology to enable effective data management. 

Facets of data governance include: 

• Roles and responsibilities, Including custodianship, stewardship and general data literacy. 

• Technologies, systems and tools to support capabilities in the areas of data management, quality, security, integration, discovery, accessibility and availability.  

• Processes and controls implemented to support the consistency, integrity, usability and privacy of data. 

• Policies, procedures and standards to support regulatory compliance, ethics, and provide clarity over responsibilities. 

• Data quality—including metadata and information security—to ensure reliability of data. 

The goal of data governance is to determine a holistic way to control data assets so that the organisation can get the absolute most value from the data.  

Data governance is a subset of data management. It is essential in supporting and enabling good data management.  

Learn more about data management

Data governance will increase the value of an organisation’s data, and enables effective data management. It has numerous benefits, including: 

• More efficient visibility, discoverability and access of data, as well as improved quality of data, which helps both operations and analytics. Consequently, this allows for cost-saving and increases in revenue.  

• Promoting transparency. 

• Better management of the increasing volume and variety of data. 

• Providing standardised systems, policies, procedures and standards, and consequently providing transparency over roles, expectations and requirements.  

• Supporting regulatory compliance.  

• Improved information security.  

• It is a supporting and enabling function for overall data management.

At UQ there is a Data Strategy and Governance team, responsible for developing practices and processes concerning the formal governance and management of UQ’s data assets. 

However, data governance should be integrated into all roles. Learn more about your data governance roles and responsibilities. 

Learn about data roles and responsibilities at UQ