The SAS Data Governance Framework: A Blueprint for Success

Starting data governance initiatives can seem a bit daunting. You're establishing strategies and policies for data assets. And, you're committing the organization to treat data as a corporate asset, on par with its buildings, its supply chain, its employees or its intellectual property. However, as Jill Dyché and Evan Levy have noted, data governance is a combination of strategy and execution. 

It's an approach that requires one to be both holistic and pragmatic:

• Holistic. All aspects of data usage and maintenance are taken into account in establishing the vision.
• Pragmatic. Political challenges and cross-departmental struggles are part of the equation. 

So, the tactical deployment must be delivered in phases to provide quick “wins” and avert organizational fatigue from a larger, more monolithic exercise. To accomplish this, data governance must touch all internal and external IT systems and establish decision-making mechanisms that transcend organizational silos.