Data Governance Charter

Drafting a Data Governance Charter

The Data Governance Charter is an outline of why you are implementing data governance and the scope of what it is going to cover, including:

• The systems involved - Single system or multiple systems integrated 
• Processes that need to be governed
• Data Governance Council members and their responsibilities
 
• Success measurements
• Identify key metrics (KPIs) used for performance
• How is the system going and are there any amendments needed
• Security (Internal and external procedures)

The Charter needs to cover various situations including what your plans are if you have a data breach, or the steps needed if someone wishes to unsubscribe. Other topics like security policies for internal access when new employees are onboarded or move to a different department and when they leave should be fully documented.

The Data Governance regulations have timelines defined for these items, and you need to document how you will meet those. The Data Governance Charter needs to be accessible to all staff including new employees, and talking of new staff, your Charter will also need to detail how you are training them and your existing staff on data processes and regulations.  

Your Data Governance Program should have regular reviews and be part of your data strategy meetings, or an agenda item in your monthly existing business review meetings.  You need to monitor and discuss how things are going after implementing the program and how it can be improved without disrupting your entire workforce.    

For example, you should review your dashboards, and determine how you can make them more concise. Is the executive dashboard showing all the key metrics required? These small monthly improvements will improve your data quality over time.