From the IAIDQ President
Christian Walenta
President
christian [dot] walenta [AT] iaidq [dot] org
July 2010: IDQ Newsletter Vol 6 Issue 3
Dear fellow IAIDQ member,
One of the note-worthy events last quarter was our IDQ Conference in San Diego. For those who were able to attend, I trust the conference proved to be a wonderful event, with a diversified program featuring many great speakers and subjects. Outside the presentations, there were many opportunities to network, catch up with old friends, and make new acquaintances.
A recurring topic of conversation was the notion of bringing Information Quality (IQ) and Data Governance (DG) together. There seemed to be general agreement that having both IQ and DG tracks at the conference made sense. Clearly both fields are connected and inter-related. As one attendee put it, “You can’t do Data Governance without having Data Quality.”
Many of the people I spoke to felt that Data Governance is the current hot topic in the market, and companies are either trying to put DG programs in place, or are advancing their existing DG practices. A similar view can be observed from the vendors, some of whom had new DG offerings to supplement their “bread and butter” Data Quality technology and products.
Is it Data Governance or Information Quality or what?
Unsurprisingly, people had very strong and different opinions about the relationship between Information Quality and Data Governance. Some folks saw Information Quality as a component of Data Governance, others described IQ and DG as related, but different, fields of study, and yet others viewed Data Governance as part of an overall Information Quality program and discipline.
Current market hype and slogans aside, I reflected upon my own background and experiences. Having been in the field for more than a decade, I have worked on many different initiatives, each with different titles and areas of focus. I have implemented Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Programs, led Information Quality efforts, and taken part in a Data Governance Council with customers.
In all these different activities and projects, I found more striking similarities than differences, and I can’t help but wonder to what extent DG, IQ or EIM are simply different labels for very much the same things. Let me give you some examples:
- Everyone agrees that the focus should be on the business results, the business processes, and the “customers” at hand
- These programs and initiatives all have an underlying information problem that needs to be solved or a business capability to enable. All of them boil down to something along the lines of “better, faster, cheaper data, information, and decisions”
- The mantra “Managing data and information as a corporate or organizational asset” is commonly heard across DG, IQ and EIM
- Everybody wants high quality data
- There are underlying IT systems, databases, and data flows to be understood, improved and managed. In almost all cases, there is process design work or process improvement to implement
- Each DG, IQ, or EIM initiative needs as context (as well as common terminology) a view of the relevant “landscapes” of the Business, IT, and Information Architectures they are trying to establish, influence, or improve; this work is part of scope management
- New technology and tools are often introduced as part of the imitative
- Change management is a common thread, often in reference to the culture change that is needed to achieve the desired organizational behaviors and outcomes
- Organizational accountabilities and roles need to be defined; this means adding responsibilities to existing roles or establishing new roles altogether
- Stakeholders, management, and staff need to be trained and educated, and a comprehensive communication strategy is generally part of the IQ, DG or EIM initiatives
I believe there are many fundamental disciplines, practices, and methods that are common to Data Governance and Information Quality. I consider both as disciplines that are looking at the “same stuff” through different lenses, or looking into a room from the outside through different windows. While we all see the same things, we get a different perspective or view if we look at it through the DG or IQ window or lenses.
While I do not advocate any single answer as to the nature of Data Governance and Information Quality, I hope I have demonstrated that there is so much in common between both, and that we can all agree on what needs to get done to make progress and achieve our goals, whether they be in Data Governance and Information Quality.
So it is not really a surprise when the majority of conference attendees agreed that the “marriage” between Data Governance and Information Quality was clearly a winning combination.
Sincerely yours,
Christian Walenta
IAIDQ President