Data governance

Data governance encompasses the people, processes and technology required to create a consistent, enterprise view of an organisation's data in order to:

* Increase consistency & confidence in decision making
* Decrease the risk of regulatory fines
* Improve data security
* Maximize the income generation potential of data
* Designate accountability for information quality

Data Governance initiatives improve data quality by assigning a team responsible solely for data's accuracy, accessibility, consistency, and completeness, among other metrics. This team usually consists of executive leadership, project management, line-of-business managers, and data stewards. The team usually employs some form of methodology for tracking and improving enterprise data, such as six sigma, and tools for data mapping, profiling, cleansing and monitoring data.