ICTworks

Organizations are relying more and more on data analytics to help optimize their internal operations and process as well as make data driven decisions across all levels of the Organizational Hierarchy. However, organizations often find themselves with inconsistent, untimely, inaccurate, and inadequately protected data. This leads to misuse, lost opportunities and poor decisions making.

Data is essential to digital transformation and organizations should start their data journey with a foundation in data governance. Therefore, Data Governance is a cornerstone to ensuring data is consistent, trustworthy and doesn’t get misused.

NetHope Data Governance Toolkit

The goal of the Nethope Data Governance Toolkit is to guide nonprofit organizations through the steps and best practices for implementing Data Governance within your organization, while keeping in mind the changing organization IT landscape, enterprise architecture and program deliverables.

This toolkit guides you through a Framework to implementing Data Governance that includes template policies, roles, roadmaps and KPIs to support organizations, reach their goal of capacity building in Data and Analysis. All the elements within this Toolkit are based upon best practices and commonality within NGOs, allowing for sector wide usage and possibility for tailoring to individual organizations and use cases.

4 Stages of Data Governance

Lay the foundation

• Data Governance Framework
• Needs Assessments
• Create Stakeholder Matrix to identify buy-in
• Data Strategy (includes KPI definitions)
• Data Governance Roadmap (milestones to implementation)
• Add Data Culture as part of your overall Data Strategy

Write your policy

• People – identify and assign roles
• Process – define data quality, data security, data literacy needs
• Technology – identify tools that will help manage your data governance (metadata, data catalogue)

Implementation

• RACI example using roles
• Communications plan
• Stakeholder Matrix in use – regular practices to track implementation
• Evaluate technology stack for suitability (ongoing)

Post-implementation

• Define plan to update/nurture/grow emerging data practice
• Define plan to update policy & framework documentation
• Share policy to NetHope
• Build and evaluate Governance KPIs

The Nethope Data Governance Toolkit was developed with Plan International and SOS Children’s Villages which included a literary review of Data Governance Policies mapped to the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK), word tagging for common semantics and definitions.