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A person should be in any organization who can manage different data systems and maintain a consistent data flow throughout. Data governance expert is that people and data governance officer is the post name.
Well, a data governance expert must possess some skills and the ability to think strategically in order to manage a wide spectrum of data protocols. He/she is also responsible for taking care of the data’s well-being.
If you want to be a data governance expert or do you want a data governance expert to join your organization, you must read this piece. Here, you’ll explore everything about what data governance experts handle and how they handle — everything!
Let’s get started.
Who is a data governance expert?
A data governance expert is a professional who is responsible for managing the data quality, consistency, and security of the data and making it available for the organizational users for applications. They oversee everything and implement the right technology at the organization to manage the complete data lifecycle.
When you become a data governance expert, your responsibility for maintaining data governance will increase. You have to create guidelines for data usage, define data ownership, and protect your data from unauthorized data access. Moreover, you have to make sure that your organization maintains all data compliances, including the GDPR and other personal data protection laws.
It’s a strategic post, and it demands the right skills and thinking capacity to handle data governance operations. Based on the changes in the industry, the diversity and versatility of the role will also change. Hence, you have to be quite adaptive in order to make changes and stay relevant with the recent changes in your industry.
Now, after exploring the concept of this strategic post, it’s your time to explore the key responsibilities that this post holds.
Key roles and responsibilities of a data governance expert
From a diverse set of keys and responsibilities, a data governance expert has to handle a lot of tasks. Among them, the priority tasks are;
Create data governance policies
Before making any move towards data governance, first of all, you need to set the policies. Following data quality parameters to improve data outcomes is essential in this matter. Setting up clear instructions for data quality enhancement is the primary responsibility of a data governance expert. The set policies should maintain data accuracy, improve usability, and build integrity for the organization. Besides setting up the policies, the DGE (data governance expert) also ensures that the rule is followed across the organization.
Standardize data
Right after setting up the data governance policies, DGE sets up data standardization rules. These rules help organizations to set up the data matters in a unified manner. All data users take notes from these rules to maintain data standards. Data standardization is a practice to handle, store, and interpret data in the same way everywhere across the data channels.
Implement a quality control mechanism
You can expect better and superior outcomes from your data when your data inputs are of superior quality. Your DGE is responsible for implementing a data quality control mechanism so that the quality of the data is maintained throughout the system consistently.
Because of this quality control mechanism, you can always prevent errors or inconsistencies from invading your database. You can simply remove the incorrect data and ensure integrated data reliability.
Measure and keep security in check
Data breaches are quite common in organizations nowadays, but not at your organization when you have hired a DGE. Designing strict security protocols is the only way to prevent organizations from data breaches. The data governance mechanism can help DGEs to build a strong data control system. However, not just building, but constantly updating the data controlling protocols is the best way to prevent data breaches.
Monitoring data lifecycle
From data creation to deletion, it’s a complete package of the data lifecycle. It’s a critical task for the DGE to monitor the complete data lifecycle. They manage the way a dataset should move through this lifecycle. No doubt it’s a complex task, but with the right strategy and proper skillsets, you can easily make it through.
A data pipeline is a fragmented stage and has various attributes. The DGE ensures that the data fills all the cracks and handles it appropriately at each stage in alignment with the designed governance policies.
Manage metadata
Metadata acts as an index to the database. It reflects the content and the context of the data. But it needs to be managed properly with the right measures. The role of a DGE is to manage metadata effectively and ensure it is used properly with the due measures.
Key Skills a data governance expert must have
If you desire to be a DGE or want someone to hire as a DGE, then you have to check the following skills, whether they have them or not.
✦ Understanding of complex data governance policies. Data governance is a complex subject, and the person should be able to know everything. Or at least have the attitude to learn everything when needed.
✦ Handling different sets of technology and constantly updating the technical knowledge is a thing. The person should acquire technical proficiency in the right order.
✦ Every organization has some good sides as well as some negative sides. But the person as DGE should have the ability to maximize the good sides while reducing the negative sides.
✦ Keeping up with he industry is another and the most important thing that DGE should be able to do. You need to learn what the industry is doing and then you have to try mimicking them to stay relevant.
Extra Qualities that Also Matter
Knowledge regarding data governance is non-negotiable. But you must complete your formal education first in order to become a data governance expert. It’s best if you acquire some specialized training and certificates in order to become an expert in this field. Further, if you have some hands-on experience in handling data, then you can reach the top of the industry faster. If you need any help regarding data analysis and reporting, you can learn from industry experts. Because you need them while handling live projects.
