Building a comprehensive data governance checklist: Best practices
June 6, 2023
Data governance refers to a set of practices and procedures at the company level for handling data. A lack of guidelines regarding data management can elevate the risk of serious issues, ranging from cyber-attacks to data loss without a backup in place. To ensure you have all of your ducks lined in a row, here’s a data governance checklist to consider when drafting an internal compliance plan.
Major components of a data governance checklist
A checklist must cover these three core components.
1. Data security
Cybercrime is on the rise; this is the new reality in the information age. In fact, 34.5% of companies have cited that their data and assets were targeted in a cyber-intrusion within the last 12 months, according to a 2023 report. The attacks are expected to cost companies global-wide an estimated $8 trillion by the end of the year.
What security implementations do you expect to have in place? Will the Security be internal or handled by a third-party vendor? What cyber-security best practices are staff expected to follow? What about data encryption protocols?
2. Data quality
Not all data are created equal. Data needs to be filtered to improve its quality. A data quality control plan should take into account these variables:
- Handling data duplicates
- Using an automated system to minimize human error
- Separating first-party from third-party data
- Determining what to do and how to account for data outliers
3. Data management
Where will the data be stored? Most data nowadays reside in the cloud, though some companies still store data in in-house legacy systems. More importantly, you need to establish a procedure for integrating data and preventing disparate data silos. Other management considerations include system update frequency, manual vs automatic data input, and a data disposal plan (to prevent storage overflow).
Steps to create a data governance checklist
For greater data governance effectiveness, add these steps to your checklist to avoid missing vital elements.
1. Determine scope and objectives
Define the objective of creating a data compliance checklist. Why is it relevant to the company? Example objectives may include:
- Reduce the probability of a cyber-attack
- Protect customer information by setting clear data-handling policies and procedures
- Avoid audits by staying within industry compliance
2. Identify who is impacted by a data governance checklist
Who will benefit from a governance checklist? Aside from internal staff, this may include customers, shareholders, sponsors, subsidiaries, affiliates, and supply chain partners.
3. Define data categories
Data classification is a significant element of data management. Organize data by their respective types and sub-types. Behavioral, geo-location, demographic, and personal data are examples of data categories. Filing data into their respective fields helps with storage, retrieving, and filing.
4. Assess risks and vulnerabilities
Constantly monitor your system for potential attack vectors that can be exploited by hackers. Your governance checklist should have provisions for the following:
- Bringing in an ethical hacker at routine intervals
- A detailed data breach response plan
- A detailed data backup and recovery plan
- Physical security of your legacy systems, in-house devices, etc.
- Determining who can be granted access control privileges
5. Establish metrics and KPIs
Having a set of metrics and KPIs helps you filter data by determining the information that will be relevant to your campaign. This also minimizes data clutter and saves space by not overwhelming storage with low-value data.
6. Test and refine the checklist
Once the official company guidelines go live, the data governance team needs to keep tabs on day-to-day implementations. This is when you notice areas that require modifications. You may notice employees bending the rules when it comes to data privacy practices, or that there are glaring shortcomings in the network security, for example.
Best practices for using a data governance checklist
These data governance best practices ensure effective enforcement and that the policies cover all areas of data management.
Make it a living document
Understand your data governance will never be complete. It will always require updating in response to trends and internal situations.
Ensure buy-in and participation
Encourage staff participation by actively having members review the latest iteration of the governance plan. Make the review engaging through gamified courses and unlockable extras.
Regularly review and update
A governance audit will reveal where updates are required. Make this a regularity and continuously seek input from staff, the marketing team, and shareholders.
Integrate with other regulatory compliance programs
Your governance checklist needs to be in lockstep with industry standards at the national and/or global level. Use existing compliance standards as a template. You can add to it but don’t deviate too much.
Use automation and technology
Use industry-specific SaaS database management systems. These provide the latest automation tools for monitoring data usage, security, and more.
