What is Data Governance?
The framework of policies, processes, and standards for managing data assets across an organization.
Data governance is the organizational framework of policies, processes, roles, and standards that ensures data is managed as a strategic asset. It covers data quality, data ownership, access controls, metadata management, compliance (GDPR, CCPA), data lineage, and lifecycle management. Effective data governance balances control with accessibility — overly restrictive governance stifles innovation, while insufficient governance leads to data quality issues, compliance risks, and duplicated efforts. A governance framework typically defines data stewards, data owners, a data governance council, and clear escalation paths. It is one of the foundational dimensions assessed in any data maturity evaluation.
Related terms
Data Quality
The degree to which data is accurate, complete, consistent, timely, and fit for its intended use.
Data Strategy
A comprehensive plan for how an organization will collect, manage, and leverage data to achieve business objectives.
Data Catalog
A searchable inventory of all data assets in an organization with metadata, lineage, and access information.
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