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Data Management Policy

What is a Data Management Policy?

A data management policy addresses the operating policy that focuses on the management and governance of data assets, and is a cornerstone of governing enterprise data assets. This policy should be managed by a team within the organization that identifies how the policy is accessed and used, who enforces the data management policy, and how it is communicated to employees.

It is recommended that an effective data management policy team include top executives to lead in order for governance and accountability to be enforced. In many organizations, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and other senior management can demonstrate their understanding of the importance of data management by either authoring or supporting directives that will be used to govern and enforce data standards.

Considerations to consider in a data management policy

  • Enterprise data is not owned by any individual or business unit, but is owned by the enterprise
  • Enterprise data must be safe
  • Enterprise data must be accessible to individuals within the organization
  • Metadata should be developed and utilized for all structured and unstructured data
  • Data owners should be accountable for enterprise data
  • Users should not have to worry about where data lives
  • Data should be accessible to users no matter where it resides

Ultimately, a data management policy should guide your organization’s philosophy toward managing data as a valued enterprise asset. Watch the video: Intelligent Data Management: Policy-Based Automation

Developing an unstructured data management policy

It is important to develop enterprise-wide data management policies using a flexible governance framework that can adapt to unique business scenarios and requirements. Identify the right technologies following a proof of concept approach that supports specific risk management and compliance use cases. Tool proliferation is always a problem so look to consolidate and set standards that address end-to-end scenarios. Unstructured data management policies must address data storage, data migration, data tiering, data replication, data archiving and data lifecycle management of unstructured data (block, file, and object data stores) in addition to the semi-structured and structured data lakes, data warehouses and other so-called big-data repositories.

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Read the VentureBeat article: How to create data management policies for unstructured data.
What is a Data Management Policy?

A data management policy addresses the operating policy that focuses on the management and governance of data assets. The data management policy should contain all the guidelines and information necessary for governing enterprise data assets and should address the management of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data.

What does a Data Management Policy contain?

A comprehensive Data Management Policy should contain the following:

  • An inventory of the organization’s data assets
  • A strategy of effective management of the organization’s data assets
  • An appropriate level of security and protection for the data including details of which roles can access with data elements
  • Categorization of the different sensitivity and confidentiality levels of the data
  • The objectives for measuring expectations and success
  • Details of the laws and regulations that must be adhered to regarding the data program
Data Management policy and procedures
Firstly the business much select who should be part of the policy-making process. This should include legal, compliance and risk executives, security and IT leaders, business unit heads and the chief data officer or relevant alternative. Once the committee is selected, they should identify the risks associated with the organizations data and create a data management policy.

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