More and more data governance training courses are being offered these days. But can you count on these courses to help you revolutionize data management in your company? Let's take a look at how to choose this new type of training.
A growing number of companies are rethinking their use of data by implementing a data governance strategy. This is the set of procedures put in place within an organization to govern the collection and use of data. Anyone who’s been there will tell you that the process is far from easy.
Indeed, setting up data governance requires a thorough analysis of how your company operates, and adapting procedures to your company’s culture and use of data.
Today, however, it is possible to draw on a number of case studies and successful transformations. These lessons are recounted in several data governance training courses that have emerged in recent years.
They share best practices and mistakes to avoid, and help you understand the challenges and solutions involved in implementing quality data governance.
Pedagogical objectives of a data governance course
The various data governance courses often overlap in their pedagogical objectives. First and foremost, they introduce you to the various ways of improving the quality of your data, a vital step before embarking on any data governance overhaul process.
In particular, you will learn how Master Data Management works and its place in the information system. This enterprise-wide data repository will enable you to simplify your digital transformation, minimize the costs of leveraging your data, and reinforce data compliance and security. Data governance training courses also address data compliance and the regulatory constraints that can impact it. We’re thinking in particular of the GDPR, but also of the 2010 European directive on vigilance and corporate responsibility with regard to data processing. By taking a data governance training course, you’ll also discover the various people, functions and roles essential to quality data governance and the different governance processes.
Discover the architecture and processes of data modeling
If you’re an information systems architect, developer or business manager, and you’re focusing on project management for Master Data Management (MDM) projects, you’ll want to take a specialized MDM training course.
Unlike conventional data governance training, Master Data Management courses focus more on the challenges of master data, i.e. data shared with all the processes that support a company’s business and decision-making.
Although they do address data governance in a general way, Master Data Management training courses focus primarily on IT system architecture concepts, while also including modules on data quality and its lifecycle.
MDM training courses also present the various specialized MDM editors that will enable you to automate some of your day-to-day tasks.
Case studies to better integrate data governance
All of our data governance training modules feature a range of case studies based on real-life corporate experiences. These include data migrations, examples of data valuation models, and the construction of a metadata referencing model.
These case studies are often useful for putting into practice the theoretical notions covered in other training modules.
It’s also very likely that you’ll find similarities between the cases studied and your own company. This is also the time to put into practice the various theoretical notions covered and ask the questions necessary to fully understand the application of these different processes.
Tools and costs of a data governance project
Some training courses go back over the various tools at your disposal to help you set up effective data governance.
They will also look at the costs associated with these different processes. In particular, you’ll learn how to estimate costs, define deliverables and communicate results. You’ll look at a specific way of creating a dashboard that will enable you to control and monitor these costs and the results of your project.
Finally, you will study different methods for estimating the ROI of your data governance.
Better data management generates savings
Very often, successful data governance can lead to multiple cost savings. According to a recent report by the Compliance, Governance and Oversight Council (CGOC), 60% of corporate data has no “commercial, legal or regulatory value”. Keeping too much data, therefore, complicates the protection of the most sensitive data, increases storage costs and makes it difficult to locate the necessary information, which ends up among thousands of files. In most cases, having a comprehensive data governance program in place can simplify data management and generate substantial savings.
Joining a data governance training course can therefore prove highly advantageous financially. It’s also an excellent way of guiding you through your company’s digital transformation. A data governance training course is also a way of exchanging ideas with the trainers and other participants, and finding a tailor-made response to the problems you face.