Data Governance
What is Data Governance?
Data governance is a collection of different policies, procedures, standards, roles and metrics that an organization uses to ensure the effective and efficient use of information in achieving its goals. It establishes what processes should be followed and who is responsible for ensuring the quality and security of any data used across an organization. Several things are defined in data governance including who can act, what data should be used, in what situations data should be used and the methods available in analyzing that data.
At W&L Data Governance means:
- Identifying, establishing, and overseeing strategy, objectives, and policies intended to ensure the quality of critical data used internally and externally by the University.
- Align the University's data management practices and usage policies to allow for two-way data and information flow across systems, offices, departments and divisions.
- Align external compliance reporting instructions, data definitions, and requirements to data entry, aggregation and coding of the University's data.
- Establish and maintain a data-definition dictionary and coding standards for the University's critical external compliance and internal-operations reporting requirements.
- Identify, establish, and oversee processes for data corrections at the data-entry level and background data that are based on established data definitions and standards.
What types of data fall under data governance?
Any data that is stored, kept, or maintained for University usage. This includes, but is not limited to, areas such as reporting, analytics, and/or system integrations.
Who is in charge of governing data at Washington and Lee University?
All decisions centered around the use of data at the University falls under the purview of the Data Governance Council. All changes affecting data or its usage at the University should be first approved by the Data Governance Council.
If data elements or coding is changing within a University System, how or when should someone seek approval from the Data Governance Council?
For any data related changes to University systems that would have an effect on the use of such data, approval should be received from the Data Governance Council prior to making any changes.
How does someone make a request for the Data Governance Council for a proposed change?
All requests should be made through the Data Governance approval site. Click here to submit a request.
Where can one find information regarding University data definitions?
All University data definition information can be found in the University's Data Cookbook. The link to the Data Cookbook can be found on the W&L MyApps page or by directly accessing the Data Cookbook using this link.
If questions arise regarding Data Governance practices at W&L, who is the best contact?
For questions regarding data governance, please contact the Chair of the Data Governance Council or one of the council members.
How does one request a New Report or Enhancement?
New reports or enhancements to existing reports can be requested through a "Help Request" using Web Help Desk. Users can log into Web Help Desk here or by clicking the Web Help Desk tile on the MyApps page. A job aid to assist with filling out the request form can be found here. When requesting a new report or enhancement, users will need to select a "Request Type" in Web Help Desk. Please refer to the following chart for guidance selecting Request Type from the drop down menu.