Most of this fast-growing bank's IT systems are outsourced; the bank's Systems Integration (SI) team connects them with each other and with an Oracle data warehouse. The warehouse had grown over time from a specialized marketing repository to an enterprise warehouse, several marts, and a collection of specialized repositories sitting between the vendor-run systems and the warehouse.
A convergence of needs prompted the bank to move toward formalized Data Governance. Bank leadership wanted a plan for consolidated, standardized reporting. The Systems Integration team needed business participation to update metadata, formalize System of Record designations, and establish "Single Source of the Truth" definitions for the bank's master data. And the bank's auditors decided the warehouse environment had grown in importance to the point that it was now in scope for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
Citing our experience with SOX as well as Data Governance, the bank asked the Institute for assistance in introducing Data Governance with a focus on compliance, BI/warehousing, data quality, and data integration. We helped them design a program, launch a cross-functional Data Governance Committee, establish a Data Governance Desk, and build governance into the activities of every Systems Integration role.
Mentoring management and the new Data Governance Business Lead, we introduced the Post Compliance Paradigm (Do the work, control it, document it, then prove compliance) then applied it as we helped them build checks-and-balances and auditability into their work request (demand management) process and their Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC).
Data Stakeholders were interviewed to assess their desired levels of involvement in data-related decisions, with the option of being consulted prior to changes or informed after decisions were made. This approach led to 100% involvement of stakeholders, since they could outsource as much effort to the new Data Governance Desk as they were comfortable with.
With the resulting Decision Rights RACI charts for critical master data, members of the new Data Governance Committee decided the bank was positioned to address legacy issues as well as compliance requirements. Within months they had self-organized into working groups and were addressing Data Quality issues, planning for new reporting capabilities, and standardization of corporate hierarchies.
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