Data Governance is a critical aspect of any organization’s operations. It involves the management, administration, and regulation of data across all departments, ensuring the protection and responsible use of data assets. A well-designed Data Governance Program Charter can serve as the cornerstone of an organization’s data management strategy and act as a reference point for all stakeholders.

In this article, we will outline the key elements of a Data Governance Charter and provide a step-by-step guide for crafting a comprehensive statement of intent.

1. Understanding the Purpose of a Data Governance Charter
2. Key Elements of a Data Governance Program Charter
3. What steps should you take to craft your data governance program charter?
4. What the Charter should not include
5. Conclusion

Understanding the Purpose of a Data Governance Charter

A Data Governance Charter defines the goals, principles, and responsibilities of any organization’s Data Governance Organisation or Office. It provides the Executive mandate, or statement of intent, for data governance, and delegates authority to the initial data governance team to begin implementation of the capability, within defined boundaries and to achieve specific goals.

Typically, this initial charter is short – a page or two of content – and will act as an input into the Data Governance Framework.

Key Elements of a Data Governance Program Charter

1. Mission Statement: A brief statement outlining the organization’s purpose and goals for data governance.
2. Objectives: A set of objectives for data governance, ideally linked to business outcomes
3. The role, responsibilities, and authority of the team that will take responsibility for establishing the data governance capability

What steps should you take to craft your data governance program charter?

1. Identify stakeholders: Identify the stakeholders who will be involved in the data governance program, including executive sponsors, data owners, data stewards, data custodians, and other stakeholders who will be responsible for implementing the program.
2. Define the scope: Define the scope of the data governance program by identifying current enterprise goals and programs and identifying data and data management activities that are critical to these outcomes. You can add to this later once the value has been shown.
3. Define the objectives: Define the objectives of the data governance program, including the goals that the program will help achieve, such as improving data quality, increasing data security, or ensuring regulatory compliance, linking these to the scope defined above.
4. Define the communication plan: Define the communication plan that will be used to keep stakeholders informed about the progress of the data governance program, including regular reports, meetings, and other communication channels.
5. Obtain approval: Obtain approval from the stakeholders who will be involved in the data governance program, including executive sponsors, data owners, data stewards, and data custodians.

By following these steps, you can establish a data governance program charter that will help ensure the effective management of your organization’s data.

What the Charter should not include

We agree that those who recommend the Charter should remain high level with the details to be established as the framework is deployed. The following elements should not be defined in the Charter.

1. The Data Governance Structure: At this early stage, the Charter should agree that a structure, roles and responsibilities should be established, without trying to constrain what this will look like
2. Data Policies and Standards: Data policies and standards should be agreed upon by the impacted data stakeholders. The Charter may touch on key data initiatives that require governance, leaving the details to implementation.
3. Data Quality Standards: A description of the standards and metrics used to assess the quality of data within the organization. While data quality is often an objective of data governance, details should be left to the implementation.
4. Data Security and Privacy: Increasing regulatory scrutiny means that ensuring Data Privacy will almost certainly be an objective for any data governance program. Again, the details should be left to the implementation

Broadly speaking, the Charter should focus on business outcomes, speaking to the needs of key stakeholders, and the steps needed to establish a capability, rather than on predetermined ideas. The implementation process will engage these stakeholders, and their reports, to agree on the details.

A sample data governance charter can be found as an appendix to our whitepaper, King III and Data Governance

Conclusion

A comprehensive Data Governance Charter is a crucial tool for any organization looking to manage, regulate, and protect its data assets. By clearly defining the business objectives for data governance, and providing an executive mandate, a well-designed charter is a clear blueprint to establish a data governance program.