Data Governance Program Charter Template

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Project Sponsor:
Name Title Contact (Email)

Content

s
Data Governance Program Charter Template............................................................................................................ 1
Project Sponsor:......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Contents..................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1. Create a Vision Statement.................................................................................................................................. 3
2. Craft a Mission Statement................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Identify the Main Purpose.................................................................................................................................... 3
4. Document Goals and Objectives......................................................................................................................... 3
5. Identify Risks and Create an Appropriate Mitigation Strategy.............................................................................3
6. Build a Cross-Functional Project Team............................................................................................................... 4
7. Stakeholders and RACI....................................................................................................................................... 4
8. Develop Timeline and Costs for the Data Governance Project...........................................................................5
9. Identify Business Metrics..................................................................................................................................... 5
10. Identify IT Metrics.............................................................................................................................................. 6
11. Review and Approval Process.......................................................................................................................... 8

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Project Title: [Organization]’s Data Governance Program

The project title or project name is often overlooked, but it is a critical identity-building tool for the project team. The
project title should describe the project’s purpose, but also contain some reference to the company and/or project
team.

Project Sponsor: Joe Smith, Enterprise Architect; [email protected]

Version: 0.9
Date:
Projected Start and End Dates:

Although you may not know every date at this stage of the project, the start date and/or end date have usually
been identified. These can be critical to staffing the project and allocating resources.

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1. Create a Vision Statement
Any data governance program should start with a clear vision and a list of common goals to ensure alignment right
from the start. The vision should clearly articulate the desired state for the data governance program.

Example: [Organization name] is dedicated to creating a data governance program that will foster a standard
approach to processing, retrieving, archiving, and restoring data with shared responsibility between the business
and IT.

2. Craft a Mission Statement

The mission statement outlines what the data governance will do.

Example: The data governance program will help [organization name] to successfully manage and maintain data
resources, ensuring the integrity, reliability, availability, and compliance of organizational data and information.

3. Identify the Main Purpose

The purpose statement should summarize the main business problem.

Example: In recent years, the business has experienced a vast increase of data sources with applications that
serve 10 lines of business. The growth in data sources has not been accompanied by new roles and
responsibilities. There is confusion around who owns the data. IT and the business are constantly blaming one
another for issues in quality and compliance.

4. Document Goals and Objectives

Document a list of common goals for the business and IT.

Goals & Objectives

1. Establish business unit ownership to enhance data quality.
2. Create a standard set of policies, procedures, and standards.
3. Construct data governance committees and assign responsibilities accordingly.

5. Identify Risks and Create an Appropriate Mitigation Strategy

When trying to identify risks, think of the following: who is likely to push back? What capabilities will be difficult to
revise? For each risk, identify possible mitigation steps.

Risk Mitigation Steps

Highlighting positive benefits in a business case will
Budget constraints and a lack of stakeholder
help overcome the challenges associated with launching
participation.
the data governance program.
End-user refusal to adhere to new policies, Create mechanisms to ensure adherence, such as
procedures, and standards. monitoring and supervision.
Rely on internal transfers or role-sharing rather than
Inadequate budget for additional staffing resources.
external hiring.

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 Risk Mitigation Steps
Having best practices such as formal communication
Push back on proposed organizational structure plans, data governance steering committees, and data
changes and new roles. owners in place will help to overcome challenges with
organizational readiness.

6. Build a Cross-Functional Project Team

Project Participants - Project Charter Team

Name Role Contact Information

7. Stakeholders and RACI

It is essential to identify project stakeholders and RACI. Do not let the tasks fall through the cracks or inter-
functional communication. Define the roles and responsibilities for the project as early as possible.

Subject
Data Data IT Director/ Business Database
CDO Matter
Stewards Owner Manager Analysts Administrators
Experts
Assess
Readiness for a R C I I A I I
DG Project
Structure the
DG Project
R I I C A C C
Identify
Business R I C C A I I
Requirements
Assess Solution
Initiatives
R I I C A C C

Create Data
Governance R C C C A C C
Roadmap
Complete
Communication R I I I A I I
Plan
Execute Data
Governance R I C C A C C
Rollout

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8. Develop Timeline and Costs for the Data Governance Project
Key Activities Start Date End Date Target Status Resource(s)

Assess
Readiness

Create Project
Charter
Identify
Business
Requirements
Assess
Solution
Initiatives
Prioritize
Solutions
Complete
Roadmap

Create
Communication
Plan

Implement and
Roll Out Data
Governance

Approximate Total Annual Cost of the Data Governance Program:

______________________

9. Identify Business Metrics

Establish metrics that will be used to determine if the data governance program is deemed effective. Set targets for
each metric. Collect current data to calculate the metrics and establish a baseline. Assign an owner for tracking
each metric as well as someone to be accountable for performance.

Accountability Accountability
Metric Target
for Tracking for Performance
Percent of operational
costs reduced post data
governance launch

Number of data
breaches/ non-
compliance issues

Timely regulatory
reporting adherence
Improvement in cross-

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 selling/up-selling from
improved data
governance
Customer attrition
Accuracy and timeliness
of risk calculations
Business analyst time
spent on data collection
and preparation vs. time
spent on analysis
Critical data and
processes with ownership
defined
Business processes with
RACI defined
Auditability report – 90% auditable
percent of critical data
elements that can be
audited and traced
New customer retention 75% retention
rates
Reduction in total cost of
ownership with programs
under data governance
M&A cycle time
Increase in market share
Percent reduction of time
spent in manual
adjustments
Overall reduction in IT
spend due to information
rationalization

10. Identify IT Metrics

Establish metrics from IT’s perspective that will be used to determine if the data governance program is deemed
effective. Set targets for each metric. Collect current data to calculate the metrics and establish a baseline. Assign
an owner for tracking each metric as well as someone to be accountable for performance.

Accountability Accountability
Metric Target
for Tracking for Performance
Data quality – percent of
data that is accurate,
90% data accuracy
reliable, redundant, or
complete
Percent of architectural
conformance to 90% conformance
compliance
Percent conformance to
organization’s data 90% conformance
models
Percent conformance to
90% conformance to
data management
naming standards
standards

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Percent reduction of
staffing resources due to 10% reduction
governance initiatives
Percent reduction,
elimination, or
standardization of 10% reduction
infrastructure due to
governance initiatives
Percent of critical data
90% definitions
and processes with
established
ownership defined
Percent of IT processes
90% defined
with RACI defined
Percent of “rogue” data
(data without lineage or 80% captured
traceability) captured
Improvement in batch run
time
Performance in providing
data to business for ad
hoc queries

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11. Review and Approval Process
Describe who will review the project charter and what the approval process will be.

Project Sign-Off
This project has been approved with the following conditions:
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Full Name
Date
Position, [Company Name]

This project has not been approved for the following reasons:
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Full Name
Date
Position, [Company Name]

_____________________________________________________

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