One of my clients recently asked how often they should be assessing their Data Governance maturity. Now, this is a good question because I think so many people underestimate the speed at which they're able to implement Data Governance and, as such, a Data Governance maturity assessment is a great tool for seeing what progress has actually been made and what needs to be focused on next. With that in mind, let's explore Data Governance maturity assessments in more detail.

Understanding Data Governance Maturity Assessments

Data Governance maturity assessments provide a structured framework for understanding current strengths, identifying gaps and highlighting areas for improvement in an organisation's Data Governance. But, the timing of carrying out these assessments is important because, as I mentioned above, Data Governance does take longer than you think, so you don't want to overestimate the amount of assessments you need. You want to find a balance between making improvements and not overwhelming the team or resources.

Recommended Frequency of Assessments

Based on my experience, assessing your Data Governance maturity should be done no more often than once a year. The rationale behind this is that, realistically, organisations can only make so many changes within a short space of time. If you carry out a reassessment too soon not enough will have changed within the time frame to justify the effort of a full reassessment. And you don't want to bug people, who are already very busy, by asking for their time too often.

A yearly assessment would be the best option for most organisations, depending on the pace of change and the maturity of their Data Governance program. The key is to match how often maturity is assessed with the organisation's ability to make the changes between each reassessment. I think the best way to do this is to have a look and understand what's been moving on in your organisation and whether it's worth reassessing at this point.

Beyond Maturity Assessments: Communication and Culture

These assessments are also really good at telling an organisation's progress in creating a data culture and effective communication. When you're looking at the results of a Data Governance maturity assessment, don't take every result to mean that you're not doing certain things - it might be your communication at fault rather than the fact that you haven't done something!

I can recall times during my early career in Data Governance when I'd got results back from a maturity assessment and been devastated because it stated that we hadn't done something that we had actually worked really hard on doing! I remember thinking, ‘We've done that. Why are they saying there are no data owners in this area? There clearly are!’

And then when I actually thought about it, I realised that yes, we'd done the work as a Data Governance team but what we hadn't done was communicate it to the wider audience. And the problem with this is that Data Governance doesn't work unless everybody's on board. You need to make a culture change and for that, you need to communicate. If people don’t know what you’ve achieved it’s as though it hasn’t happened for them!

Conclusion

Data Governance maturity assessments are brilliant tools for guiding and measuring the progress of an organisation's Data Governance efforts. However, they are most valuable when done at a pace that aligns with the organisation's ability to make change. Whether done every six months or annually, the focus should always be on actionable steps and creating a culture that values data as a business asset.

As always, if you have any questions or need further support with optimising your Data Governance initiatives, feel free to book a call with me using the button below.

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