Is Information an Asset or a Resource?
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You've got the data - but do you treat it like an asset or a resource?
The overall acceptance of the idea of an MDM program, especially when it is driven by IT strategy, depends on the organizational culture. It is easier to get an organizational and executive buy-in in the organizations that have developed mature policies on their informational assets and data governance practices.
Some companies, early adopters, have already recognized information as a key corporate asset. These companies have created dedicated roles and positions responsible for informational assets, e.g. Chief Data Officer, dedicated data governance officers, data stewards and other roles specifically dedicated to information development as a line of business, complete with KPIs and target metrics.
Even if your organization is not there yet with formally defined data governance positions, the organizational mindset and attitude towards information, information governance and information development are important for defining and building an MDM business case.
Almost every organization has a high-level data policy that states the importance of data and information for the organization. When the organization is working on a justification for MDM, it may be a good idea to review the data policies and augment them if needed by asking questions:
- Do your data policies require that information be managed as a corporate asset?
- Do your data policies require accountabilities through metrics and KPIs for informational assets?
Many organizations have had data policies that do not set any specific requirements for data metrics and accountabilities. The stakeholders may find it “convenient” as such policies do not force or even prompt any actions. These organizations do not really manage information as an asset but rather as a resource for business applications.
Information-as-Asset and Information-as-Resource are two different organizational philosophies, and it is important to understand where your organization stands and where it needs to be.
More demanding data governance policies call for an adherence to the principles of accountability, transparency, traceability and measurability for the quality of key data assets. Adoption of these principles is likely to help justify MDM in general and facilitate an adoption and use of the Economic Value method for MDM business case.
Next week: the conclusion to this series on Building a Business Case for MDM. Do you have any questions that haven’t yet been answered? Ask them in the comments.
This is part of Larry Dubov's series, Building a Business Case for MDM. Visit the table of contents for any posts you may have missed.
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Great post. Data policies, and accountability through metrics that measure compliance to those policies, is the essence of data governance. I often make an comparison to HR (which may be more appropriately call human asset management). HR is about defining and enforcing policies regarding how people are managed as an enterprise asset. Companies have dedicated HR organizations. Companies that are good at HR (P&G, GE, etc.) ultimately derive a great deal of competitive advantage. Data should be treated with no less regard, which is why a dedicated data organization is a pre-requisite for effective management of data.
Lawrence,
An excellent and valuable post. I have been working in the field of asset management/asset information management for many years, so can relate well to your post.
In my opinion a resource is something that is consumed and is possibly provided by others for this purpose. Whereas an asset is something that needs to be created, cared for, maintained, updated and retired at the end of its use.
Any organisation which treats information as a resource using the definition provided above is probably not going to survive for long.
Organisations which treat their information as an asset and utilise similar approaches for its management as they would for a physical asset is likely to be able to continue to grow and improve.
Even in the asset management world, where there is widespread understanding of how you manage a physical asset, there is much talk of managing information as an asset and what this may entail, but there are not many companies that I have come across that are actually achieving this.
One organisation which has made good steps in this direction are London Underground who stipulated in the PPP agreements for their maintenance contractors (Tube Lines and the former Metronet) that information was a class of asset. As such the asset should be managed and improved over the duration of the PPP agreement and be returned to London Underground in a better state than it was provided. Although there only a few actual words in the PPP agreement covering this, these few words have significant impact on the management of information.
I would be interested if you are aware of any other organisations that have successfully adopted such an approach.
Julian
Winston and Julian,
Thank you for your comments.
Julian - Answering your question, I am working with a few organizations in this direction. Overall the level of adoption of data governance metrics is very low. This is a huge niche and the next wave of data governance especially as it relates to master data.
As per Gartner, 2010 will have a significant focus on metrics. I can't say I always agree with what industry analysts say but I totally agreetheir prediction. Data governance metrics and accountabilities for these metrics will have increasingly growing sigificance. The question what a good set of metrics is is not a trivial one. This question on itself requires a combination of fit-for-purpose approach and data science.
Best,
Larry
Hi Lawrence,
Great points with respect to data governance. We are working on an open source data governance solution within our community that encompasses many of your qualitiies of accountability, traceability, measurability, etc. Would love your take on it when you have some time http://mike2.openmethodology.org/wiki/Information_Governance_Solution_Offering