Chapter 4

The data governance business case

 A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge.

—Peter Drucker

The Business Case

Data governance is a business program; therefore, it needs to add value to the business. However, since data governance is a program dealing in abstracts (data as an asset), it is similar to other programs where tangible results are hard to see, such as marketing or finance. The CEO will acknowledge the need for marketing and certainly the need for a finance area, but a detailed, hard-dollar justification for these areas (as for DG) is usually not sitting in a folder on a desk somewhere.

Is a business case even required for DG? Suppose the CEO says, “I know we really need this, and it is like marketing—so ...

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