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Clark University
Office of
Strategic Analytics and Institutional Research

Data Governance

data governance hero image

As an institution, we seek to have data of the highest integrity, the role of the Data Governance subcommittee is to articulate and review policies and procedures around the use of data, to produce and refine definitions, and to protect and promote quality and secure data.

Professional staff from across the University meet biweekly and include a representative from:

Goals
  • Enable better decision-making around data maintenance and use by promoting the value of data assets and maintaining quality, secure data.
  • Enhance University-wide coordination around data operations (reduce operational friction and manage data issues).
  • Protect the needs of data stakeholders.
  • Train management and staff to adopt common approaches to data issues through communicating data strategies, policies, standards, and procedures.
  • Build standard, repeatable processes for managing and maintaining data.
  • Reduce costs and increase effectiveness through coordination of efforts.
  • Ensure transparency of processes.
Areas of Focus
  • Quality and consistency: Defining, approving and communicating data standards, procedures, and metrics.
  • Policies and standards: Tracking and enforcement of conformance to data policies, standards, and procedures.
  • Security and privacy: Management of storing and security of data
  • Compliance: Understanding and promoting compliance with federal/state laws.
  • Retention and archiving.
  • Technology.
  • Access.
Outcomes
  • To have a culture that promotes the use of data accurately and proactively.
  • To have well-defined processes that lend themselves to complete, high quality data through clear definition, approval and communication of data policies processes.
Values
  1. Integrity 
    Data Governance participants will practice integrity with their dealings with each other; they will be truthful and forthcoming when discussing drivers, constraints, options, and impacts for data-related decisions.
  2. Transparency
    Data Governance and Stewardship processes will exhibit transparency; it should be clear to all participants and auditors how and when data-related decisions and controls were introduced into the processes.
  3. Auditability
    Data-related decisions, processes, and controls subject to Data Governance will be auditable; they will be accompanied by documentation to support compliance-based and operational auditing requirements.
  4. Accountability
    Data Governance will define accountabilities for cross-functional data-related decisions, processes, and controls.
  5. Stewardship
    Data Governance will define accountabilities for stewardship activities that are the responsibilities of individual contributors, as well as accountabilities for groups of Data Stewards.
  6. Checks-and-Balances
    Data Governance will define accountabilities in a manner that introduces checks-and-balances between business and technology teams as well as between those who create/collect information, those who manage it, those who use it, and those who introduce standards and compliance requirements.
  7. Standardization
    Data Governance will introduce and support standardization of enterprise data.
  8. Change Management
    Data Governance will support proactive and reactive change management activities for reference data values and the structure/use of master data and metadata.
Contact Information

Strategic Analytics and Institutional Research

Office Location

Shaich Family Alumni and Student Engagement Center (ASEC)
Rooms 421-427
939 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610

strategic-analytics@clarku.edu

Tableau Office Hours

Thursday’s from 9 – 10 a.m.

Please contact us to book a meeting during the office hours.