Nine tips to ensure information governance success

The goal of creating a trustworthy enterprise-wide information governance (IG) program is to facilitate effective management of information authority, control, accessibility, and visibility throughout the information lifecycle.  The below tips can help companies ensure that information governance remains a high priority and that information generated by day-to-day operations is treated as a valuable corporate asset that must be managed and disposed of in a responsible fashion.

The matrix above is an example of a corporate information governance program (CIGP).  Its purpose is to provide the chronology and a checklist for a company’s IG needs.  On the left you’ll note four categories which make up the foundational stages of the CIGP, along with the five steps to address in each phase...  Let’s dive in!

THE PLANNING PROCESS

Tip 1—Establish a Project Structure

Make sure your initiative is enterprise wide—the whole company should be on board.

Make relationships across all of your departments—all departments must work together.  It seems obvious, but it doesn’t always happen this way.  Everyone should be in lock step.

Define project sponsors and stakeholders.  Make sure you know who those people are and what their roles and responsibilities include.

Don’t overwhelm your sponsors and stakeholders with additional tasks—these individuals have a lot to do already and should focus on the tasks at hand.

Tip 2—Create the Right Team to Gather Information

All team members must be endorsed by senior management—all of the necessary players should be identified in this process, and every unique department should be represented.  Don’t leave anyone out, as everyone is important as part of this process.  No department should be left behind.

Business Users—these individuals know where their data is—they create it and they use it every day.  Make sure they are involved in the IG process.  Additionally, you’re going to have different, diverse lines of business—make sure that all of them are included in the process because they are all going to come in with a different viewpoint about the data that you are managing.  These lines of business will also be affected by the policies that you create so it’s imperative that they are involved.

Information Technology—IT is vital in the IG process.  These individuals know the software, hardware, data types, legacy data in your environment, information about your data backups (when they were created, how long and where they are kept, etc.)—all vital information.  They also have the personal experiences of dealing with all of the data, and most importantly, they’re the ones that are going to be implementing the processes and policies that will be enforced on all of your corporate data.

Legal, Risk, and Regulatory—these individuals know what a legal hold process is—and what data must be maintained throughout the organization.  They are also most familiar with what laws and regulations you will need to deal with within your corporation.  If you can, include a technical liaison.  At times, technical and legal can crosstalk – make sure to get someone that can speak both languages and translate for everyone.  Legal will also be in charge of developing policies for your CIGP.

Tip 3—Develop Objectives

Develop a clear picture of your current and future objectives.  Compile a business needs analysis.  You need to figure out what types of data in your organization are key – what are you using, what are you not using.  This is also the time when you should make your organization aware of your plans.  Communication across your organization is imperative throughout this entire process.

Stewardship—find out who your data owners are; identify who is loading your data so you can hold them accountable.

Timeframe—create realistic time lines.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  In order to have success, you must be able to keep the momentum going at a steady pace.

Tip 4—Prioritize Future State Objectives

Let’s be realistic—money is always a problem.  You’re going to have funding issues no matter what you try to do, even with information governance.  Undertake some projects that you know will bring success.  That’s crucial—get that initial success.  You don’t want to go in and say that you failed on your first try.  That’s not a good way to start.  In order to have success, you need to build the momentum and communicate back to your organization.  You want to make sure that everyone understands what you’re doing and how it’s progressing.  The more support you have, the more partners you’re going to make.

Tip 5—Keep the Organization Involved

Communicate.  Communicate.  Communicate.  Everyone needs to be involved in the IG process so make sure that all areas of your company are included.  If you don’t, and somebody falls behind, that’s data that you’re going to miss.

Socialize the initiative.  Almost all companies are using some form of social media these days – whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or another social platform.  Use these outlets to socialize your IG initiative.

Gamify the whole process.  Make it competitive.  Make it fun.  Make it interesting for your employees to be compliant.