Evaluation of the present state of data management within a business is a must when you need to improve the process. As a matter of fact, the focus should be on the best practices and measuring the data management process against it can reveal the benefits. Using the DAMA guide to the Data Management Body of Knowledge amalgamated with the other approach called CMM, is one of the most popular approaches that the organizations can use for measuring the effectiveness of data management maturity. The DMBOK was written to provide a detailed guideline related to data management meant for the professionals with different levels of expertise. The book also investigates in detail the primary practice areas of data management.
Overview of the document
The DMBOK acts as a document employed for different areas of data management, but the primary role of this document is to assess the functions and the practices related to data management. When used as a tool, this document provides every business with adequate knowledge of the key practice areas of data management that are relevant to them. Before starting the assessment, businesses may want the focus to be on a single aspect, and quite naturally reducing the focus on the other areas. Under such circumstances, they can deal with only one KPA at a time instead of different areas.
Beginning the assessment
When the Data Management Consulting Companies begin the work of measuring the maturity of data management, the basic aspect to keep in mind are the businesses lines to consider and the questions to be asked to the stakeholders of the business while conducting their interview. The questions can be broken down into different areas to get more specific answers. For instance, the questions can be related to all the key practice areas of data management, data security management and data architecture management.
Why maturity model
The maturity model is among the most valuable tools used for planning new strategic programs and also looks into the sustainability of those programs. Just as in the case of data governance programs, the maturity model must also revolve around the priorities, competencies and the goals of the organization. This model is also considered valuable to assess the expansive programs instead of relying on performance measurement through the ROI or the return on investment that may not be adequate for the data governance programs. Another reason to emphasize the use of this model is the consistent measurement of the strategic programs over a period of time. When companies use the maturity model, the data governance programs can finally exceed the boundaries and their life span is measured in years rather than in months alone. With stable metrics, you can get assistance while displaying the accomplishment of the program to the sponsors thereby demonstrating to the participants how the effectiveness of the model is capable of driving major changes within an organization.
Usefulness of the assessments
The DMBOK Maturity Assessment is a tool that helps in establishing, sustaining, and gaining support for the programs of data governance. If a company establishes the maturity model during the initiation of the program, it becomes easy to reassess the programs regularly, to create goals and tracking the progress. As the requirements of data and the structure of every organization vary greatly, the maturity assessment techniques are to be customized to suit the requirements of every organization. For instance, you have to consider the maturity level of each component based on the results of the initial maturity assessment along with the component that the data governance board establishes. Based on the schedule of the initial assessment, the maturity model tool can be used once again to find out whether the data governance program is worthy enough to meet the goals.
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