What is Data Governance

Data governance ensures data remain private, secure, accurate, available, and fit for use. The Data Governance Program is a framework of principles, policies, and standards for how data at Dartmouth are created, processed, accessed, stored, and archived or deleted.

Why do we need a Data Governance Program

Dartmouth's institutional data are strategic assets that merit a coordinated management approach.  The university has traditionally managed data on a department-by-department basis. The Data Governance Program establishes a centralized framework that promotes consistency across the institution and ensures strong stewardship of Dartmouth's most critical data.

Your Role in Data Governance

The responsibility of governing data is a shared institutional responsibility.  In practice, the way data governance shapes your daily work depends on your role at the university.  The Data Governance Program has formal roles, but most community members support data governance without formal designated roles.

Data Governance in Everyday Practice

Data governance shapes everyday work in ways you may already recognize including the following examples.

  • Employees should keep their computers and other electronic devices secure from unauthorized access.
  • Employees accountable for the accuracy of data and records should ensure data integrity within the systems they manage.
  • When onboarding new personnel, hiring managers should ensure those individuals receive proper training and understand, for example, under what circumstances sensitive data can be released.
  • Before building an integration from a data source to a new endpoint, a developer should confirm that the requester has data steward approval to receive the data.
  • Everyone who works with data, from a faculty member entering grades to an administrator pulling monthly financial reports, is responsible for handling data in accordance with applicable policies.

Data Governance in Action

The following are common scenarios of data governance in action.

  • Student Records - When a student's enrollment status, GPA, or financial aid eligibility is updated in one system, data governance ensures that same accurate information flows correctly to the registrar, advising platforms, and reporting dashboards.
  • Institutional Reporting - When a provost's office submits enrollment or graduation rate data to the federal government, data governance ensures every school is using the same definition of "full-time student."
  • Human Resources - When HR processes a faculty promotion, salary adjustment, or performance review, data governance defines who is permitted to view, edit, or share that information.
  • Finance - Data governance means that financial data are accurate, consistently defined across multiple schools, and only accessible to authorized personnel.
  • Advancement - Data governance means that donor records, giving histories, and prospect information are accurate and handled in strict accordance with donor privacy expectations and legal obligations.