EDM Resources
Enterprise Data Management
Enterprise Data Management (EDM), the professional focus of DataWise, Inc., has a very broad scope. Unlike software development and engineering, which regardless of the approach (waterfall, agile, hybrid) logically has a linear sequence – requirements, design, development, testing, deployment, maintenance – data management involves virtually every role in an organization, from the summer intern entering data in a system to the chief executive’s requirements for analytics and reporting, and consists of numerous processes and persistent products.
We define Enterprise Data Management and its primary goal as follows:
The goal of Enterprise Data Management is to increase trust and confidence in corporate data assets and support progressive evolution towards the target state. It is a permanent function, encompassing multiple integrated disciplines, constituting the capabilities of an organization to:
- Precisely define, easily integrate and effectively retrieve and share data for both internal use and external communication
- Publish and promote policies, processes, standards and governance practices which are conducive to improving data quality, integration, optimization, and standardization of the enterprise data layer.
Data management activities have always been occurring in multiple functions and business processes across an organization, as well as within information technology projects, but historically, they have been project-based, often not reused or extended enterprise-wide.
When an organization realizes the need to manage data as a critical asset and is ready to act decisively, we advocate that it should commit to establishing and building an organization-wide program. We define an Enterprise Data Management Program as follows:
- The infrastructure, programs, projects and staff resources that an organization commits to for the purpose of establishing and following sound data management practices for its prioritized data assets. An EDM Program typically includes three primary components:
- The Data Management Organization (DMO), a centralized organizational unit, focused on establishing and promoting consistent best practices for ‘enterprise data’ (e.g., shared, highly shared, and mission critical data)
- Data Governance, structured collaborative decision-making with representation across the organization, pertaining to ‘enterprise data’
- Data Management Initiatives/Projects – data management activities and resulting products, with a beginning, middle, and end, designated actors and RACI, and corresponding milestones and funding.
Most of DataWise’s work, and our CEO’s dedicated focus since 2010, has been to assist organizations, data management professionals and business data experts to evaluate, plan, and implement successful EDM Programs, and provide training and education for individual acceleration and empowerment in EDM Program roles.
The Data Management Maturity (DMM)SM Model
The DMM offers a sound, substantive yardstick on which to assess and rapidly improve data management capabilities. As Director of Data Management Products and Services for the CMMI Institute, our CEO managed the development and publication of the DMM and it is a conceptual foundation for much of our work. Hundreds of organizations have leveraged the DMM to take a snapshot of their current progress and create roadmaps and initiatives corresponding with their business priorities.
