Executive’s Guide to Data Resource Management (DRM)
Organizations typically have three assets: people, money and data. The people and money aspects are well organized and generally managed with oversight from the Chief Human Capital Officer and a Chief Financial Officer. In the last 20 years, however, the value of data as a strategic asset has increased markedly as volume has grown and analytical tools have gained sophistication. Today’s fast-paced, interlinked and rapidly evolving information environment demand a structured approach to provide the right information to the right place at the right time in order to gain and maintain strategic advantage.
Government agencies have long since recognized that data is critical to accomplishing their prescribed missions, and that ultimately, it is a vital strategic asset. By making data visible, accessible, understandable, linked and trustworthy (VAULT), effective data management and stewardship will ensure that it is fit for its intended purpose. This process assures that we can identify risks while illustrating those opportunities available to achieve organizational strategic objectives.
Data-driven analysis can unleash the power of information by identifying risks and illustrating opportunities. To realize the value of data, we must organize, structure and manage that data to make it usable. Considering the staggering accumulation and increasingly complex nature of data, data resource management (DRM) is quickly gaining importance, as it improves business leaders' understanding of what their data is telling them.
As it becomes increasingly necessary to realize the value of data assets and deliver data as service, the establishment of an effective data governance program is a crucial early step. Beyond helping business leaders, data governance enhances data quality, provides operational excellence, enables business intelligence and extracts more value from organizational data. To that end, DRM facilitates the use of data assets to accomplish organizational goals and objectives by integrating data governance, management and data into a concerted action.
What is DRM?
An effective Data Strategy leverages management of and governance through a DRM program to deliver data as a service. It does this through three component efforts:
· Data Management: a program for the implementation and performance of data management functions, such as metadata management, data quality, data standards, data architecture in an effort to assess and identify its inherent value.
· Data Governance: A framework that facilitates the application of best practices in establishing, building, sustaining and optimizing data management throughout the data lifecycle.
· Data in Action: a business function that develops and executes plans, policies, practices to inform and make decisions that fulfill organizational objectives.
DRM is not:
· A rigid, prescriptive process that cannot be tailored
· A “one size fits all” approach, particularly in a Federal context where diverse statutory and policy requirements drive data access, protection and use
· Dependent on any particular technology for success
· .
This guide describes DRM and the best practices for its establishment, development and maturation.
HOW WILL DRM HELP ME?
DRM implementation ensures organization's effective use data, thus contributing to overall organizational success. Adequate DRM reflects and supports the organization’s strategic imperatives, aligns data assets with those imperatives, identifies potential conflicts in interoperability and establishes the basis for effective, cross-organizational discussions to govern and enable data services to meet mission-specific needs.
Organizations committed to a coordinated implementation of DRM are likely to see improvement in organizational effectiveness due to factors including:
· Better insight into challenging problems associated with improving processes, productivity and performance
· Increased and streamlined efficiencies to realize cost savings and effective resource allocation
· Ability to evaluate predictions accurately, develop plans and produce forecasts to increase mission assurance/reliability/effectiveness
· Improved data transparency and availability to facilitate sound organizational decision making
· Support regulatory compliance and the use of data to improve operations
GETTING STARTED WITH DRM
Establishing the framework and organizational support that will ensure DRM contributes to your mission areas and add value to your organization depends on three essential steps:
1. Establish clear objectives for data use
a. Coordinate with senior leaders in specific mission areas (functional leaders) to establish the data objectives that will support their respective missions.
i. What do you want to achieve? (e.g., push-of-a-button insight into which projects are ongoing throughout the organization at any point in time)
ii. What do you want to see? (e.g., a list of projects categorized by sub-organization)
iii. What data do you need? (e.g., project definition, unique project identifier, names of sub-organizations, etc.)
b. Establish clear management standards for data efforts
c. Ensure an adequate resourcing strategy
2. Bring participating functional leaders together at a single forum
a. Steady engagement will stimulate ongoing commitment to participation in DRM and governance
b. Align data understanding and coordinate DRM artifacts
3. Manage organizational data requirements by developing data artifacts according to the DRM strategy
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