Aparna Chamerthi & Vijaya K Nadendla
My immediate step would be to do a data inventory, take a quick pass through the data acquisition, storage, management and access and put in place minimum security, storage and archival policies and procedures in place to prevent disaster. However it is likely that these procedures exist.
The next step would be to start up the data management initiative to protect the corporate data assets. Data enables and records business activity and measures business processes. Data enables technology to provide applications to support the business and business processes. Data enables organizations to make informed business decisions. Any data man agent strategy has to start with understanding these different aspects. Each enterprise is different and one has to be flexible to adapt to different situations. In general, I would follow these steps some of them concurrent.
o Identify the major business areas and their relationships with one another. Identify the major business objects within each business area, how these objects relate to one another, and how each object is virtually represented in terms of data.
o Identify the enterprise business processes contained within each business area and their relationships with one another. Define the major tasks of each business process and its relationship to other processes. Identify the individual pieces of data that are used in support of the execution of a business process and measures the process’ efficiency.
o Understand the customers of the company their interaction with the company and the business processes that support the interaction.
o Identify and understand the various applications & databases that support the business processes and the business data. Define what each piece of data represents, with which business areas/processes it is associated, the format in which the data is to be expressed, and how the data is named (tagged).
o Understand how data is used within the company to support business decisions ranging from accounting to marketing to CRM. Understand the detail and accuracy to which the data is needed.
o Understand (or get the user to articulate) the business needs in terms of business value. Understand the business drivers. Combine differing "visions" of the company into an integrated whole that conforms to the company's stated mission. Identify opportunities to support that mission, those needs and those practices through technology.
o Understand the existing technological and business standards and polices. Assert "best practices" among the company's peers and lead a discussion of which practices are appropriate to the company. Campaign for Data Management standards within the company including educational opportunities, talks, discussions, newsletters and emphasis by high-level management. Develop a reasonable consensus on the appropriate data management strategies, policies and practices both in business and in IT.
o Define the mid term goal or ‘end state’ of the data management strategy which can be different from the optimal state. (People should know what is the goal state we are achieving and that it is possible.). Understand business and technological change and incorporate that into the Data Warehouse strategy. Understand the risks, ROI and prioritize the tasks. Develop a road map to go from existing data management state (which is the default state in absence of well defined strategy) to the goal state making allowance for changes along the way.
