Data modeling is data governance. We define data governance as the execution and enforcement of authority over the definition, production, and usage of data and data-related assets. To manage data begins with governing how we define the data. This is also the most basic goal of delivering quality data models: Delivering high-quality data definitions that meet organizational requirements. Therefore, if you agree with how we define data governance, you also agree that data modeling itself is a form of governing data, governing how we define your data.
Data modeling is all about data definition but has a much wider impact on the data of your organization. The quality of the data definition has a direct impact on many other aspects of the data lifecycle. Quality data definition affects how we produce data and affects how we use the data throughout the organization.
Let us restate these as facts: The quality of data definition has a direct impact on the quality of the production and usage of the data.
If quality data definition is that important, then we better make certain that we execute and enforce authority over how we define data. That means that we must govern the process of how we define data. Again, data modeling is a discipline that we must govern, making data modeling data governance.
Data Modeling is data governance, or at least a piece of data governance, because it takes discipline, which is necessary to make certain the design of data is the way it needs to be. Organizations that do not model their data have more difficulties improving the value they get from their data because their data becomes riddled with inconsistency and misunderstanding. Ask any organization that does not model their data if their data is being governed. The answer will be “no.”
Read the 15-page whitepaper “Data Modeling is a Form of Data Governance” by Robert Seiner to discover the three actions of governing data. Also, learn about focusing a data governance program on the three actions, applying non-invasive data governance to the three actions, and why data modeling is data governance.