Data Governance Taxonomy: Cloud versus Non-Cloud

Majid Al-Ruithe,Elhadj Benkhelifa,Khawar Hameed

doi:10.3390/su10010095

Abstract

Forward-thinking organisations believe that the only way to solve the data problem is the implementation of effective data governance. Attempts to govern data have failed before, as they were driven by information technology, and affected by rigid processes and fragmented activities carried out on a system-by-system basis. Until very recently, governance has been mostly informal, with very ambiguous and generic regulations, in siloes around specific enterprise repositories, lacking structure and the wider support of the organisation. Despite its highly recognised importance, the area of data governance is still underdeveloped and under-researched. Consequently, there is a need to advance research in data governance in order to deepen practice. Currently, in the area of data governance, research consists mostly of descriptive literature reviews. The analysis of literature further emphasises the need to build a standardised strategy for data governance. This task can be a very complex one and needs to be accomplished in stages. Therefore, as a first and necessary stage, a taxonomy approach to define the different attributes of data governance is expected to make a valuable contribution to knowledge, helping researchers and decision makers to understand the most important factors that need to be considered when implementing a data governance strategy for cloud computing services. In addition to the proposed taxonomy, the paper clarifies the concepts of data governance in contracts with other governance domains.

Highlights

We are accustomed to the concepts of information technology (IT) governance [1] and corporate governance [2]
Data management solutions alone are becoming very expensive and are unable to cope with the reality of everlasting data complexity
Forward-thinking organisations believe that the only way to solve the data problem will be the implementation of effective data governance

Summary

Introduction

We are accustomed to the concepts of information technology (IT) governance [1] and corporate governance [2]. Some authors in the literature argues that organisations should obtain responsibility for data from the information technology (IT) department, with the participation and commitment of IT staff, business management, and senior-level executive sponsorship in the organization [15] Experts in this field show that where organisations do not implement data governance, the chaos is not as obvious, but the indicators are glaring, including dirty, redundant, and inconsistent data; inability to integrate; poor performance; terrible availability; little accountability; users who are increasingly dissatisfied with IT performance; and a general feeling that things are out of control [16]. The general consensus among authors is that data governance refers to the entirety of decision rights and responsibilities concerning the management of data assets in organisations This definition does not, provide equal prominence for data governance within the cloud computing technology context. The final Section presents the conclusions, limitations of research and future work

What Is Data Governance and Why Is It Important?

Review of the Literature on Data Governance

Cloud Service Delivery Model

Findings

Conclusions