Strategic Partnerships

This page is where the Office of Data Governance (ODG) shares an overview of key projects & strategic initiatives. 

Spring 2024 Update 

Data Governance Strategy Development   

There are two major activities underway to inform the future directions of data governance at WashU.   

Data Leadership began socializing the draft Data & Analytics Roadmap with key leaders and groups to obtain feedback about the roadmap. This roadmap is intended to be a university plan that includes Data Enablement and Governance as a strategic priority. The socialization phase will continue into the fall.   

The review of the existing Data Governance Program is underway. The purpose of the review is to understand the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of the program to inform the next chapter of data governance at WashU.  

A survey is underdevelopment to be administered to the data stewardship community (approximately 300 data users). We are also conducting a landscape analysis of peer data governance programs to help shape our new strategy.  

Collibra   

The DG Team continues to work closely with WashU’s data stewardship community to increase data maturity.

Recently, the DG Team began working on several technology enhancements, one of which is an Edge Migration Process which enables increased security. Migration efforts were completed by the targeted date of August 31, 2024. 

Strategic Partnerships & Presentations  

The DG Team presented at Collibra’s Data Citizen conference and the Higher Education Data Warehousing (HEDW) conference. We also began a two-part series for educating WashU Technology Administration Community (WU-TAC) on WashU’s Data Governance Program. Part 2 will be conducted in Sept.    

The DG team also began working with Enterprise Applications (EA) to expand the awareness and usage of Data Sharing Agreements.  

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Winter 2024 Update 

Business Glossary Readiness   

The DG Team continues working closely with functional areas across WashU to have metadata defined and to achieve an approved state. DG leadership continues working with Data Administrators on opening the remaining business glossaries to increase our data domain glossary footprint and continue to expand institutional adoption.  

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Migration   

GA4 provides enhanced analytical services measuring digital traffic and engagement across websites and applications. We currently utilize GA4 for enhanced behavioral metrics within our Data Intelligence platform, Collibra, the DG website (Data at WashU), and the IR sites. We are excited about the GA4 capabilities it will provide for showcasing more powerful metrics.   

Collibra Technical Projects Planning & Workflow Trainings (WF)  

Christy, led six workflow training sessions for our data stewardship communities and provided training materials that enable our WashU data users to propose new data assets or changes to them on the Collibra platform directly.   

WUSM Data Governance Framework for Data Access   

Data leadership continues to stay connected with Jen Stedelin & Adam Wilcox regarding status on the WUSM DG framework becoming operationalized. WUSM’s framework is focused on data access towards building and supporting a sustainable process which includes utilizing Service Now and potentially Collibra as a conduit in the future.  

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Fall 2023 Update 

Business Glossary Openings & Renewal  

We are pleased to announce three additional business glossaries are now open: Advancement, Innovation and Facilities Planning & Management data domain. In addition, the Student data domain glossary is open to Student Affairs & Engagement stewards and the Advancement data governance lead. These glossaries help to ensure our WashU community is speaking the same language by clearing up ambiguity in data terminology.  

WUSM Data Governance Framework for Data Access   

The DG team has been collaborating with the Deputy CIO on WUSM’s data access to determine the best approach on identifying and aligning a stewardship structure to represent the Clinical data domain. We have also been exploring Service Now as a future option for governing and managing a data access process.  

Data & Analytics Roadmap Development   

Data leadership contributed to the design and process of the stakeholder focus groups for obtaining input to inform the WashU Data & Analytics Strategy Roadmap. This effort is led by IT Data Management and Analytics team.   

Higher Education Data Warehouse Panel for Data Governance   

DG team is invited to participate on a panel facilitated by the Higher Education Data Warehouse at the end of summer. The other panelists represent Stanford, University of Utah, and Western Governors University. The theme of the panel is sharing progress & obstacles towards fulfilling the promise of a Data Governance Program.   

Data Governance Strategy Development    

The DG team held a planning retreat to identify priorities, objectives, key results for the next two years. We are expanding on the outputs from the retreat and developing a multi-year strategy plan. DG Leadership, Rooji Sugathan (IT Data Management & Analytics), David Valentine-Elam (Chief Privacy Officer) are working together to shape the new charge and purpose of the Data Governance Council. The data collected for the Data & Analytics Roadmap will help to inform the charge.   

Data Stewardship Communities Stakeholder Analysis   

The DG team is currently reviewing each functional area across the data domains as part of revamping our stewardship approach. We are documenting our findings and building recommendations to follow-up with Data Administrators.   

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Summer 2023 Update 

The DG Team continues to make great progress on the roadmap for:  

1) Onboarding and training new data domains & functional areas. 

2) Initiating data quality awareness discussions with stewards. 

3) Building stewardship workstreams focused on metadata management goals. 

Business Glossary Metrics, as of June 30, 2023 

In partnership with Rooji Sugathan (IT Data Management & Analytics) and David Valentine-Elam (Chief Privacy Officer) we are working to refresh the Data Governance Council for the upcoming academic year. A landscape analysis of peer data governance programs is helping to inform the new approach.   

In addition, the DG team and David Valentine-Elam are working to assess the capability of Collibra to house David’s data privacy work to ensure the integration with the DG content. 

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