Project: From Spreadsheets to Strategy: Elevating Data Governance in XYZ Corp
Background
XYZ Corp is a small business that has been managing its data exclusively using Excel spreadsheets. While this approach has worked in the past, the company is experiencing growth and the limitations of their current system are becoming apparent. They’ve decided it’s time to take a proactive approach to Data Governance to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of their data.
The Challenge
As a small business, XYZ Corp lacks a formalized Data Governance framework. Their data is spread across various spreadsheets, maintained by different departments, leading to inconsistencies and data quality issues. The company has recognized the need for a more structured approach to managing their data, ensuring that it is well-governed and ready to support their business decisions.
Your Task
Your role as a consultant is to help XYZ Corp lay the groundwork for a solid Data Governance program. You will be working with three main datasets:
Customer Data: Information about the company’s customers, including contact details, purchase history, and customer feedback.
Inventory Data: Details of the company’s inventory, including product descriptions, stock levels, and supplier information.
Sales Data: Records of the company’s sales transactions, including product details, quantities sold, and transaction dates.
Task 1: Data Quality Assessment
Objective: Assess the quality of the provided datasets, identifying any inconsistencies, inaccuracies, or missing values.
Deliverable: A report outlining the findings of your data quality assessment, including recommendations for cleaning and improving the data.
Task 2: Developing Data Governance Artifacts
Objective: Develop a set of Data Governance artifacts to guide the management of the company’s data.
Deliverable: A Data Governance policy document, a Data Dictionary for one of the datasets, and a set of Data Stewardship guidelines.
Task 3: Tool Recommendations
Objective: Research and recommend Data Governance tools that could help XYZ Corp manage their data more effectively, even with their current reliance on Excel.
Deliverable: A brief report outlining recommended tools, their features, and how they could benefit XYZ Corp.
Data Sets
The datasets will be provided in Excel format, reflecting the current state of the company’s data management. You will use these datasets to conduct your data quality assessment and to develop your Data Governance artifacts.