Data Toboggan - Cool Runnings 2023

Submit a session for Data Toboggan – Cool Runnings, our 3rd summer edition on  Saturday 24 June 2023. 

There are two session lengths for submissions. These are: 

• 45 mins
• 10 mins

The Call for Speakers is open and awaiting your submissions on Azure Synapse related content. If you are unsure what to submit check out our YouTube channel full of past event sessions. We would love to see your sessions, new speakers or experienced speakers, so submit now.

CfS: https://sessionize.com/data-toboggan-cool-runnings-2023/

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DataToboggan

Web: https://www.datatoboggan.co.uk/

In a Nutshell Concept Map

There is lots of talk about DAMA-DMBOK2 and DCAM and this can be confusing for people who are new to data governance and data management. There are many definitions describing what data governance is. For example Wikipedia states

'Data governance is a term used on both a macro and a micro level. The former is a political concept and forms part of international relations and Internet governance; the latter is a data management concept and forms part of corporate data governance.'

I came across this article  Data Management and Data Governance in a Nutshell which has a useful concept map of data management and data governance definitions. DAMA and  DCAM are fairly well aligned now.

Microsoft achieves first CDMC certification

Microsoft achieves first Cloud Data Management Capabilities (CDMC) certification for Microsoft Purview. This has the capabilities to accelerate business move to the cloud.

The 14 Key Controls and Automations are a part of the EDM Council’s Cloud Data Management Capabilities framework formulated as a best practice to help all industries accelerate the migration of sensitive and non-sensitive data to the cloud with confidence.

There are 14 controls that make up the framework for automations

Governance and accountability

1. Data Control Compliance must be monitored for all data assets containing sensitive data through metrics and automated notifications.

2. The Ownership field in a data catalog must be populated for all sensitive data or otherwise reported to a defined workflow.

3. A register of Authoritative Data Sources and Provisioning Points must be populated for all data assets containing sensitive data.

4. The Data Sovereignty and Cross-Border Movement of sensitive data must be recorded, auditable, and controlled according to defined policy.

Cataloging and classification

5. Cataloging must be automated for all data at the point of creation or ingestion, with consistency across all environments.

6. Classification must be automated for all data at the point of creation or ingestion and must always be on.

Accessibility and usage

7. Entitlements and Access for Sensitive Data must default to the creator and owner and access must be tracked for all sensitive data.

8. Data Consumption Purpose must be provided for all Data Sharing Agreements involving sensitive data.

Protection and privacy

9. Appropriate Security Controls must be enabled for sensitive data and evidence must be recorded.

10. Data Privacy Impact Assessments must be automatically triggered for all personal data according to its jurisdiction.

Data lifecycle

11. Data Quality Measurement must be enabled for sensitive data with metrics distributed when available.

12. Data Retention, Archiving, and Purging must be managed according to a defined retention schedule.

Data and technical architecture

13. Data Lineage information must be available for all sensitive data.

14. Cost Metrics directly associated with data use, storage, and movement must be available in the catalog.

SQLBits 2023

SQLBits 2023 at the ICC in Wales, was an event with so many moving parts.  It was the biggest ever with 2576 registrations. There were people there from many countries United States, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Poland as well as the UK. It was both In-Person and Virtual.  We have Community Corner, the BitsBuddies, helpers, a quiet zone, prayer room, a counsellor on site and more. I have attended every SQLBits and helped for 10 of those. 

So many things are amazing about #SQLBits. For me it is the sharing of ideas, community and helping new people join the community. I think we often forget how hard it was when we first started attending events, standing around feeling disconnected and no one to talk to. Being female at events then was very hard. It was amazing to be a helper again and also one of the #Bitsbuddies #community .  See you next year.

SQLBits Business benefits of good governance

I am am pleased to be talking about the business benefits of good governance at SQLBits. My session includes discussion on the CODEX, a framework to help you think holistically about the management of data and database systems in an agile approach. 

SQLBits 2023 WIT Interview Series

The UnitedWeTech interview series continues by featuring the Women In Tech who are speaking at SQLBits 2023.  It was great to be a part of the SQLBits 2023 WIT Interview Series.  I talked about my upcoming session on governance and why it is important and ways to implement it. My interview can be seen here.

List of women speaking at data platform events can be found here.  

National Innovation Centre for Data: Data Strategy Report

The National Innovation Centre for Data has created a  new Data Strategy Report, compiled from last year's roundtable discussion. Download the report to read about the areas discussed and insights on the subject of data strategy.

The UK National Data Strategy Missions has 5 pillars which are aided through the new UK bodies that have been established to deal with the pace of change. The pillars are: 

• Pillar One: Unlocking the value of data across the economy 
• Pillar Two: Securing a trusted and pro-growth data regime 
• Pillar Three: Transforming government’s use of data to drive efficiency and improve public services 
• Pillar Four: Ensuring the security and resilience of the infrastructure on which data relies 
• Pillar Five: Championing the international flow of data

Various questions were considered and the report shares some key messages.

How do you build data strategy from first principles?

Key take home messages 

• First step in developing data strategy should be maturity assessment of both data and data capabilities 
• Strategy can be defensive (compliance-driven) or offensive (innovation-driven) 
• Data strategy can serve business strategy, or may become fully-fledged in its own right 
• Data strategy should be iterative

Building a data culture

Key take home messages: Three key points to discuss: 

• Ensuring wide ownership and contribution to the organisation 
• Avoiding C-suite dominance 
• Communicating and adopting data-driven culture within an organisation

To what extent should technology inform data strategy?

Key take home messages:

• Both tech and data strategy should be considered in one holistic approach
• Legacy tech / vendor lock-in should not inform data strategy
• Hierarchy should be communicated: Business -> Data -> Technology
• Data skills are hard to define and understand
• Elements of discovery and iteration are needed

Data strategy on a shoestring

Key take home messages:

• Examine business strategy for data-related objectives to develop data strategy
• Start small and iterate – bias towards action
• Become goal orientated
• Initially pick areas with less uncertainty for good case studies
• Give roles to existing staff members that have an interest in data innovation
• Use free / open-source tools to cut

Sharing data between organisations

A lot of organisations are hesitant to share their data and innovation across organisations has high value

Data skills in business and beyond

Key take home messages:

• There is a need to understand current level of skills and the level of data skills required for the roles. 
• There needs to be a connections between business skills and data skills
• Can be business specific, and is business size specific

The discussion outcomes highlighted the need for stronger definitions with maximum value being achieved from development and implementations with 

• Structures for Data Strategy development, communication and embedding
• Management tools to help guide users through the Data strategy process and;
• A community to generate, test and disseminate these.

Read the report for more details.