Data Governance Advisory Workgroup (DGAW)

Background

Data Governance Advisory Workgroup

The Data Governance Advisory Workgroup (DGAW) was established by the Chancellor’s Office in collaboration with The Research and Planning Group (RP Group) and the Chief Information Systems Officer’s Association (CISOA). The workgroup was formed based on insights from the Statewide Common Technology Platform (SCTP) Task Force, which evaluated statewide common technology solutions and recommended a Statewide Data Management Transformation.

The purpose of the workgroup is to provide

• Ongoing advice and counsel to the Chancellor’s Office on community colleges’ information technology and data governance policy and operations.
• Feedback based on the analysis and simulation of current and proposed policies regarding data governance, data sharing, and data platforms to support effective implementation, fiscal health, and student-centered design

Vision

Empower the California Community College System with trusted, secure, and well-governed data to consistently deliver meaningful insights that support student success and achieve Vision 2030 goals.

Mission

Establish robust data governance guidelines, policies, and practices through a collaborative culture of continuous improvement and transparency to ensure data integrity, quality, accessibility, and security, effectively empowering local and systemwide stakeholders to support informed decision-making for equitable student outcomes and institutional effectiveness.

Statewide Association Representation

The Data Governance Advisory Workgroup meets on a quarterly basis and is led by the Chancellor’s Office, CISOA, and The RP Group and includes three chairs and 18 members with representation from across 13 statewide associations.

Where We Have Been

In November 2024, the Data Governance Advisory Workgroup held their first meeting where workgroup members aligned on the importance of data governance and the need for a systemwide conversation and coordination to drive student outcomes.

A data governance discovery effort was launched to understand current data governance practices. This effort involved interviews with statewide data platform leaders and stakeholders and review of existing documentation to identify leading practices and areas of opportunity to inform the Workgroup’s priorities and roadmap.

Where We Are Going

Based on the priorities and roadmap, DGAW is developing data governance frameworks, templates and standards available for utilization statewide to help address local and system-wide data governance needs. The focus of DGAW’s effort is on the following domains:

1. Data Protection and Privacy — Standards and processes that enable secure sharing of data. automated sensitive data tagging and classifying restricted data.
2. Data Quality Management — Produces high quality and consistent data that maintains reliability for data assets. This includes the monitoring and measurement of data health.
3. Data Glossary and Dictionary — Ensures that data is understandable, drives user adoption, augments data quality rules, and creates greater data transparency.
4. Policy, People, and Process — Provides structure including a formal operating model, roles, policies, standards, ownership, stewardship, and a formal data governance program.

The four domains are enabled by robust change management, with a focus on data literacy and training, consistent communication, and enablement of DGAW and data governance tactical groups, in addition to technology and analytics, which focuses on reducing manual processes, optimizing resources, and efficiently remediating issues.