#2 - From a crispy tofu bowl to Data expectations
This article aims at presenting Data Governance beneficiaries along with their expectations, thanks to a cripsy tofu bowl.
Hello world,
As the previous article shown up the WHAT and the WHY behind Data Governance, let’s focus on the FOR WHO, by going back to a short time ago (where restaurants and terraces were closed), in a galaxy not-so-far away…
A tasty anecdote
An angle
This crispy tofu bowl.
You perfectly remember this crispy tofu bowl.
Cooked that perfectly at this restaurant you loved to go
(yes, its terrace is closed from now on, but you hold on)
You tried. Oh yes, you tried!
But on this day of May 2020, trying to fry tofu in your kitchen wearing your favorite lockdown T-shirt was a total disaster, perhaps even more for your self-esteem than for your T-shirt itself.
So yes, you would give the right amount of money,
for eating this delicious
and freshly fried crispy tofu bowl,
right now,
at your favorite restaurant.
Another angle
This crispy tofu bowl.
You perfectly remember this crispy tofu bowl.
Cooked with love at the crowded restaurant you used to work at.
(yes, this restaurant’s dining room and terrace are closed from now on, but you hold on)
You tried. Oh yes, you tried!
But there was no way for your restaurant to stay fully open as it was before the lockdown, as doing so would have been a total disaster.
So yes, you would love to cook again
making your clients happy to pay
for eating on site, not only for take-away
your delicious and freshly fried crispy tofu bowl,
but right now, you need your restaurant to stay client-free.
WHO to govern Data for?
In my previous article, and for any given digital services provider, Data Governance was described as
“An opportunity to create a trust relationship with the Client1”
Even if you are aware of being a client of the crispy tofu bowl’s restaurant evoked in the anecdote thereabove, you might ask yourself who is Data Governance’s “Client”. In other words, who benefit from Data Governance?
Actually, Data Governance’s Client can either stand for a Customer, an Employee or a Partner. Also, each of these roles are being attributable either to a Natural Person (you, apparently) or a Legal Person (a corporation, an administrative entity, ...).
At this point, questions arising are:
Do we create this trust relationship the same way for a Customer, an Employee and a Partner?
What are these people’s expectations before sharing their data, or before consuming data?
Why aren’t you eating your crispy tofu bowl right now 🍜? It’s getting cold…
To be able to answer these questions, let’s introduce the beneficiaries of Data Governance: the Data Owner and the Data Consumer.
The Data Owner, where it all begins
The Data Owner (e.g. a Natural or Legal Person who produces data, not crispy tofu bowls) will have certain expectations prior to sharing its data with trust: Benefits, Transparency and Control2:
- Benefits: the value provided to the Data Owner derived from data collection: it can be about being paid, feeling useful for the community, getting access to similar data sources, get a customized service, get free crispy toful bowls,…
- Transparency: the extent to which the Data Owner understands which data is being collected and how it is used. For example, listing Personal Data usages, processings and data processors (the persons accountable for the data processings) is part of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance prerequisites.
In addition, any digital service provider using external Data would be inspired to:
“Explain Data usage to Data Owners, to drive trust and favour feedback, for service quality improvement”3
Few digital service provider companies - no advertisement - also understood that a set of clear and short explanations are way more user-friendly and easy-to-trust than only proposing this tiny check box hiding 120 pages of General Terms of Use.
- Control: the extent to which the Person communicates about the ways the Data Owner can control its data access, data collection, data processings and data transfer, to generate a feeling of confidence and security.
The Data Consumer, where it all ends
The Data Consumer (e.g. a Natural or Legal Person who uses data, not crispy tofu bowls) will have other expectations than Data Owner prior to consuming data according to a digital service provider:
Data Catalog: most of the time, you exactly know where to find your real-life products, but you cannot consume a product which you don’t know the existence of yet. Data catalog is the place to find data existence, along with its meaning and quality.
Data Quality: is a world in itself, embedding at least data completeness, availability, freshness and lineage (e.g. traceability). Also, when this unknown fisherman from a local market screams his fish is the freshest in town, you usually do not trust him until at least one client also tells you his fish is gold. This is why Data Quality must be assessed by both the Data Owner and Data Consumers community to create trust and further consumption. A bunch of famous marketplaces understood that years ago.
Data Legality / Ethicness: most people are reluctant with consuming illegal or unethical products. Data being a product, has it been legally and ethically collected? Could it be consumed accordingly? Ethics and legality around Data collection and consumption must be addressed by Data Governance.
Data Diversity: a key stake to avoid Artificial Intelligence (AI) models suffering from bias4. Amazon learnt from this a few years ago.
Data exchange performance: While proceeding to the home delivery of your crispy tofu bowl, you are expecting to get your meal by the next 30 minutes. Potentially impacting data freshness, Data exchange performance is the duration to make data accessible once the Data Consumer asked for it. As an example, it could be the expected response time while querying an Application Programing Interface (API).
Now, and in such a way as to establish the parallel between the poké bowl with crousti'tofu and the expectations related to the data, let’s repeat the anecdote from the beginning of the article, adding real chunks of Data Governance inside!
A tasty anecdote II
This crispy tofu bowl.
You perfectly remember this crispy tofu bowl.
Cooked that perfectly at this restaurant you loved to go #Consumer
(yes, its terrace is closed from now on, but you hold on)
You tried. Oh yes, you tried!
But on this day of May 2020, trying to fry tofu in your kitchen wearing your favorite lockdown T-shirt was a total disaster, perhaps even more for your self-esteem than for your T-shirt itself.
So yes, you would give the right amount of money,
for eating this delicious #Quality
and freshly fried crispy tofu bowl, #Freshness
right now #Availability
at your favorite restaurant #Source
This crispy tofu bowl.
You perfectly remember this crispy tofu bowl.
Cooked with love at the crowded restaurant you used to work at. #Owner
(yes, this restaurant’s dining room is closed from now on, but you hold on)
You tried. Oh yes, you tried!
But there was no way for your restaurant to stay fully open as it was before the lockdown, as doing so would have been a total disaster.
So yes, you would love to cook again
making your clients happy to pay #Benefits
for eating on site, not only for take-away #Transparency
your delicious and freshly fried crispy tofu bowl,
but right now, you need your restaurant to stay client-free. #Control
Maybe next time?
Now you know who Data Governance beneficiaries are (basically everyone, not only digital service providers), the next issue shall focus on this language you need to read, write and speak to understand what is happening with Big Data: Data Literacy.
#StayCurious
Julien Levy, Associate Professor (HEC Paris, 2019)
David Restrepo, Associate Professor (HEC Paris, 2019)
Aurélie Jean, (Big Data Paris, 2020)