From Policy to Practice: Using Custom GPTs to Operationalize Data Governance in Higher Education

Many higher education institutions have invested heavily in data governance frameworks, but they often struggle to translate policies into consistent practice. This presentation will explore how developing custom GPTs can bridge that gap by making governance accessible, actionable, and scalable across your institution. We will present a practical approach to embed a custom GPT within institutional workflows to support data stewards, analysts, and business users. The tool interprets governance policies, answers data-related questions, guides users through data classification and compliance decisions, and reinforces standards in real time. We will demonstrate how institutions can reduce policy ambiguity, improve data quality, and accelerate decision-making without increasing administrative burden. Attendees will gain a framework for designing, deploying, and governing their own custom GPT for data governance while maintaining trust, transparency, and institutional control.