Collaboration as the Foundation: Building Sustainable Data Governance Together

Although many institutions go through multiple attempts to implement data governance, they struggle to create sustainable practices due to unclear roles, limited capacity, and lack of leadership and stakeholder buy-in. This session presents a practical case study of how one institution reset its approach by assessing why previous efforts failed; establishing realistic expectations; and rebuilding a data governance program using an existing framework, current resources, and intentional collaboration. Attendees will learn how assessing the current state—including organizational readiness, stakeholder perceptions, and existing practices—enabled the institution to adopt a recognized data governance and analytics framework and build a clear, scalable strategy. The session highlights how defining data domains and roles and responsibilities created shared accountability and supported consistent data stewardship. Attendees will also explore how governance was led through a change management lens, balancing executive-level direction with operational execution. The session will demonstrate how engaging data domain leaders and partnering across functional and technical teams supported buy-in and collaboration, and how a phased documentation approach using data intelligence software enabled progress without overwhelming limited staff. Participants will leave with actionable approaches to lead data governance efforts.