1. Investing in Data Management Capabilities
...a business case template
Ian Thomas
@IancthomasUK Me
What I’m talking about
What I won’t cover - specific headcount / costs / etc
I talked about GDPR as an opportunity last year...

2. Building Data Capability is about taking the organisation and it’s customers on a journey

3. Taking the case to the exec, in context
Tactical Data Management - build and demonstrate value incrementally, targeting priority data assets / data domains, taking a repeatable, iterative approach to processes, templates and ways of working:
Supporting value driving initiatives
Leveraging regulatory drivers & risk initiatives
Supporting new Business opportunity
Secure funding for a project to define data capability
Execute the discovery
Present papers to the executive / share project findings / Proposal
Gain funding to build the team / enhance the capability
Build / train the core team
Implement any broader operating model
Establish strategic data management

4. How we did it, a process template
1. We performed an assessment of the As-is capability of data governance across Co-op
2. We identified the key gaps and the capability that needed to be in place to address them
3. This enabled us to create a target Op-model based on principles that we agreed with stakeholders
4. We defined each capability, the work packages required and their prioritisation into three phases
5. We stress-tested the Op-model with DG experts from around the business
6. We defined key roles and governance forums

5. While interviewing stakeholders we identified requirements such as:
We ran workshops with key parts of the business, assessing current capability:
Understanding history, current capability and key areas of focus
There maturity against a chosen Data framework
What support they were looking for
While interviewing stakeholders we identified requirements such as:
Improve data that supports delivering strategy and helps generate value for the business
Use data from across the organisation to generate increased value from synergies
Create a data-driven culture, based on data ethics, supporting users to do the right thing
Know where to get data from to support answering business questions
Know how to use data and get the same answers where ever we are across the business, standardising the way data is documented
Fix data issues that are impacting our business processes and impacting value
Understand the risks associated with data and ensure we are managing them appropriately
Comply with legal and regulatory requirements
Proactive management of data, to stop issues manifesting, causing reactive fixes
We heard practical examples of the business benefit DG enables
We mapped how this aligns to strategic areas such as:
Driving Benefit | Reducing Cost | Reducing Risk | Ethics

6. We developed a road map 1. Identifying 5 key strategic areas:
Create and Maintain a startay
Establish and maintain knowledge
Manage Data Quality
Governance, Assurance and risk
Supporting capability
2. Established milestones for each of the above and plotted a rough order, identifying interdependencies and taking us through stages of design, build, implement, and run
3. We Identified 3 clear phases of development

7. The slides we took to the exec
In our slides we:
summarised the lineage across strategic business outcomes, requirements from the data perspective, the role that data capabilities played and the people, process, forums and technology required to support this.
used tangible examples relating to strategic priorities.
summarised the proposed operating model including the design principles we used and key responsibilities of each area under each capability and proposed capacity as FTE v’s existing
provided annualized costs of FTE including and excluding any scalability v’s current budget, making clear inclusion or exclusion of tooling provision
summarised the ask:
Sought agreement to proposed operating model and core team composition
Sought ratification / guidance on priorities and ambition for 2018
and in light of this agreement on approach to interim resource as needed, demonstrating impact via a plan for the next year with 6 month and strategic outcomes achieved.

8. The Exec’s Questions What is data architecture?
Why isn’t that IT’s job?
Are the business and functional areas bought into this plan?
What risks would we be accepting if we don’t do this?
How does the risk profile change if we only do some of this or if we do it slowly?

9. Some thoughts
You are playing in everyone else's backyard… so ask nicely! Or make sure you have cover!
You will meet resistance, and momentum will be lost at some, or many points!
Manage others expectations and your own energy!
Regular facetime with your sponsor makes life easier
Be seen to be a facilitator! Balance pragmatism and rigor
The theory isn’t rocket science, change is the hardest element! - Be able to tell the same compelling story from many perspectives
Make sure you have the detail in your back pocket!
Be a brilliant proponent of others and get good at ‘Whack A Mole’ in equal measure!

10. If I could do one thing differently…
More Communication, face to face