University Decision Support
Data Governance
Northeastern University’s data governance framework ensures its data is appropriately accessible, trustworthy, secure, and well managed. The framework consists of three core components of Policy, Operations, and Strategy, each supported by governing bodies that guide how data is used and protected. Together, these components define clear roles and responsibilities that serve the entire university community and align with Northeastern’s mission and goals.
Operating Stages
Data Governance
The Data Governance unit plays a key role in the application of formal guidelines, tools, and best practices in the management of the university’s data resources. This provides accessible, reliable, accurate, and secure data that meets the strategic and management needs for planning, managing, operating and the auditing of the university’s academic and administrative data.
Key functions of Data Governance
- Lead and oversee the Data Governance program to maintain the quality, integrity, and consistency of the university’s data assets
- Maintain and offer data dictionaries, education, and training on data usage and reporting tools
- Enhance data management and sharing by driving consistency, standardization, and security across university systems
- Provide secure and reliable environments for hosting data, while improving user access through reporting tools
Primary responsibilities:
- Define and document data definitions, calculations, and summary logic
Maintain data business rules - Oversee data quality initiatives and related programs
- Maintain metadata repository
- Educate the university community on the importance of data quality
- Communicate data quality standards and expectations
- Monitor compliance with data policies and guidelines
- Promote the use of the Data Classification Guidelines across the institution
- Review business requirements and support official reporting tools
- Develop and deliver end-user documentation and training
- Manage data access and security within reporting environments
Operations
Data Custodians | Data Classification Liaisons | Business Managers
These are knowledge-based experts with day-to-day responsibilities of managing business processes and establishing business rules for their subject areas. They ensure that data in their domain are categorized by risk-level (Data Classification), appropriately secured and made accessible.
Primary responsibilities:
- Understand the business use of data
- Document user requirements
- Define business, data definitions, and data validation rules
- Identify and resolve data errors
- Support data users training
- Communicate data and process issues with functional area staff
- Provide requirements on data access and security
- Manage and maintain data classification compliance in their subject area
- Work with business managers on setting related business rules for data usage
- Provide data expertise to other teams
Business Intelligence | Database Administration
Technical (ITS) staff responsible for maintaining and operating hardware and software platforms, implementing enhancements to systems, designing information architecture, and ensuring systems availability and security.
Primary responsibilities:
- Translate business requirements into data models
- Maintain conceptual, logical, and physical data models
- Assist in data integration resolution
- Maintain infrastructure for reporting tools
- Perform ETL programming
Perform database patching, updates, and backups - Plan for database capacity
Implement data security requirements
Policy
Data Stewards
Data Stewards are university leaders responsible for overseeing the accuracy, consistency, and secure use of data within their functional areas. They ensure data is in accordance with university policies and standards throughout the data lifecycle. These individuals play a key role in shaping data-related decisions and guiding new initiatives involving institutional data.
Primary responsibilities:
- Propose new data policies and raise organizational or business policy issues
- Review data definitions, calculations, summarizations, and business rules
- Define acceptable thresholds for data quality
- Determine appropriate data security levels
- Launch and oversee initiatives and hold stakeholders accountable
- Resolve data integration challenges across systems or units
Data Stewardship Council (DSC)
The Data Stewardship Council is a cross-functional group made up of data stewards, team leaders, and senior university stakeholders. Guided by the Data Governance unit, the council sets the strategic direction for Northeastern’s data governance efforts. It addresses data policies, business process improvements, data security, and data quality management to ensure institutional data is trustworthy and well-governed.
Core responsibilities of the DSC:
- Ensure critical data assets are consistently defined, calculated, summarized, and governed across official reporting systems
- Lead and enhance data security initiatives by refining access and control processes within their areas
- Propose and formalize data-related policies, standards, and guidelines
- Advise on resolving operational and enterprise-level data challenges
- Set benchmarks for acceptable data quality and monitor compliance
- Sponsor new opportunities that support data management, analytics, and business intelligence initiatives
- Educate their departments about governance activities and enforce the implementation of approved policies
- Define and uphold roles and responsibilities for effective data governance
Strategy
Data Governance Council
The Data Governance Council provides strategic oversight for the responsible use, quality, security, and accessibility of Northeastern University’s data assets. Its mission is to promote appropriate access to information while protecting privacy and ensuring that data is not misused or disclosed without proper authorization.
Key responsibilities:
- Maintain a universitywide data governance framework that balances data accessibility with privacy and protection
- Identify and support strategic initiatives, such as metadata management, master data management, and data quality improvement
- Collaborate with university privacy functions to ensure shared data complies with privacy regulations and legal requirements
- Promote responsible data access practices, including conducting access audits and streamlining data access approval processes
- Review new system implementations and assess their data governance implications based on briefings from responsible units
- Guide the expansion of data governance practices from reporting systems to enterprise-wide systems
- Foster a shared understanding of institutional data and its location across systems
- Collaborate with the Analytics Center Committee to identify interrelated initiatives and close potential gaps
- Advise and oversee the Data Stewardship Council, helping prioritize initiatives, provide guidance, resolve issues, and escalate recommendations as needed
- Review and monitor audit findings and enterprise risk management plans related to university data
Data Consumers
Data Consumers
Data Consumers are university employees who access and use institutional data for reporting, analysis, and decision-making. Data Consumers also play an important role in safeguarding data, monitoring its quality, and providing valuable feedback on data tools and accessibility.
Primary responsibilities:
- Conduct reporting, analytics, and business analysis
- Provide feedback on how data is used across the university
- Share insights on the effectiveness of reporting tools
- Offer input on data accessibility for end users
- Report issues or improvements related to data quality
A variety of user groups provide forums for sharing knowledge and resources among Data Consumers. These groups address reporting, analysis, data presentation, and decision-making needs. To inquire or learn more about user groups, please contact: [email protected].
Data Governance Forums Directory
A searchable directory of governance-related forums and their members, maintained by the Data Governance unit.
Data Dictionaries
Data dictionaries and reference materials are available for the university community for relevant universitywide business concepts and terms, global definitions, and the major integrated reporting environments and/or tools.
To access data dictionaries, you will need a Northeastern University employee account.