Data Governance Compliance

Companies generate vast amounts of data. This data has tremendous value, but it also comes with significant responsibility. Ensuring that data is properly governed, protected, and compliant with regulations is essential for maintaining trust, avoiding costly fines, and supporting business operations. Data governance plays a critical role in ensuring data is handled securely, appropriately, and under various legal and regulatory requirements.

In this article, we will explore the importance of maintaining compliance in data governance, the challenges that organizations face in ensuring compliance, and how the Actian Data Intelligence Platform helps organizations meet regulatory requirements through automated compliance monitoring and metadata tracking.

What is Data Governance?

Data governance refers to the practices, policies, and procedures that ensure that data is managed consistently, securely, and in a way that supports organizational objectives. It encompasses various aspects, including data quality, data security, data privacy, and compliance with laws and regulations.

Data governance aims to ensure that data is used responsibly, that it is trustworthy, and that its usage aligns with both internal and external standards. A strong data governance framework is critical not only for operational efficiency but also for ensuring that organizations adhere to regulatory requirements and best practices in data management.

Why is Compliance Important in Data Governance?

Compliance in data governance refers to adhering to legal, industry-specific, and internal standards that govern the collection, storage, use, and sharing of data. Failing to maintain compliance can have significant consequences for an organization, including:

1. Legal and Financial Penalties: Non-compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA can result in hefty fines. For instance, the GDPR imposes penalties of up to 4% of an organization’s global annual revenue for violations, making compliance a high-stakes issue.
2. Reputational Damage: Data breaches or non-compliance with data privacy laws can severely damage an organization’s reputation. Loss of consumer trust can lead to diminished brand value, customer churn, and difficulty acquiring new customers.
3. Operational Risks: If an organization fails to ensure compliance, it can face disruptions in operations, including audits, penalties, and a loss of access to critical data or systems. Additionally, non-compliance can result in data being misused or mismanaged, compromising the quality of decisions based on that data.
4. Risk to Data Security: Compliance regulations often require the implementation of strict data security measures. Failure to comply can leave data vulnerable to cyberattacks, which can lead to data breaches, identity theft, and financial loss.
5. Audits and Reporting: Many regulatory frameworks require regular audits to ensure that an organization complies with data governance practices. Without a robust compliance program, audits can become stressful and challenging, leading to increased costs and operational inefficiencies.

Common Regulatory Frameworks in Data Governance

Several regulations govern how organizations must handle data. Some of the most well-known ones include:

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): The GDPR is a comprehensive data protection regulation in the European Union that governs how personal data should be collected, processed, stored, and protected. It requires organizations to implement strict data privacy practices, with heavy penalties for non-compliance.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): HIPAA is a U.S. regulation that governs the security and privacy of health data. Healthcare organizations must ensure that patient data is protected and that only authorized individuals have access to this sensitive information.
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): The CCPA is a state-level data privacy law in California that gives consumers greater control over their personal data. It requires businesses to disclose data collection practices and allow consumers to opt-out of the sale of their data.
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS): PCI DSS sets standards for securing payment card data. Organizations that handle payment information must comply with these standards to prevent fraud and protect consumers’ financial data.

The Challenges of Ensuring Data Governance Compliance

Maintaining compliance in data governance is challenging for several reasons:

1. Complex Regulations: Regulatory frameworks are often complex and subject to frequent updates. Staying up to date with changes in data protection laws can be difficult, especially for multinational organizations that must comply with multiple regulations across various jurisdictions.
2. Data Silos: In many organizations, data is stored in different systems, databases, and platforms. This fragmentation makes it difficult to track data and ensure data compliance, as there is often no centralized way to monitor or manage data usage across various departments or tools.
3. Volume of Data: As organizations grow, the volume of data they handle also increases. Managing compliance becomes increasingly difficult as data proliferates, making it harder to track where data is stored, who has access to it, and how it is used.
4. Manual Compliance Processes: Many organizations rely on manual processes to manage compliance, such as manually tracking data access and usage or conducting audits. These manual efforts are prone to error, time-consuming, and difficult to scale.
5. Lack of Visibility: Without proper tools to monitor and track data usage, organizations may struggle to get an accurate picture of their compliance posture. Without visibility, it’s challenging to identify and rectify potential compliance issues before they become major problems.

How Actian Helps Ensure Compliance Through Automated Monitoring and Metadata Tracking

The Actian Data Intelligence Platform helps organizations meet regulatory requirements by offering tools for automated compliance monitoring and metadata tracking. These features allow organizations to ensure that data governance processes are not only consistent but also fully compliant with regulatory standards.

1. Automated Compliance Monitoring

One of the most significant challenges organizations face in maintaining compliance is the manual effort required to track data usage, access, and compliance with regulations. Actian’s platform automates much of this process, reducing the risk of human error and improving efficiency.

• Continuous Monitoring: The Actian Data Intelligence Platform enables continuous monitoring of data to ensure that all data events are tracked and documented. By automatically recording when and how data is accessed, the platform provides real-time insights into data usage, helping organizations stay on top of regulatory requirements without the need for manual oversight.
• Policy Enforcement: It helps organizations define and enforce data governance policies, such as access controls, data usage policies, and data retention rules. This ensures that the organization remains compliant with regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA, as well as internal governance standards.
• Automated Alerts and Reports: The platform also generates automated alerts and compliance reports whenever it detects potential violations or risks. This proactive approach enables organizations to identify compliance issues before they escalate, allowing for timely corrective actions.

2. Metadata Tracking and Management

Metadata plays a critical role in ensuring that data governance processes are compliant. It provides essential context about the data, including where it is stored, how it is used, and who has access to it. The Actian Data Intelligence Platform helps organizations manage and track metadata effectively, making it easier to meet regulatory requirements.

• Comprehensive Metadata Catalog: Actian’s platform offers a comprehensive metadata catalog that provides a centralized repository for all data-related information. This catalog includes data lineage, access controls, data definitions, and data classifications, which are essential for understanding how data flows through the organization and ensuring that it is used appropriately.
• Data Lineage: The platform’s data lineage capabilities allow organizations to track the movement and transformation of data across systems and departments. By understanding the full lifecycle of data, organizations can ensure that it complies with legal and regulatory requirements, such as data retention and deletion policies.
• Access Control Tracking: The Actian Data Intelligence Platform tracks who has access to specific datasets, providing visibility into how data is shared and used across the organization. This is essential for compliance with regulations like GDPR, which requires organizations to restrict access to sensitive data based on role and necessity.
• Audit Trails: The platform automatically generates audit trails, ensuring that organizations have a complete record of data access and usage. These audit trails are essential for demonstrating compliance during audits or investigations.

3. Centralized Data Governance Framework

The Actian Data Intelligence Platform provides a centralized platform for managing data governance processes, including compliance. This unified framework enables organizations to maintain a consistent approach to data governance across all departments and systems, facilitating compliance with regulatory requirements.

• Cross-Department Collaboration: Actian’s platform facilitates collaboration between data owners, data stewards, and IT teams, ensuring that everyone is aligned with compliance goals. By bringing all stakeholders together, the platform enables more effective governance and risk management.
• Standardization of Practices: The platform helps organizations standardize data governance practices, ensuring consistency in how data is handled and governed. This standardization facilitates adherence to regulations and ensures compliance across the organization.

The Actian Data Intelligence Platform Can Help Organizations Enforce Governance Policies and Remain Compliant

Maintaining compliance in data governance is critical for organizations to avoid legal penalties, protect data security, and ensure that data is used responsibly. With the increasing complexity of regulations, manual processes, and fragmented data systems, ensuring compliance can be a significant challenge.

The Actian Data Intelligence helps organizations navigate these challenges through automated compliance monitoring, metadata tracking, and a centralized governance framework. By leveraging the platform’s advanced features, organizations can streamline compliance efforts, improve operational efficiency, and maintain a secure and compliant data environment. This allows organizations to focus on deriving value from their data while safeguarding against the risks associated with non-compliance.

Take a tour of the Actian Data Intelligence Platform’s capabilities to see how it can transform your company’s governance framework.

About Actian Corporation

Actian empowers enterprises to confidently manage and govern data at scale, streamlining complex data environments and accelerating the delivery of AI-ready data. The Actian data intelligence approach combines data discovery, metadata management, and federated governance to enable smarter data usage and enhance compliance. With intuitive self-service capabilities, business and technical users can find, understand, and trust data assets across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. Actian delivers flexible data management solutions to 42 million users at Fortune 100 companies and other enterprises worldwide, while maintaining a 95% customer satisfaction score.