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  <front>
    <journal-meta />
    <article-meta>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>A model for data management and governance practices for everyday business⋆</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Saumya Munasingha</string-name>
          <email>munasinghamsk@yahoo.com</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Heidi Hietala</string-name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Nada Elgendy</string-name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <aff id="aff0">
          <label>0</label>
          <institution>TKTP 2024: Annual Doctoral Symposium of Computer Science</institution>
          ,
          <addr-line>10.- 11.6.2024 Vaasa</addr-line>
          ,
          <country country="FI">Finland</country>
        </aff>
        <aff id="aff1">
          <label>1</label>
          <institution>University of Oulu</institution>
          ,
          <addr-line>Pentti Kaiteran katu 1 90570 Oulu</addr-line>
          ,
          <country country="FI">Finland</country>
        </aff>
      </contrib-group>
      <abstract>
        <p>Managing data in the right way to harness its value and use the latest digital tools creates valuable opportunities for growing organizations to manage their operations effectively. Data ownership in a data governance context is a widely discussed topic, and implementing data governance models in specific organizational environments faces different challenges. In this paper, we add knowledge to the existing literature by providing a detailed explanation of the steps of implementing a data organizational structure in a data governance model, specifically focusing on data ownership and improving its usability. We applied the action design research (ADR) method to create an IT artifact that offers effective data management solutions and enhances operational efficiency within the organization. The results show that proposed data governance practices help improve data quality and lead to improved decision-making, while highlighting the impact of clearly defined data ownership, roles, and responsibilities on data governance.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>eol&gt;Data ownership</kwd>
        <kwd>Data governance</kwd>
        <kwd>Data quality</kwd>
        <kwd>Action design research 1</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
    <sec id="sec-1">
      <title>1. Introduction</title>
      <p>
        In today's business landscape, organizations consider
their data as one of their most valuable assets, and the
data provides crucial insights into customer behavior,
product performance, and operational performance,
enabling companies to make informed decisions and
achieve better outcomes [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ]. Enterprises should
handle this information responsibly and carefully to
ensure organizational success [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref2">2</xref>
        ]. A careful planning
approach is essential for data management in
organizations [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref3">3</xref>
        ]. Also, a dedicated team or group of
people capable of making decisions regarding
organizational data and data functions, aligning with
the organizational strategy, is necessary for successful
data management [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4">4</xref>
        ]. Consequently, organizations
strive to establish robust data governance
frameworks and integrate effective data management
and governance practices into their daily operations
with dedicated personnel. [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref5">5</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        Data governance involves meticulous
organization to ensure data is understood, trusted, of
high quality, and usable for enterprise purposes [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
        ].
Data governance frameworks proposed by various
scholars mention different interconnected decision
domains or knowledge areas that define the
functional areas of data management in data
governance. Organizations can significantly reduce
costs associated with these domains in data
management by implementing an effective data
governance practice that clarifies data ownership,
stewardship, and decision-making authority over data
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        High-quality data is essential for maximizing
operational efficiency in businesses [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref8">8</xref>
        ]. Amidst the
various discussions on upholding data quality to drive
business growth and enable effective
decisionmaking, data governance emerges as a pivotal factor
in elevating data quality [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4">4</xref>
        ]. Strong data ownership
and accountability for data assets within an
organization can positively impact data governance.
However, the definition of data ownership and
stewardship within an organizational context can
often be unclear [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6 ref7">6,7</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        There are questions surrounding the definition of
data ownership and stewardship, and how
responsibilities are assigned to tackle data quality
issues that can affect operational efficiency. The
concepts and approaches of data ownership are often
not clearly defined [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4">4</xref>
        ]. Additionally, not every data
governance framework and the established
connections between decision-making domains are
universally applicable to all organizations. Therefore,
the specific data needs of each organization should be
considered when defining data ownership and
establishing connections between decision domains
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4 ref7 ref8">4,7,8</xref>
        ]. Furthermore, Abraham et al. (2019) suggest
that further research is needed to determine the scope
and approach of data ownership in relation to
organizational effectiveness. Accordingly, a research
© 2023 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under
Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
gap was identified, and we strive to answer the
following research questions.
      </p>
      <p>Research Questions (RQ): RQ1: How to build and
implement a model that can address data quality
issues that arise with the missing data ownership of
organizational data assets? RQ2: How to improve the
overall efficiency of such a model that can be utilized
in everyday business?</p>
      <p>
        The structural model for data governance
organization and its automated solution for
improving operational efficiency, which are presented
in this paper, were developed through an Action
Design Research (ADR) project [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref9">9</xref>
        ] conducted by the
authors. From the organizational side, the project
team consisted of an enterprise architect, a senior IT
analyst, a project manager, and senior managers of a
medium-sized Finnish manufacturing company. The
team from the case organization started to tackle the
data management issue as part of an enterprise
architecture (EA) project, within which this research
project was conducted. The significance of this
research is building a data governance model to tackle
data ownership in data assets for a medium-sized
manufacturing company, expecting to assist the
company in achieving strategic objectives related to
data quality and operational efficiency.
      </p>
      <p>We structured this paper as follows: first, we give
a brief overview of the data management and
governance principles from the existing literature,
and subsequently, we undertake an assessment of the
research gap. Next, we describe ADR as our adapted
research methodology and briefly outline the
applicability of the research methodology. Then, we
explain the ADR method in a more detailed level,
describing the four stages of the ADR project.
Accordingly, the solution that addresses the research
problems is presented, along with the learning
resulting from ADR. Next, in the discussion section, we
present our main findings and discuss the
generalizability of the study, highlighting the
limitations and future work. Finally, we close with a
short summary.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-2">
      <title>2. Background</title>
      <p>
        Data governance can be described as the exercise of
authority and control over the management of data
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ]. Data governance is exercised through policies,
standardizing data to ensure data stewardship and
data quality [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ]. It refers to what decisions must be
made and who makes those decisions, defining the
actions taken to maintain data integrity, and
encompassing how data reliability, security,
availability, and usability are managed [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1 ref5">1,5</xref>
        ]. Data
quality refers to the state of organizational data,
including its accuracy, completeness, relevance, and
fitness for purpose [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref11">11</xref>
        ]. A conceptual architecture for
data governance, which emphasizes structural
governance mechanisms such as reporting lines,
governance bodies, and decision-making authorities,
aligns data asset ownership with data governance
practices [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ]. Successful data governance programs
within organizations rely on organizational support
and the delineation of key roles, such as data owners,
stewards, and consumers [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        Data stewards should ensure responsible
information sharing [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
        ] and formalize accountabilities
for managing information resources on behalf of, and
in the best interest of, others [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ]. The concept of
business and technical stewardship involves business
stewards ensuring data quality within their respective
domains, while technical stewards manage IT
systems. This serves to define the scope of data
stewardship more clearly [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        DAMA-DMBOK offers another influential
framework, advocating for clear role definitions and
presenting ten knowledge areas crucial for effective
data management. These frameworks collectively
stress the importance of establishing roles and
responsibilities, underscoring the criticality of data
governance in enhancing operational efficiency and
addressing data quality concerns [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        The success of data governance initiatives relies
on structural frameworks, behavioral aspects, and
technological infrastructures. Maintaining data
quality through trusted practices emphasizes the
critical role of human behavior, enabling
organizations to succeed in data governance [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        Common goals of a data governance program
include increased operational efficiency and
addressing data quality issues [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ]. With proper data
management and governance, organizations can
deliver measurable improvements and empower
organizational data users with decision-making
power [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref12">12</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        Data governance is crucial for improving the
value of data and reducing associated costs and risks
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ]. As companies grow and adopt new technologies,
establishing good data practices becomes even more
important. Maintaining data quality and encouraging
user compliance are critical factors for success in data
governance [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ]. As businesses grow and expand into
new geographic areas, there is a greater need for
standardization. Data governance plays a crucial role
in enabling medium-sized enterprises to expand
globally through data harmonization [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref12">12</xref>
        ]. This
underscores the strategic significance of data
governance in driving organizational growth and
competitiveness. As companies expand, the
organizational hierarchical structures often become
more complex, necessitating robust solutions when
introducing data governance roles [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>Previous literature highlights the significance of
data governance in data management, particularly in
maintaining data quality through governance
practices. It also underscores the success factors that
help organizations manage their data through data
governance as they grow. The existing literature lacks
discussions on how data stewardship and ownership
align with organizational structures and the impact of
governance practices on data quality and
organizational changes. Additionally, there is a gap in
the literature regarding how organizations with
different strategies and resources can adapt data
stewardship practices.</p>
      <p>While our study was conducted in a specific
organization, it explores how roles, responsibilities,
and core data concepts can be tailored to suit various
organizations with similar contexts in data
management. The literature also falls short in
outlining common roles adaptable to different data
governance organizations and their implementation
to enhance data quality in an organizational setting.</p>
      <p>In contrast to many existing data governance
frameworks and studies, our study has implemented
a data governance program, evaluated the outcomes,
and proposed solutions to enhance the program's
overall effectiveness.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-3">
      <title>3. Methodology</title>
      <p>
        Our research project focuses on addressing an
organizational problem by developing a solution
tailored to the organizational context and
incorporating user feedback throughout the process.
ADR guides the development of IT artifacts within
organizational settings [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref9">9</xref>
        ]. Our goal is to create an IT
artifact that offers effective data management
solutions and enhances operational efficiency within
the organization. Continuous user feedback and
iterative development are essential for the successful
implementation of data governance solutions in
organizations [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ]. Additionally, we aim to enhance the
overall efficiency of the proposed IT artifact in daily
operations and user involvement. Our solution is a
result of both design and practical application,
following an iterative development and evaluation
approach with diverse stakeholders within the
organization [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref14">14</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>
        ADR is used to develop and evaluate a set of IT
artifacts within an organizational setting to generate
prescriptive design knowledge [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref9">9</xref>
        ]. This process
involves creating, intervening, and evaluating an
artifact that not only embodies the researchers'
theoretical foundations and intentions but also
incorporates feedback from users and ongoing usage
within a specific context. Furthermore, ADR is a
method that can effectively address specific problems
encountered within an organization by intervening,
evaluating, and developing an IT artifact to tackle the
class of problems identified in the given situation.
      </p>
      <p>
        Because ADR aims to design a problem-solving
artifact through iterative evaluation and learning [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref15">15</xref>
        ],
we followed the four stages of the ADR cycle as our
research methodology. These include: 1) Problem
Formulation, 2) Building, Intervention, and
Evaluation (BIE), 2) Reflection and Learning, and 4)
Formalization of Learning [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref9">9</xref>
        ]. Our four-stage ADR
process is exhibited in Table 1.
      </p>
      <p>It briefly explains the research task in each stage.
Also, we introduce the corresponding research
principles and their consequences for the research.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-4">
      <title>4. ADR for data governance metamodel development</title>
      <p>
        The research opportunity: Our case company is a
medium-sized tech-based manufacturing company
with around 300 employees and a moderate global
market presence. They have a strong market presence
in the Nordic countries, and their expectation is to
grow in new geographic markets while expanding
their core business. With their current growth over
the last 2-3 years, a strong data culture is in demand
because of the organization's high-tech production
environment. Also, for market and customer
segmentation and identifying new leads, they desired
to have a suitable analytics platform. Hence,
maintaining the data quality, accessibility and data
discoverability becomes crucial for data management
in the case organization. The case company is
equipped with various information systems, such as
an on-premise Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
system, a cloud-based Customer Relation
Management (CRM) system, and a Product Lifecycle
Management (PLM) system. In addition, the
organization has a centralized cloud data warehouse
and data lake support for reporting with Power BI. All
of these information systems generate a large volume
of data points, and the organization’s main concern is
to manage this data properly, maintain the data
quality, and help business users locate data sets,
identify the contact person for data access, and
generate reports
Achieving data quality and operational efficiency
through data governance.
Two research questions are formulated with reference
to the class of the problem. RQ1: How to build and
implement a model that can address data quality
issues that arise with the missing data ownership of
organizational data assets? RQ2: How to improve the
overall efficiency of such a model that can be utilized
in everyday business?
The DAMA-DMBOK framework [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ] and the conceptual
framework provided by Abraham et al., (2019) were
used as the main theoretical base for the governance
framework.
      </p>
      <sec id="sec-4-1">
        <title>Initially focusing on operation data assets The team was structured into three groups. The research team, the EA team, and an IT analyst from the case organization.</title>
        <p>The data governance organization structure and
automated workflow.</p>
        <p>The artifact design and evaluation are done with the
ADR team as a combined approach from researchers
and practitioners.</p>
        <p>Based on three criteria explained in the ‘Results'
section, continuous evaluations and improvements
were applied to the artifact. Agile scrum framework
followed.</p>
        <p>Continuous intervention and evaluations, and the
introduction of design principles. The verification of
the reality of the solution.</p>
        <p>Compare the newly generated knowledge from the
continuous intervention with the problem class.
The alpha-version of the artifact was evaluated during
the BIE cycle, and the beta-version was expected to be
introduced to the end-users in the case organization.
We discuss the learning relating to the existing
literature in the ‘Discussion’ and generalized design
principles applicable to the class of the problem.</p>
        <p>The case organization faces challenges in
managing high data volume and streamlining data
operations toward achieving operational efficiency.
As a result, business users face difficulties with
accessing data, especially when generating reports.
Often, they have to spend a considerable amount of
time finding the correct owners and requesting access
to particular data. This has become a significant
concern for the organization, and the research team
identified missing data governance, in particular, the
missing ownership of data assets, as one of the
reasons for this issue. Also, different departments in
the case organization generate inconsistent statistics
over the same topic with different data sets. This
raises a critical data quality issue requiring immediate
action as it may lead to incorrect organizational
statistics.</p>
        <p>Hence, the need for a meaningful data
governance organizational structure was needed to
improve the ownership of data assets. In addition, the
case organization maintains an old Excel sheet as the
system register even though it is equipped with
modern data architecture. Because of the lack of
collaboration, advancement with new technologies,
and tracking issues such as unnoticed errors, the case
organization needed a new overall solution that could
address all of these issues. Inspired by this
knowledge-creation opportunity and
practicalinspired research problem in an organizational
domain, we formed our two research questions. RQ1:
How to build and implement a model that can address
data quality issues that arise with the missing data
ownership of organizational data assets? RQ2: How to
improve the overall efficiency of such a model that can
be utilized in everyday business?</p>
        <p>Class of problem: In this research, we aim to
create a general structure to achieve data quality and
operational efficiency through data governance and
building and proposing a relationship between
business processes and information systems
(metamodel).</p>
        <p>Theoretical base: We built a metamodel using a
data management tool to identify data assets and
create relationships among the data assets. The
organization aims to use this model to help business
users find specific data sets, identify the users who
own them, and define responsibilities to maintain the
data quality. Our research has enabled them to
establish a relationship with data assets by building
the metamodel on the tool and assigning data
ownership to each data asset. To determine
ownership and data stewardship, we utilized the data
governance framework developed by Abraham et al.
(2019) with a structural governance framework and
organizational structure mapping to data
organization following Ladley, J. (2020) and Plotkin,
D. (2021).</p>
        <p>
          Scope: Incorporating the proposed meta model
and data governance organization structure into the
comprehensive EA was our primary objective.
Initially, our efforts were concentrated within the
operations department, encompassing purchasing,
manufacturing, business excellence, and customer
service teams. Furthermore, in alignment with the
organizational strategy and requirements at the time,
the primary emphasis within the proposed model was
on data quality [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10 ref4">4,10</xref>
          ] and structural data governance,
which dictates reporting structures and
accountabilities, including roles, responsibilities, and
decision-making authority allocation [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
          ].
        </p>
        <p>Roles and responsibilities: The EA project team of
the case organization and research team are the
participants of the research project. The team was
structured into three groups. The research team
represents the theoretical aspects. The EA team
represents the practical aspects, and analytics from
the case organization provide the technical aspects.
Building Intervention and Evaluation: During the
second stage of the ADR approach, ‘Building,
Intervention and Evaluation’, the artifact is designed,
iteratively refined, and evaluated. As Sein et al. (2011)
suggested, we created the initial design of our IT
artifact using the problem framing and theoretical
background presented in stage one. We carried out
our BIE stage with the iterative processes to build the
artifact, perform the intervention, and analyze the
BIE. In relevance to our problem formation, our
research focused on IT Dominant BIE. We built the IT
artifact design as a solution to the organizational
problem described in Stage 1.</p>
        <p>The project was conducted for five months
within the case organization working in scrum cycles
as part of an EA development project. The two-week
sprints were planned, and we presented the progress
of the initial model during the scrum meeting. The
evaluation was conducted after each meeting, and the
feedback was taken as notes. The duration of the
meetings was approximately 120 minutes. In addition
to the continuous meetings, we had three more
meetings, including the kick-off, mid-way evaluation
meeting and the final evaluation meeting. We
evaluated our artifact and implemented necessary
interventions based on the recommendations
collected from the meetings.</p>
        <p>
          First, we built the initial metamodel (Figure 1),
aligning with the current organizational structure and
data structure. The meta model builds the connections
between the main components in the organization
[
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1 ref10">1,10</xref>
          ]. Furthermore, we adapted the concepts
Abraham et al. (2019) described for a conceptual data
governance model that organizations can adapt and
modify based on their data governance program
objectives.
        </p>
        <p>
          Then we followed the procedural governance
mechanisms [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
          ] and the principle of top-level design
[
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
          ] to build a data governance organizational
structure (Figure 2) that aligns with our proposed
metamodel. This data governance structure helps to
build authority over data assets and enhance the
transparency within the case organization, being able
to answer these questions: WHO owns WHAT? WHO
is responsible for WHAT? WHOM should I contact?
and WHO has access to WHAT?
        </p>
        <p>
          The proposed metamodel illustrates the
hierarchy of data ownership and decision-making
authority within our IT artifact. Data owners expected
to be selected for each main business process of the
organization and data stewards were selected to be in
each business function managed under each business
process. The relationship between a business process
and business function was a one-to-many
relationship.
As an example, during our artifact-building phase, the
artifact was introduced to the operations department
in the case organization. The head of operations was a
C-level executive officer, and the Chief Operations
Officer (COO) was the Executive sponsor of our
governance model. The operations department is
involved with different business processes, such as
logistics, customer service, and sourcing. These main
business processes were handled by senior managers
(e.g., Logistics manager, Customer service manager,
Sourcing manager, etc.), and we decided to assign
them as the data owners, since they were technically
responsible and accountable for several data assets.
Data owners communicate broad data requirements
and risks [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
          ]. They also own and make decisions about
the data that the business process produces [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
          ]. Data
stewards are key representatives in the business
functions that belong to business processes. The data
assets binding with the business functions do not
belong to the appointed data stewards, but they work
closely with the data and understand the business
data [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
          ]. We added another role to the structure, data
expert, to support the technical aspects of the data
requirements. The experts support maintaining the
data quality in the technical aspect, playing a role as a
technical data steward. The data management tool
was used to scan the available data in the case
organization, and we assigned the roles and people
according to the metamodel and data governance
organization structure.
Furthermore, we present detailed information on the
roles and responsibilities of the data governance
organization structure we proposed for the case
organization in Table 2. We adapted the descriptions
from Abraham et al. (2019), and the responsibilities
from Ladley, J. (2020) and Plotkin, D. (2021). To
address our second research question, we introduced
an automated cloud-based solution that registers the
data owners whenever a new data asset is created to
the system register. We took the initiative by
introducing a solution as a collection of data in a cloud
space to replace the legacy system register at the case
organization. As described in Stage 1, the case
organization used an Excel sheet as their system
register and was unable to maintain it properly.
Our cloud application served as the easy maintenance
system for the system register.
During the evaluation meetings, the project team was
satisfied with the functionality of the application, and
we improved the process by automating the
ownership assignment with the data management
tool. For the automation, we used a Python script. It
was tested appropriately, and the results were
verified before being presented during the evaluation.
The initial model was refined with the iterative BIE
cycles. According to the feedback, we needed to decide
the granularity of the data asset scan by the data
management tool and assign the data owners and
experts first to the metamodel.
        </p>
        <p>Evaluate the artifact: As explained in the BIE
cycle, we evaluated the IT artifact based on the formal
feedback sessions of the project team stakeholders.
We used 3 evaluation criteria to understand the
feedback of the stakeholders and do the interventions
during the iterations.</p>
        <p>1. Understandability of the artifact concepts to
the business users.
2. Usability of the IT artifact to the business users.
3. Practicality of the artifact to the organization
culture.</p>
        <p>Most of the received feedback was positive. Some of
the project members did not agree with having extra
work added to their teams, such as data stewards
playing a role in supporting the data quality. However,
everyone agreed with the practicality of the artifact
and its usability. Concept-wise, everyone agreed and
understood the concepts and the reason for
implementing such a system to overcome the
identified issues in the case organization.</p>
        <p>During the alpha-version, practitioners were
provided with positive feedback. The beta-version
Table 3
Design principles
was implemented in the case organization, allowing it
to be used by other users. Due to the time limitations,
we couldn’t collect feedback from the end-users
regarding the artifact. However, some of the
practitioners were representing the end users’
perspectives and acted as end users for some systems.
Hence, we believe the feedback could be accepted as a
general evaluation of the artifact.</p>
        <p>Reflection and Learning: This study may
motivate and help other researchers interested in
implementing data governance practices, particularly
within organizations with growth potential and an
interest in data-driven decision-making. While
previous studies provide conceptual frameworks and
models for implementing structural data governance
to improve the overall quality of such governance
programs, the proposed IT artifact is a practical
example of such a model.</p>
        <p>.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-2">
        <title>Implementor, aim and user Context</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-3">
        <title>Mechanisms</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-4">
        <title>Rationale</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-5">
        <title>For IT domain experts (Technical</title>
        <p>user) (implementers), to reduce
the amount of data access
requests received (aim), from
business users in the organization
(users)</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-6">
        <title>For business domain experts</title>
        <p>(implementer), to improve the
data accessibility(aim), from
internal and external users
(users)</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-7">
        <title>For senior executives (implementer), to improve the report data quality(aim), from the report generators (Users)</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-8">
        <title>For data users(implementer), to follow the governance structure(aim), of data governance practitioners (Users)</title>
        <p>In report
generating systems</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-9">
        <title>Designate and make visible the correct contact points</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-10">
        <title>Because doing so improves efficiency in data discovery</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-11">
        <title>Accessing data as inputs for different processes</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-12">
        <title>In Report generating systems</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-13">
        <title>In data governance structures</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-14">
        <title>Improve data</title>
        <p>accessibility</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-15">
        <title>Because by doing so, the organization can improve data sharing.</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-16">
        <title>Ensure accuracy of the statistics of the reports</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-17">
        <title>Because data accuracy increases the quality of the decisions.</title>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-18">
        <title>Automate data</title>
        <p>ownership
assignment and
ensure usability
of the process</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-19">
        <title>Because by doing so, data governance practices are easily followed.</title>
        <p>During the early interventions of the IT artifact, which
assigned roles with responsibilities and
decisionmaking authority over data within the organizational
structure, many practitioners expressed concerns
about the additional steps introduced into existing
processes. Based on this feedback, we incorporated a
detailed role description (Table 2), which clarified
responsibilities and improved data stewardship.
Despite the organization already having privacy and
security controls in place technically, the clarification
of responsibilities and reporting structure ensured
proper adherence to data quality, security, and
privacy controls.</p>
        <p>
          Moreover, we received positive feedback from
senior managers to IT experts when the workflows
were automated compared to the early iterations
when only the structural model was introduced.
Design Principles: The anatomy of the design
principles [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref16">16</xref>
          ] is structured in the following table,
Table 3. We adopted multiple design principles that
can be used for artifact refinement [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref16">16</xref>
          ]. The four
design principles outlined below were developed to
meet the objectives of the data governance program
and effectively address the research questions
        </p>
      </sec>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-5">
      <title>5. Discussion</title>
      <p>
        Strong ownership over data in a data governance
framework would benefit the whole data governance
program [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ]. Even though it requires careful planning,
data management provides the authority and control
over data [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7">7</xref>
        ] and having a decision-making structure
with data governance provides support to expand
medium-sized companies to grow [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref12">12</xref>
        ]. At first,
adapting data governance practices to daily
operations would be hectic. However, people,
processes and technologies are bonded together for
any successful IS implementation. Hence, introducing
automation tools to governance practices would
motivate users to adopt the new workflows and
improve their effectiveness. Being able to know whom
to contact to access specific data makes a favorable
impact on data discoverability, accessibility, and
effective report generation.
      </p>
      <p>Each business process within the operations
department has a designated data steward from the
corresponding business function. A governance model
provides guidance for those overseeing data quality
and security.</p>
      <p>Main Findings: The ADR project's findings
underscore the profound impact of clearly defined
data ownership, roles, and responsibilities on data
governance. The implementation of an automated
solution can greatly enhance overall efficiency and the
user-friendliness of governance practices. These
strategies have not only improved operational
efficiency and data quality, but also fostered a culture
of accountability and adaptability among users.</p>
      <p>Defining specific responsibilities for data
stewards in each business function has been observed
to enhance accountability and data quality. This has
resulted in more accurate and timely data entries and
has facilitated data access for users without
unnecessary communication. The implementation of
automation, such as streamlined processes, has
reduced manual workload and ensured compliance
with data governance policies. Moreover, assigning
data ownership to the data assets, particularly for
dashboards, has improved data accessibility
effectively, thus significantly enhancing productivity.
Regular feedback iterations have further facilitated
user adaptation to the new practices, creating an
environment of continuous improvement and
ensuring that the implemented solutions are
userfriendly and effective.</p>
      <p>Limitation and Future Research: Due to time and
other organizational constraints, we could not
evaluate the beta-version of the artifact with the case
organization end-users nor evaluate the alpha version
of the artifact quantitatively. We would like to
propose studying the correlations between data
governance organization and overall organizational
efficiency quantitatively.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-6">
      <title>6. Conclusion</title>
      <p>The research is focused on addressing the key
considerations for designing and implementing a data
governance model in an organization with strong data
ownership and stewardship. Our study explores how
such a model can enhance data quality,
discoverability, and sharing while adapting to
evolving data governance practices. We emphasize
the process of structuring a data governance
framework for a growing manufacturing organization
and enhancing its effectiveness. By understanding the
organizational needs and context, IS implementors
can integrate governance practices that support
continued growth through digital technologies and
fully utilize data within the organization. Additionally,
the fundamental principles of data stewardship and
the methodologies identified in this study, along with
the design principles of ADR, are applicable across
various organizational contexts beyond
manufacturing. These insights offer a framework that
can assist different industries in refining their data
governance practices, ensuring effective and
sustainable utilization of data assets across
organizations of diverse sizes and sectors.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-7">
      <title>Acknowledgements</title>
      <p>The authors thank the case organization EA project
team for their valuable input for the project, great
cooperation, comments, and feedback during all the
stages of the project.</p>
    </sec>
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