Understanding the key components of data management should be the top priority for organizations looking to have an effective data management program to gain insights and make better informed business decisions. These elements coupled with the best data management solution will help you properly manage your data.
The components of data management include proactively collecting, organizing, protecting, storing, and sharing data. These components work together to help businesses effectively meet their goals ensuring data is delivered to the right audience at the right place.
Let’s get started discovering these data management elements.
What are the main components of data management?
Organizations and data scientists need to have a clear understanding of each component and how they should work together to be able to effectively manage the complete lifecycle of data and implement DM common guidelines.
The key components of data management are:
1- Data collection
The data collection is an integral part of the elements of data management which includes the methods used to gather and acquire data from different sources. It involves the process of identifying data elements, extraction, and storage in a structured way.
The methods used to gather data could be manual data entry or/and automated data capture through OCR, web scraping, IoT, or any other. Manual data entry is still used but slowly making its way into distinction as it requires lots of resources and is prone to human errors. Automated data entry is fast, more accurate, and complete.
Through automated methods, organizations ensure the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of data by adhering to predefined protocols and standards. Efficient data collection practices contribute to building comprehensive and reliable datasets, enabling organizations to derive valuable insights, make informed decisions, and support effective data analysis and interpretation.
2- Data organization
The data organization component is a fundamental aspect of data management that focuses on structuring and categorizing data in a meaningful way for easy retrieval, analysis, and utilization.
It requires data scientists to create logical data models such as databases, data warehouses, and data lakes where data is organized into tables, fields, and relationships to make it easier for storage and retrieval purposes.
The main purpose is to create a framework for effectively storing data in an organized way to promote data integrity, scalability, and efficiency. This also need to be followed by advanced data classification methods and data lineage to ensure proper documentation, metadata management, and compliance with rules and regulations.
By effectively organizing data, organizations can streamline data access, enable efficient querying, and facilitate the integration of disparate data sources, ultimately supporting robust data analysis and decision-making processes.
3- Data protection
This data management components includes advanced security measurement such as encryption, access control, and backup procedures that should be implemented to protect sensitive data and comply with different rules and regulations.
It also includes the methods that your organization should follow to backup and recovery of data to mitigate the risk of data loss due to natural disasters, hardware failure, and/or malicious activities.
From our experience most organizations make exceptional efforts to ensure that data is secure and protected from unauthorized access however they forget to focus also on the establishment of data retention policies and procedures to ensure compliance with industry regulations.
By prioritizing data protection, organizations can maintain the privacy and security of data assets, instill customer trust, and mitigate potential risks associated with data breaches or data loss incidents.
4- Data storage
The data storage component is a vital aspect of data management that focuses on the physical or virtual storage of data in a secure and accessible manner. It involves selecting appropriate storage technologies and infrastructure to accommodate the volume, velocity, and variety of data being managed.
There are two main options available to store data using traditional storage systems like hard drives and network folders or cloud based storage solutions. Most of current organizations are migrating to the cloud to reduce costs related to hardware and resources and increase agility and scalibility.
Effective data storage practices contribute to efficient data retrieval, scalability, and flexibility, enabling organizations to store and manage vast amounts of data while ensuring its integrity and accessibility for analysis, reporting, and other data-driven activities.
5- Data sharing
This component allows organizations to focus on facilitating the controlled and secure usage of data to only authorized individuals or organizations. it involves defining policies, procedures, and mechanisms to how employees should be sharing sensitive data internally or externally to reduce data breaches.
Data sharing can occur through various channels, such as secure file transfers, APIs, data portals, or data sharing agreements.
Effective data sharing promotes collaboration, enables data-driven decision-making, and fosters innovation. By facilitating the controlled sharing of data and following with the latest data management trends, organizations can derive greater value from their data assets and support initiatives such as research, analysis, and the development of new products and services.
Other elements of data management
We have discussed the key components of data management however some organizations feel the need to include other elements to cover more business requirements. In this paragraph, we will explore the most common secondary elements that organizations can use.
1- Data cleaning
Data cleaning involves a systemic process to review, validate, and modify data to ensure high quality and integrity. Organizations should put clear goals to identify and correct errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies in their own datasets. Remember, these datasets are used by your employees to make decisions!
It typically includes tasks such as removing duplicate entries, handling missing values, standardizing formats, correcting data entry errors, and resolving inconsistencies across different data sources. The goal of data cleaning is to enhance the accuracy, reliability, and completeness of the data, enabling organizations to make informed decisions and derive meaningful insights.
2- Data retention and archiving
Data archiving includes the long-term storage and retention of data to ensure availability when needed by any individual in your organization. The main purpose of this element is to have a copy of the most important quality available as long as the business needs it while also adhering to different regulations available in your industry.
