Staying the Course: Q2 Data Governance Priorities to Build on a Strong Start
Douglas Olson
Global Executive | Enterprise AI & Data Strategy | Modernizing Governance, MDM & Portfolios for Scalable Growth, Head of North American xOps
By Douglas J. Olson
As Q2 begins, we’re no longer in the phase of setting intentions—we’re in the business of delivering on them.
In January, I shared our foundational priorities for kicking off the year in "Starting Strong: Top Data Governance Priorities for January". We laid out a vision rooted in trust, transparency, and shared responsibility. That post focused on onboarding stewards, establishing classification strategies, and ensuring alignment across departments.
Now, the focus shifts from early alignment to operational maturity. Governance isn’t a quarterly sprint—it’s a sustained, evolving effort. Q2 is about reinforcing our early wins, scaling what’s working, and ensuring we’re positioned to deliver business value through every data-related decision we support.
Reinforcing the Foundation
Some of the most critical work in governance happens behind the scenes. Throughout Q1, we built trust in our classification model by having teams review, validate, and begin triaging discovered data. These reviews—particularly in high-sensitivity areas like HR and IT—brought attention to both the volume of legacy content and the limitations of regex or pattern-based classification methods.
As we mature, we're recognizing that classification tools don’t work in isolation. They require human feedback, domain expertise, and a willingness to iterate. Our stewards are stepping up, reviewing thousands of records and applying business context to help refine the tool's accuracy—an investment that will pay dividends every quarter that follows.
The onboarding of data stewards in HR, IT, and Finance marked a key early milestone. Their efforts are helping us prioritize high-risk findings, correct misclassifications, and shape new policies that reflect real-world data use. We've also begun publishing remediation guidelines and walkthroughs to support their work, creating a stronger feedback loop between governance and daily operations.
Q2 Objectives: Scaling with Purpose
With our early groundwork in place, Q2 is about scale and structure.
Expanding Stewardship Sales and Operations are next in line for data steward onboarding. These functions touch massive volumes of customer and contractual data, and bringing them into our governance model will allow us to better manage risk and ensure alignment with downstream systems like ERP, CRM, and our customer portals.
Retention and Remediation Policies Initial retention work has centered on HR data, where regulatory and internal requirements are most clearly defined. We now aim to extend these policies across other domains—especially Finance and Legal—while beginning to track compliance metrics that highlight adherence or exceptions.
Data Source Expansion We’re continuing to broaden our discovery efforts, connecting to structured and unstructured systems alike. The focus this quarter includes:
Each new connection brings both insight and complexity. Our approach emphasizes prioritization—integrating high-value systems first and using findings to guide our next actions.
Data Dictionary Development Our lightweight Data Dictionary, launched in SharePoint and aligned with our classification standards, is becoming the central reference point for business definitions, classifications, and stewardship ownership. We’re continuing to expand its use, adding new data sources and mapping data flows where appropriate.
Advancing Governance Maturity
Good governance is more than policy—it’s measurable, repeatable, and respected by the business. This quarter, we’re formalizing our first set of Governance Health Metrics, including:
These metrics will appear in our first Governance Scorecard, which will be shared with leadership and updated quarterly. They’ll give us not only a performance snapshot, but also a compass for where we need to focus next.
We’re also investing in workflow automation—streamlining manual reviews, improving routing logic, and building notification rules that help stewards stay on top of their review backlog. These small automations add up, freeing time and reducing the cognitive load on our teams.
Looking Ahead
The second half of the year will bring even more capability to the table, from Data Insights tooling that highlights usage patterns and access anomalies, to Access Intelligence features that give us a clearer view of who is using what data and why.
In parallel, we’re aligning with key stakeholders in Legal, Privacy, Security, and IT to ensure governance remains embedded in broader risk and compliance strategies—not operating in a silo. Our goal isn’t to slow down innovation; it’s to ensure that data moves responsibly and with purpose.
I’ll also be sharing an upcoming article focused on building your first Data Governance Scorecard—designed to help leaders visualize stewardship progress, risk posture, and remediation efforts across the enterprise.
As we continue this journey, we remain guided by the same principle that shaped our January priorities: the belief that trusted data is a shared asset, and good governance is a shared responsibility.
We’ve started strong. Now, let’s stay the course.
References
About the Author Douglas J. Olson is a data governance and transformation leader with deep experience across the travel, tech, HR, finance, and energy sectors. He currently manages a portfolio of over 300 projects spanning enterprise systems, data strategy, and cross-functional process improvement. A cancer survivor, former COO, and long-time systems architect—Doug brings a pragmatic, business-first lens to data stewardship, integration, and automation. Follow for practical insights on governance, execution, and large-scale transformation.