Data Culture

Sustaining data governance at Colorado College necessitates that a shared data culture be cultivated through the incorporation of:

Shared Understanding

Everyone on campus knows what data governance means and why it matters

• Culture requires: passing knowledge forward through education and awareness

• Data Governance requires: clarified data governance scope and assumptions, onboarding, and employee training

Shared Language

We all use the same terms and definitions when referring to data and information

• Culture requires: documentation, archiving, and language preservation

• Data Governance requires: documentation of policies and procedures, conservation of data and information definitions

Shared Expectations & Experiences

 Our community has consistent roles, responsibilities, and ways to engage with data

• Culture requires: community participation and organized institutions

• Data Governance requires: leadership support, structured data roles, input and feedback opportunities for stakeholders

Governance Assumptions

• Data is raw, unprocessed facts, figures, or symbols collected through observation, measurement, or research. Example: A list of student test scores: 87, 92, 76, 85
  
  
• Information is data that has been processed, organized, or interpreted in a way that adds context, relevance, and meaning, making it useful for decision-making. Example: “The average score of the class is 85, which is above last year’s average of 80.”
  
  
• Administrative data and data storage space is a college asset, not owned by one department or division. 

• Administrative data is facts or figures collected or created while someone is performing/completing operational duties for the College. This data is owned by the College with responsibility for stewardship delegated to areas or individuals.  

• The creation of policies and practices related to administrative data, including data collection, categorization, use, quality, security, access, reporting/sharing, retention, and software standards for receiving and/or storing administrative data, will fall under the jurisdiction of the Data Governance Strategic Board and Tactical Working Group.  

• Data governance is an ongoing and evolving maturity process that will likely occur in phases. 

Governance Scope

Colorado College data governance policies, procedures, and guidelines hold dominion over:
 

Individuals

• All individuals and entities, regardless of affiliation, who handle, use, process, store, or manage the College's data or computing or network facilities. This includes, but is not limited to, students, faculty, staff, researchers, contractors, visitors, and any others accessing the College’s institutional data. 
• All individuals and entities, regardless of affiliation, who develop, manage, administer, or support IT systems and applications that generate, collect, store, maintain, transmit, or record administrative data. 

Objects

• All administrative data and administrative data products (including storage space) regardless of where they reside. This data may be held on any of the College’s premises or in any external or cloud-based infrastructure licensed, rented, or contracted by the College or on the College's behalf. This also includes institutional data held on personal devices on the University's behalf. 
• All IT systems and applications that generate, collect, store, maintain, transmit, or record institutional data regardless of system or application manager, owner, or location

Elements that exist outside of the scope, responsibility, and authority of College data governance include:

• Data collected or used during academic or clinical research if it is not the product of operational duties. 
• Documents and records that are the personal property of individuals in the Colorado College community including documents owned by students or personal intellectual property of professors or researchers.