Part 3: E-government Services and GovernanceInternational audienceMore and more data is becoming available and is being combined which results in a need for data governance - the exercise of authority, control, and shared decision making over the management of data assets. Data governance provides organizations with the ability to ensure that data and information are managed appropriately, providing the right people with the right information at the right time. Despite its importance for achieving data quality, data governance has received scant attention by the scientific community. Research has focused on data governance structures and there has been only limited attention given to the underlying principles. This paper fills this gap and advances the knowledge base of data governance through a systematic review of literature and derives four principles for data governance that can be used by researchers to focus on important data governance issues, and by practitioners to develop an effective data governance strategy and approach

Purpose Master data management (MDM) aims to improve the value of an organization’s most important data, such as customer data, by bridging the silos between organizational units and information systems. However, incorporating data management practices into an organization is not a simple task. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new understanding of the challenges in establishing and developing the MDM function within an organization. Design/methodology/approach This papers report an ethnographic study within a municipality. The data were collected from two consecutive MDM development projects over the time period of 32 months by observing MDM-related activities and interviewing appropriate actors. Observations, interviews, and impressions were documented to a diary that was later qualitatively analyzed. Various project documentation were also used. Findings In total 15 challenges were identified. Seven of these were not identified earlier in the literature. New challenges included legislation-driven challenges, mutual understanding of master data domains, and the level of granularity for those domains. Eight issues, such as data owner and data definitions, were MDM specific, others being more generic. All of the issues were identified as preconditions or as affecting factors for the others. Three of the issues were identified as pivotal. The issues emphasize strong alignment between the complex concept of MDM and the organization adopting it. Research limitations/implications This research was based on a single qualitative case study, and caution should be exercised with regard to generalizations. The findings increase understanding about the complex organizational phenomena. The study offers public sector and private sector practitioners insights of the organizational issues that establishing a MDM function can encounter. Originality/value The issues discovered in the research shed light on the strong alignment between the complex concept of MDM and the organization. The results of this study assist researchers in their endeavor to understand the organizational aspects of MDM, and to build theoretical models, frameworks, practices, and explanations.

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Master data management (MDM) provides an access to the consistent views of an organization´s master data. Yet the establishment of MDM function, i.e. a department that attempts to ensure master data consistency is not an easy task as several stakeholders have different interests and expectations, among many other reasons. This paper is based on a year-long MDM project, from which we identify the process for establishing MDM functions in an organization, and what are the different steps and interdependencies that should be taken into account. These steps and their dependencies, and other incidental issues help organizations when establishing MDM function, and complement the scarce MDM literature.