Data Tactics to Achieve Your Data Strategy

Strategy is a high-level description of steps needed to achieve an objective or goal; tactics are the mechanisms, techniques, and maneuvers used to attain them. This session will offer techniques for overcoming resistance to change and win converts and supporters of your data strategy.

The Chief Data Officer of a large University must develop multiple, diverse methods in order to achieve up-to-date data management practices in an organization that still thinks the Socratic method is cutting edge stuff, and where important units might be led by people whose management positions are due, in part, to their mastery of 16th century sonnets.

Universities have long established business practices and structures, and it can be difficult to get the various parties involved to recognize that we are a single enterprise, let alone play nicely together. I will share some of the techniques I have developed for:

Dealing with superiors, equals and subordinates
Mapping the territories and forming alliances
Overcoming resistance
Sharing success
Getting buy-ins

I rose through the ranks at various institutions of higher education, serving as the registrar at three schools as they migrated from legacy data systems to new -- and much more complex -- transactional systems. These conversion projects gave me an in-depth understanding of how data systems work, how they affect (and are affected by) business practices, and how data flows through an organization. With this knowledge, I transitioned to the Office of Institutional Research, where my understanding of how data systems and organizational policies interact led to my appointment as the Chief Data Officer in addition to my Director role. As CDO, I established the data governance group to bring data stewards, IT and data users together to create an enterprise wide view of the organization. Given the fact that we don’t have a single, integrated ERP, this group is how we break down the silos.