Data Governance

Risk Management Group is responsible for approving the procedures related to the University's Data Governance Policy and ensuring data processes are used in all of the University's data creating, use and dissemination.

Data Governance Policy v2.1

Data Quality

Data is fundamental to effective, evidence-based decision-making. It underpins everything from major policy decisions to routine operational process. Often, however, our data is of unknown or questionable quality. This presents huge challenges. Poor or unknown quality data weakens evidence, undermines trust, and ultimately leads to poor outcomes. It makes organisations less efficient, and impedes effective decision-making. To make better decisions, we need better quality data.

Data quality is about fitness for purpose and is an output of better data management. Data quality requirements are defined as accuracy, completeness, currency, precision, privacy, reasonableness, integrity, timeliness, uniqueness and validity. These metrics will be core for us at St Mary’s University as we work towards developing a strong data culture.

Data may be used by several different users and each for different purposes. Communicating the quality of data to users gives them a fuller picture of your data and its journey and mitigates against people using the data for the wrong purposes.

Data quality Principles have been defined to support organisations to create a data quality culture and Data quality Dimensions which should be used to make assessments of data quality and to identify data quality issues.

There are 6 core data quality dimensions which are listed below.

Data Quality Principles and Data Quality Dimensions

Key dates for Statutory Returns 2024-25

Having clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) with clear responsibilities assigned to roles and teams is part of creating a strong data quality culture.

Follow this link for the SOP template: Standard Operating Procedure Template

FAQ

Why is Data Quality important for us at St Marys?

Why data reported externally should be of the highest possible quality

What are the implications of poor Data Quality?

How can we boost our Data Quality Culture?

What are the key roles in ensuring Data Quality?

Who is responsible for Data Quality?

What should I do, if I come across a Data Quality Issue?

What should I do, if I am aware of any Data Quality breach or non-compliance?

What is St Mary’s as an institution aiming to do in order to improve Quality of Data and raise awareness?

Why is Data Quality important for us at St Marys?

St Mary’s University needs complete, accurate and reliable information in order to manage its business, including:

Delivering an efficient service to staff, students and stakeholders
Providing informative and reliable management information and reporting
Demonstrating public accountability
Presenting a responsible and true public face.
Meeting statutory and regulatory obligations

Why data reported externally should be of the highest possible quality

The external representation of the University has assumed greater significance in the context of increased tuition fees. It is imperative that we provide students and potential students with clear, accurate data that can help inform their decision-making.
To ensure accurate funding allocations for both teaching and research (data supplied by the University to the Office for Students [OfS] and the Higher Education Statistics agency [HESA] affects the funding the University receives).
Good quality data and external returns reflect a well-run institution and this is likely to increase the University’s external credibility.
The University’s Risk and Audit Committee is required to give, as part of its annual opinion, assurance over management and quality assurance of data submitted to HESA, the OfS and other external agencies.
The University’s senior management are required to provide representations in the annual audited financial statements that internal controls are effective, including assurance over data quality.

What are the implications of poor Data Quality?

Reputational damage
Financial loss
Poor decision making
Inaccurate reporting/analysis
Unreliable data leading to mistrust

How can we boost our Data Quality Culture?

Be curious about quality
Find out who is responsible for quality
Understanding your data and the source of origin and how it gets to you
Challenge quality
Champion data quality in your organisation

What are the key roles in ensuring Data Quality?

Data or Institutional Data: General term used to refer to the University’s information resources and administrative records.
Data Quality: Refers to the validity, relevancy, accuracy and currency of data
Data Trustee: Accountable for the strategic co-ordination of data management and reporting
Data Owner: Accountable for the fitness or purpose of a defined data area and primarily performed by the leads of those functions
Data Steward: Responsible for the definition and quality of defined dataset(s) within a data area, wherever the data is retained.
Data Custodian: Responsible for the safe custody, storage and retention of data.
Data User: Members of staff who uses data in the normal course of business.

Who is responsible for Data Quality?

St Mary’s University, rather than any individual or organisational unit, is the owner of all institutional data. As such, the University will require a culture that demonstrates a high commitment to data quality at a senior level. All members of SLT have a strategic responsibility for maintaining good data quality.

The following table provides a high level of overview of the levels of data ownership.

Dataset	Data Trustee	Data Owner	Data Steward	Data Custodian
Staff Data	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and COO	Director of HR & Legal Services	Head of HR Operations	CIO
Student Data (Enrolments)	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and COO	Director of Student Operations	Academic Registrar	CIO
Student Data (Applications)	Provost	Director of IESRA	Head of Admissions	CIO
Academic Programme Data	Provost	Dean of Education and Outcomes	Academic Registrar	CIO
Research data/publications	Provost	Provost	Head of Research Services	CIO
Finance Data	Pro Vice-Chancellor and CFO	Financial Controller	Head of Accounting Services	CIO
Estates Data	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and COO	Director of Estates and Campus Services	Senior Asset Manager	CIO

What should I do, if I come across a Data Quality Issue?

Any issues should be referred to the Data Steward and the Data Quality Manager who will log the issue and aim to find a resolution by contacting relevant stakeholders.

What should I do, if I am aware of any Data Quality breach or non-compliance?

Any issues in the first instance should be referred to the Data Steward and the Data Quality Manager. The Data Quality Manager will maintain a log of all data issues, the proposed plan for resolution and the timeline for doing so. If a data quality issue is not satisfactorily resolved then this should be escalated to the Data Owner and ultimately to the Data Trustee. If the issue is still not satisfactorily resolved then this should be reported to the Risk Management Group and ultimately to the Risk and Audit Committee if concerns are not adequately addressed.

What is St Mary’s as an institution aiming to do in order to improve Quality of Data and raise awareness?

Updated Data Governance Policy to highlight importance of data and data quality principles and outlining roles and responsibilities
We have identified data quality issues and compiled a log and prioritised them and working through them to find possible resolutions
We are working on reports for some of the prioritised areas to identify these issues in order to resolve them in a timely manner
We are also working with business support areas to document their Standard Operating Procedures
We are in the process of producing resources/documentation to highlight the importance of a strong data quality culture
Dedicated resource to support Data Quality improvements

Data Governance

Data Governance

Data Quality

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