What's your checklist for managing data?

1 Define your data goals

The first step is to define your data goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your data? How does your data support your mission, vision, and values? What are the key questions or problems that your data can help you answer or solve? How will you measure your data success and impact? These questions will help you clarify your data purpose and scope and align your data management strategy with your organizational or project goals.

2 Assess your data sources

The next step is to assess your data sources and types. Where does your data come from? How do you collect, obtain, or generate your data? What are the formats, structures, and standards of your data? How do you validate, verify, and document your data? How do you handle missing, incomplete, or inaccurate data? These questions will help you evaluate your data quality and reliability and identify any gaps or issues in your data collection and acquisition processes.

3 Review your data storage

The third step is to review your data storage and backup. How do you store, organize, and archive your data? What are the platforms, tools, and systems that you use for data storage? How do you ensure data security, privacy, and compliance? How do you protect your data from loss, damage, or theft? How do you backup and restore your data? How do you manage data retention and disposal? These questions will help you assess your data safety and durability and identify any risks or challenges in your data storage and backup procedures.

4 Analyze your data usage

The fourth step is to analyze your data usage and sharing. How do you access, manipulate, and transform your data? What are the methods, techniques, and tools that you use for data analysis and visualization? How do you communicate and present your data findings and insights? How do you share your data with others, internally or externally? What are the protocols, formats, and licenses that you use for data sharing? How do you ensure data integrity, consistency, and reproducibility? These questions will help you evaluate your data value and utility and identify any opportunities or barriers in your data usage and sharing practices.

5 Update your data policies

The fifth step is to update your data policies and guidelines. How do you define and document your data roles and responsibilities? What are the rules, standards, and best practices that you follow for data management? How do you train and educate your data staff and stakeholders? How do you monitor and audit your data performance and quality? How do you handle data issues, errors, or breaches? How do you solicit and incorporate data feedback and suggestions? These questions will help you improve your data governance and accountability and identify any areas of improvement or innovation in your data policies and guidelines.

6 Repeat your data checklist

The final step is to repeat your data checklist periodically. Data management is not a static process. It evolves and changes over time, depending on your data needs, goals, and environment. Therefore, you should revisit your data checklist regularly and update it as needed. This will help you maintain and enhance your data management practices and ensure that your data is always relevant, reliable, and ready for use.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?