Assessing a Data Administrative Program - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 683

Some may think that these customers do not care about data adminis-
tration when they make these kinds of complaints. It may be that the data
administrators are not listening to them correctly. Most customers will not
be able to explain their requirements in data administration terms. So data
administrators must translate what the customers are saying into the
implications for data administration. That is not to say that the entire cus-
tomer requirement is a data administration issue, or even that all customer
requirements have a data administration aspect to them. However, data
administrators must pay more attention to the customers' complaints and
figure out how to address them from a data administration point of view.
Data administration is a service function. Its general goals are to
improve quality and accessibility of data. At the same time that data admin-
istrators need to listen to customers' complaints correctly, the customers
must be able to see data administration listening to them and taking appro-
priate actions. A program assessment is one way of bridging the gap
between the two groups.
ASSESSMENT FORMATION
Once the customers have been identified, the assessment format must
be chosen. There are several ways of structuring the assessment: measur-
ing the progress toward the original goals, comparing the program to what
the data administration experts prescribe, or comparing the program to
other similar programs. If the program goals and objectives were not orig-
inally established with measuring them in mind, it will be more challenging,
but not impossible, to find adequate measurement techniques.
Most data administration programs have evolved over the years to look
different from the way they were originally intended. A program assess-
ment can compare the current program to the original plan and measure
the degree to which the original planned activities have been accom-
plished. That would not take into account the accomplishments that were
not in the original plan, however, nor would it address advances in data
administration tools and techniques. Another alternative is to compare the
current program to what some of the data administration experts recom-
mend. These could be such experts as Ron Ross, Bill Durell, Arnold Bar-
nett, or Clive Finkelstein. Their recommendations, however, may include
activities that are not practical to implement in all organizations. A third
alternative is to compare the current program to data administration pro-
grams in other similar organizations. To some extent, this type of compar-
ison is happening constantly as data administrators meet in such forums
as the Data Administration Management Association (DAMA) and Data
Administration Users Group (DAUG). These forums provide a feel for ho w
one data administration department stacks up against another, but a struc-
tured comparison would be more valuable to include an official data