Assessing a Data Administrative Program - High-Performance Web Databases: Design, Development, and Deployment - page 687

When using the results of a previously conducted survey, it is important
to determine the similarity of the responding organizations. The surveys
mentioned here reported background statistics on the responding organiza-
tions that show a wide variety of type and size organizations participated.
Unfortunately, none of these surveys reported correlations between those
background statistics and the respondents answers to any of the other ques-
tions. Another difficulty in working with results like these is that the same
category of information may have been collected, but the specific opera-
tional definitions are often not compatible. Even with these drawbacks,
results of other surveys can be very useful in performing an assessment.
Some similarities exist among the lists of the important data administra-
tion functions constructed from the responses to these surveys. It would
be valuable to correlate the organizational characteristics of the data
administration programs to this information. For example, are the data
administration offices that have only been in place for a short time the ones
that see data modeling as the most important function and the more
mature data administration offices are focusing on supporting systems
development? Unfortunately, this cannot be determined from the informa-
tion as presented.
The results from other assessments or surveys can be used to assess a
data administration program's maturity level. Its relative level of maturity
can be estimated before the assessment to compare it with other data
administration programs, or its level of maturity could be judged after the
assessment using the measurements collected to show comparisons when
reporting the results. There are different sources of information that can be
used to calculate the maturity level. One specific maturity model that could
be used is a six-stage maturity model. This may be useful because it looks
at the evolution within the data processing environment and recognizes
that even with advanced technological tools, data processing shops can be
in any of these stages.
CONCLUSION
An assessment can assist an organization in identifying and capitalizing
on the benefits it has gained from its data administration program. It can
also help target problem areas and specify the resources necessary to rec-
tify them. Like any important undertaking, an assessment must be well-
planned and it needs management's support and commitment. Whatever
the results, it will also help anchor the data administration department in
the organizational structure. Therefore, proper preparation and planning
for different outcomes before the assessment is conducted is crucial.