LeADS Working Paper Series Part V: From Data Governance by Design to Data Governance as a Service

The WoPa titled “From Data Governance by Design to Data Governance as a Service” is a result of collaborative work between three ESRs from the LeADS project, Armend Duzha (ESR10) and Christos Magkos (ESR11) from University of Piraeus Research Centre (UPRC), and Louis Sahi (ESR2) from University of Toulouse III (UT3), under the supervision of Dr Manolis Alexakis from UPRC and Dr Ali Mohamed Kandi from UT3. Hence, it was designed and conceptualized as a multidisciplinary work, spanning from data processing and management to security and privacy-preservation areas. This is directly related to the research topics of the ESR fellows involved, but most importantly the study carried out as part of the Crossroads (ESRs 10 and 11 are part of Crossroad 4 “Empowering Individuals” while ESR 2 is part of Crossroad 2 “Trust”). Specifically, during the second iteration of the Crossroads, a more in-deep analysis of the state of the art and assessment of existing methods were conducted first individually and then shared among the teams.

Abstract of the Working Paper

Nowadays, companies and governments collect data along every phase of a product/service life cycle. The data is acquired and stored in various and continuous ways, contributing to a large and unique data fingerprint for every product/service in use. Thus, establishing policies, processes and procedures (P3) around data and subsequently enacting those to compile and use such data for effective management and decision-making is extremely important. Data governance (DG) plays an essential role in a dynamic environment with multiple entities and actors, complex IT infrastructures, and heterogeneous administrative domains. Indeed, not only is it beneficial for existing products/services/processes, but it can also support appropriate adjustments during the design of new ones. This research provides an overview of the existing literature and current state-of-the-art in the domain of data processing and government aiming to evaluate existing approaches and to investigate their limitations. To this extent, this study introduces a novel approach for data governance as a service (DGaaS), which provides a framework for (private or public) organizations that facilitate alignment with their vision, goals and legal requirements. Finally, it discusses the potential implication of DGaaS in the smart city and healthcare sectors.