Illustration of a yellow cylinder with white lines indicating multiple sections. Overlapping the cylinder is a black, partially transparent circle with a blue checkmark in the middle.

If your business hasn’t standardized data governance, you may have:

  • Old, inaccurate data showing up in the wild
    Inconsistency creates frustration and mistrust with customers
  • No one on point to “own” product data issue resolution
    How can you fix your data problem if no one’s in charge?
  • Internal bias around systems owners and processes 
    Individual owners of systems (e.g., PIM or PLM software) creating bias within your data flows 
  • Disharmony and discord whenever change happens
    It takes longer than it should to get new systems online or to change data management processes, even at a field-level

Why you need product data governance

Your product data is the lynchpin of your ecommerce business, whether you have PIM software implemented or not. It’s well-known that if your product data is inaccurate, you risk loss of business or brand affinity. If it’s formatted incorrectly, you risk rejection from downstream channels.

It’s like how a printed book is “out of date” as soon as it is published and becomes more out of date with each passing year. Your product data practices will erode in relevance and efficiency if they aren’t updated on a regular basis.

You have many different systems (e.g., ERP, PLM, PIM, DAM, etc.) and many owners of each product data system. You need more than documentation to ensure your data practice evolves with your business.

It isn’t enough to establish the “right” way to capture data. You need systems in place to ensure compliance.

Illustration with a large circle in the middle and a horizontal black band behind it. Inside the circle are the words "product data governance" and two arrows, indicating a cyclical process. Also in the circle are icons. Clockwise from top left: a wrench and screwdriver crossed, a pie chart, a checklist, three people, an award ribbon, a lock, a cylinder, and a graph. Within the horizontal black bar are red, yellow, and blue dots representing data.
Illustration representing how product data governance streamlines data. On the left, tiny circles in blue, red, and yellow each have arrows pointing to the right. In the middle, blue, red, and yellow lines indicate pathways on a black background. On the right are larger blue, red, and yellow circles with streamlined "data" coming out the other side.

What is product data governance?

Think about your product information management practice as an airport, with thousands of fields of data (the passengers) traveling to and from various destinations. Product data governance is like your air traffic controller. It keeps your passengers safe and pilots informed. It’s the central point of communication when traffic changes for any reason. And like an air traffic controller, shared goals, visibility, and a common language are the keys to keeping everything running smoothly.

Ntara helps you define your standard operating procedures (SOPs) for product data governance. We help you determine who should serve on your governance committee. And we build change management strategies to help you plan for new products, acquisitions, and more.

How Ntara approaches product data governance

At Ntara, product data governance is typically part of a larger consulting engagement or implementation project. It can also be a standalone engagement.

We interview people across the organization to determine who plays which role in product data development. We need to understand the processes and systems they use. We want to identify what works with your processes—and what introduces bias or could be improved.

Our team then works with you to develop a governance model that addresses your specific business needs. We teach your governance committee how to manage your data practice. We provide detailed documentation. And our team will check in with the committee each month for a year. This provides significant value at all levels of the organization:

  • Data integrity across downstream channels
    Less confusion and stronger brand preference
  • One reliable source of truth for product data
    Less time wasted; more time spent growing the business
  • Consistent onboarding process
    Less duplication of work; more high value tasks
  • Proactive plan for remediation
    Established decision makers resolve issues as they arise
Illustration representing the four major components of product data governance. In the center, a black circle with a white icon checklist labeled "product data governance." Overlapping that circle are four other circles. Top left, a blue circle with a cylinder and checkmark in the center labeled "data integrity." Top right, a red circle with another circle representing PIM in the middle labeled "one source of truth." Bottom right, a lighter blue circle with icons of a screwdriver and wrench labeled "remediation plan." And on the bottom left, a yellow circle with two looping arrows labeled "consistent onboarding."

What you get from product data governance

By the end of this engagement, you’ll have the documentation you need to govern your product data, including:

Black icon of a checklist

Principles & guidelines document

Documentation on how your business will govern existing data and create new data

Black icon of a checklist

Governance committee recommendations

Recommended list of data governance members, ensuring no data is left behind

Black icon of a calendar

Monthly check-ins for one year

After your initial engagement, we help guide the process and ensure you stay on track

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Additional findings

Enterprise-wide insights regarding efficiency, security, and best practices

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