Governance: Data management

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent do relevant laws, regulations, policies, and guidance provide a comprehensive framework for consistent data management and publication?

Definitions

Definitions and Identification

The value of data for the public good, no matter whether it could be considered strictly open or not, is increased when data is more easily discovered, when there is clear documentation, when there are assurances of data quality, when appropriate technical standards are used, and when users feedback is sought to improve data management.

Governments may promote consistent and high quality approaches to data management through a variety of routes, including:

• National data strategies
• Data management guidance
• Data management standards

Research Guidance

Look for the existence of government data management and/or publication guidelines and data standards policies. These might be found through the documentation of official open data catalogs, or through open searching of recent government announcements.

Starting points

• Search:
  • National standards for data management
• Consult:
  • Government officials working on data management
  • Data users

What to look for?

Look for evidence of:

• Adoption of international reference metadata and data standards (e.g., DCAT, DCAT-AP, oData, Best Practices for the Publication of Data on the Web, etc.);
• Interoperability frameworks being widely adopted;
• Standardised process for publishing and updating published government data;
• Guidance to get and process feedback from external users.

National and sub-national considerations

Research for this indicator should focus on national data management frameworks. If there has been no work on national frameworks, but there is a sub-national government that has more advanced policy or legislation, you may carry out the assessment with respect to this, noting this in the justification and sources and on the question of the scope and coverage of the framework.

Question sub-components

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

• What is the nature of the framework?
  • No framework exists.

    Supporting questions: In the absence of a strong legal framework, are there alternative norms or customs that play this role in the country? If so, please explain how. If there are draft laws or regulations not yet in force, but that would provide a more robust framework in future, please provide brief details here.

  • A framework exists but lacks full force of law.

    Supporting questions: In the absence of a strong legal framework, are there alternative norms or customs that play this role in the country? If so, please explain how. If there are draft laws or regulations not yet in force, but that would provide a more robust framework in future, please provide brief details here.

  • A framework exists and has the force of law.

    Supporting questions: Please identify the framework(s) you have assessed (e.g. name of law(s) or regulations)

Elements

• Rights and responsibilities:

• There are minimum standards for metadata when government data is catalogued or published. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

  If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

• There is a standardised process for publishing and updating published government data. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

  If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

• There are technical standards, including common data models, codelists, and identifiers for management and publication of government data. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

  If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

• There are clearly documented quality control processes for government data. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

  If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

• There are clearly documented processes for soliciting and integrating feedback from external users to improve data quality. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue and explain your 'Partially' response.

  If Yes: Please indicate which section of the framework refers to this issue.

Extent

• How broadly is good data management practice established?
  • The data management approaches assessed apply to a limited number of departments or localities.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

  • The data management approaches assessed apply to a limited number of departments or localities, but similar approaches are present across much of the public sector.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

  • The data management approaches assessed generally apply across the whole public sector.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

Indicator Justification

Maximising the value of government data for the public good requires data to be quality controlled and made available for re-use in consistent, reliable ways.

The Open Data Barometer leaders edition included an indicator (ODB.2015.C.MANAG) which asked the question, "To what extent is there a consistent (open) data management and publication approach?" This indicator is designed to provide broadly comparable data to the ODB indicator. It takes its guidance from the ODB's 0–10 scoring system, converting this into element checklist items that should yield similar scoring for similar situations.