Data Sharing Benefits
Benefits to data sharing and success stories.
Benefits to Your Department from Executing the Plays
Cataloging your department's datasets and capturing their metadata benefits external data recipients and your organization's analytics, application enhancement, and information security teams. You can use this section during the execution of the Plays to:
Secure executive support by showing internal benefits and bolstering the business case for the data cataloging effort.
Gain buy-in from the internal teams that are needed to support the effort by demonstrating direct benefit to their efforts.
Support the business case for the acquisition of data management tools.
Benefits for Internal Cross-Program Data-Sharing
The Data-Sharing Plays provides benefits for internal data-sharing between your department’s programs. Your data catalog creates awareness across your department’s programs of available data and points of contact to coordinate data-sharing agreements.
Like external data-sharing, providing data between programs within your department may require agreements and security approvals. The detailed metadata created by executing the Plays provides detailed security classifications for compliance and verification of security controls. Participation by your department’s information security team in classifying data also builds familiarity and expedites security reviews.
Additionally, data recipients from other programs may not be familiar with your data. The metadata catalog and business glossary created by executing the Plays foster understanding and the ability to accurately use data from other programs.
Department Analytics Benefits
Your department's report and analytics creation efforts benefit from improved and comprehensive metadata by:
Reduce Report Development Time: The inventory of data elements and their definitions allow your staff to create reports/analytics more quickly by:
Avoiding time spent on researching data element meaning.
Easy access to an inventory of your department's data.
Providing support materials to explain report/analytics methodologies.
Reduce New Staff Ramp-Up Time: Without data architecture artifacts, including your data catalog, staff must learn the meaning of data through research and with the support of existing staff. Access to the data catalog allows new staff to know your datasets in a self-service manner and without time spent sifting through documentation.
Improve Report Accuracy: Access to the data element's meaning helps select the correct data during report/analytics creation. Additionally, a common understanding across report creators promotes alignment and accuracy across your department's reports.
Improve Cross-Program Analysis: The understanding provided by your department's data catalog improves cross-program analysis by:
Helping data elements to link data across datasets (e.g., Identifiers).
Normalizing data by ensuring combined data has the same meaning.
Information Security Benefits
Having a detailed inventory of data elements and their data security classifications also benefits information security. The inventory of data elements and classifications provides the following:
Input for Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): An inventory of data elements is the foundation for establishing an RBAC based on least privilege. The inventory of data elements is used to map elements to user roles to implement data access that restricts access while allowing users access to data needed to work effectively. The inventory of data and its classifications is used to implement fine-grained controls such as record and attribute level security.
Data De-identification: Data classifications and definitions are inputs for implementing data de-identification for datasets provided to internal users and external data recipients. Data de-identification eases data sharing by reducing risk. De-identified data may also expand the pool of internal staff to support analytics efforts through reduced security risk exposure.
Application and Database Development Benefits
The data catalog established by executing the Plays also benefits your department's application development teams. The inventory of data improves the efficiency of system enhancement efforts by:
Reduced Design and Development Time: Your enriched metadata minimizes the time to create new application and database system changes through:
Data Architecture Design: The data catalog allows design staff to create database specifications more quickly through a consolidated view of existing data elements. The data dictionary format also provides a mechanism to communicate database specifications to developers.
Data Element Identification: The data catalog improves the ability to create mappings between your system's data tier with user interface (UI) and data interfaces (e.g., External Interfaces). The data catalog reduces the time to create thorough technical specifications.
Data Element Re-use: The ability to quickly review data elements promotes re- use and accidental introduction of duplicate fields.
Impact Analysis: When extended with mappings to UI and data interfaces, the data catalog improves the ability to identify the impacts of system change. Accurate impact analysis helps project planning efforts and reduces the risk of introducing unanticipated impacts.
Level of Effort Estimates: The inventory from the data catalog provides an input to data-related level of effort estimates.
Reduce New Staff Ramp-Up Time: Like reduced staff ramp-up time for analytics efforts, your application development teams benefit from the metadata catalog. Application and database developers can learn your data architecture more quickly using your metadata catalog.
System Modernization Benefits
Creating a data catalog also helps future modernization efforts by providing inputs to current state analysis and data conversion. A comprehensive inventory of data elements and their descriptions is one input to assist with planning modernization efforts by:
Provide a source of requirements for new data platforms.
Improve the accuracy of level of effort estimations for the data-related portions of a new system, including:
New system data architecture design and implementation.
Data migration/conversion efforts.
Document the data portions of the current state system to supplement procurement (e.g., Bidder's Library)
Mid-Level Requirements
Data Conversion Plan
Reference Architectures (Data Architecture)
Success Stories
CalHHS Data-Driven Success Stories demonstrate how we leverage data and technology to improve services to Californians and become more client centric. The stories aim to create awareness of innovative ideas and improve interdepartmental coordination by providing a platform to collaborate, share ideas, and expand CalHHS’s data culture.
Linking Records to Improve Cross-Program Experiences
Former CalHHS Secretary Mike Wilkening and USC researcher Emily Putnam-Hornstein discuss the Record Reconciliation Project at the 2018 Data Expo. The goal of this project is to link and organize administrative, client-level records to improve statistical analysis of CalHHS clients. This CalHHS-USC collaboration is helping to break down program siloes and create a more holistic view of clients and their cross-program experiences.
Using Data Dashboards in Emergency Response
Marko Mijic, Former CalHHS Deputy Secretary, explains how bringing data together, streamlining data management processes, and mapping data with a dashboard helped to support timely decision-making and response to California wildfires.
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