# A great way to test if your governance is working is just to ask: which are the decisio...
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Original URL: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/john-wernfeldt-82894b58_a-great-way-to-test-if-your-governance-is-share-7492136552438075392-kd-I/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAUj9ABA6XwLJ3RcHE4FACjTijtAT4klvY
Author: John Wernfeldt
Platform: linkedin
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## Content
A great way to test if your governance is working is just to ask: which are the decisions that have been made in the past 90 days, and where are those documented? If those are not documented anywhere, and you can't trace back who made them and why, then you don't really have a clear operating model around data governance. Decision authority is the most important part here, because without that everything else will fail. And if you're not making decisions then you will never be able to derive the tangible outcomes that you would like to. The data foundation is important, definitely. The master data management, the analytics. Everyone has their part of the puzzle. But decision authority is what makes them fit together. It's a little bit like the glue that makes everything work. I worked with plenty of clients that are focusing too much on the foundation. They set up the source system, the master data management. But if you can't link them to clear decisions and tangible outcomes, and in the best case also use cases, then you will always fail in the end. You will not be able to tell the right story to the organisation. I think if you do this the right way, you will also have a lot of success stories that you can show the organisation. To really show step by step how you did different things, and how that made some tangible outcomes you can measure in some kind of clear ROI. Increased revenue, decreased cost, decreased risk, or something like that. I've written down how to get the first decisions made in 30 days, you find the plan here: https://lnkd.in/dRkqe64E P.S. How many could you name? Be honest.
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