Autonomy, Integrity, Mastery
This is less a mission statement and more a statement of being. We are not perfect.
But, we have written down these values as a commitment to ourselves and to the people
we work with, that this is how we behave, i.e. that this is what you can expect from
any Data Administration section staff member in a day-to-day working relationship.
- [A]utonomy:
- the quality of being self-governing. The Data Administration group serves the
entire ministry's need (a corporate focus), and therefore is not governed by any one
business group's or program area's wishes (we look for the needs of the whole, not
just the one). This includes a strong focus on district needs, but with a recognition
that full corporate data must be designed with a province-wide focus.
- [I]ntegrity:
- rigid adherence to a code of behavior; uprightness. We are honest and
behave honestly and truthfully. We foster trust in our day-to-day work; we honor our
commitments. We can look people in the eyes and answer, because we do what we say
we'll do.
- [M]astery:
- possession of consummate skill; full command of some subject of study. We act as a
team to provide expert skills and leadership to the ministry in a number of areas, with the core
focus being information resource management and data modelling. In today's complex information
systems environment we are also learning to lead the ministry in process modelling and managing
spatial information with an immature [GIS industry] tool base.
To quote Dr. Stephen R. Covey, "We can create powerful teams that build on the strengths of
each individual and make weaknesses irrelevant." (First Things First).
Data Administration Foundational Principles
Note: we're still working on these; they're intended to be the atomic high-level priorities
of the Data Administration function. They are numbered in order of precedence, i.e. you have to be
doing #1 before you can be successful at #2, and so on. The final goal with these as a foundation is
to lead the organization into a clear understanding of the overall information resource.
- Create or validate a reasonable design for this data model to meet stated business needs.
- Encourage and negotiate data sharing across business areas (or enforce through escalation when necessary).
Use the information in the data models from #1 as a basis for determining shared needs.
- Look for long term issues (about data) and facilitate or assist those who can solve them. Listen to the
concerns and dialogue from staff regarding business issues when doing #1 and #2, and use those concerns to identify
strategic trends and issues.
- Validate process models as well, to protect the integrity of the data resource.
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