BEST DATA GOVERNANCE TOOLS: Top Picks In 2023

Digital transformation has drastically altered the way we conduct business, and nowhere is this more evident than in data governance. Effective data governance tools are critical for ensuring data integrity and assisting you in navigating changing compliance standards and security requirements. This post will help you better grasp data governance software and its framework. You will also recognize the importance of data governance tools. Furthermore, this post lists the top 13 data governance tools that are commonly utilized in the market.

What is Data Governance?

Data governance refers to everything you do to maintain data safe, private, correct, accessible, and usable. It includes the actions that people must perform, the processes that they must adhere to and the technology that will assist them throughout the data life cycle.

Data governance is the process of establishing internal standards and data policies that govern how data is received, stored, processed, and disposed of. It determines who gets access to what data and what data is regulated. Data governance also includes compliance with external standards enforced by business groups, government agencies, and other stakeholders.

Data governance initiatives have an impact on the Strategic, Tactical, and Operational levels of enterprises, as depicted in the graphic above. The operations must be viewed as an ongoing, iterative process in order to efficiently manage and use data within the context of the organization and in partnership with other data projects.

Framework for Data Governance

Data governance strategies have grown in popularity as the number of digital transformation initiatives has increased. Data governance systems should include the following components:

Data Standards: Data dictionaries, taxonomies, and business glossaries should be produced to provide clarity around business and data definitions. This material clarifies any uncertainty in talks, particularly about metrics and reporting. It also gives stakeholders access to the data architecture, allowing teams to innovate on their own to automate activities in their industry.
Data Processes and Organizational Structure: Access controls in data governance can allow end users to observe how data is processed within an organization. Data refresh cadences, PII constraints, regulatory data rules, and even data access are examples of this. This type of documentation contributes to the organizational structure by specifying the tasks and responsibilities of various data administration and maintenance activities.
Tools and Technologies: Data governance tools and technology, such as metadata management systems, aid in the support of data processes and standards. These technologies can be used to store and protect the data that an organization is in charge of. It can also be coupled with self-service data analytics tools, allowing analysts to query and analyze diverse data sets for reporting and innovation projects.

Why Do We Need Data Governance Tools?

Data governance aims to create policies outlining data ownership, duties, and delegates. The goal of defining standard data definitions and formats is to create a uniform knowledge of each data silo in the system. Data governance aims to enable confident decisions based on trustworthy data assets. This is why data governance is critical for all businesses.
Data governance frameworks inside a corporation frequently inform and document the what, who, why, and how of data. When organizational data is organized and controlled by pre-defined rules and standards, it increases consistency and accessibility throughout the process. Data governance tools aid in the development and upkeep of a well-organized set of policies, processes, and protocols that regulate how data is stored, used, and managed within an organization.

Choosing a Data Governance Tool

While many data governance tools perform typical management responsibilities, specialist tools that target governance programs and policy management, as well as data quality, have evolved.

The first step for any firm seeking the best solution is to define the use case and general business priorities. Understanding your data governance standards and business KPIs will help you make the best decision. In addition, to use case requirements, consider the following to help you narrow down your search:

Is your company more likely to use on-premise or cloud-based tools?
How many existing integrations are there now? Will you require a tool that can connect to each application? If so, how thoroughly?
Do you require a tool to work with enormous amounts of data from several sources?
Is it critical to your workflow to have a self-service admin dashboard?

Determine which characteristics are required to acquire a better understanding of which tool will best fulfill your needs. The following are some features to think about:

Maintain critical artifacts such as data models and glossaries.
Keep track of and manage data management operations such as change history and lineage data.
Metadata creation and management
Document classification and lifecycle management are provided.
Assign governance responsibilities and policies.
Manage user permissions and workflow.
Monitor the progress of your task.
Keep an eye on business strategy.
Keep track of measurements and efficacy.

Examining and matching each of your business needs with a desired product feature will assist you best determine which tool will be most effective in accomplishing your annual goals.

What are the Market’s Best Data Governance Tools?

The use of appropriate data governance tools is crucial for long-term data governance success. With the correct instrument, data governance objectives can be met more quickly and easily. The following are some of the most commonly used data governance tools:

Alation Data Catalog
Ataccama
Collibra
SAP Master Data Governance
Informatica
OvalEdge
IBM Data Governance
Atlan
Erwin
Alex Services
ASG Technologies Inc.
Atlas Apache
Data360 Governance

#1. Alation Data Catalog

The Alation Data Catalog provides users with a single point of reference for several data sources, making it easier for them to identify and discover the information they want. The Alation data catalog is one of those data catalog tools that help with the automation of Governance processes including upgrading data dictionaries and training users on good Governance principles, as well as providing collaborative alternatives for information sharing.

Price: Available upon request

#2. Atamaca

Ataccama is a self-service data management and governance platform. With AI-driven automated capabilities, it simplifies data administration. Ataccama ONE uses a “self-driving” technique to automate, boost productivity, and ease of use. It automatically analyzes data quality and classifies data to assist businesses to focus and concentrating. Security and privacy standards can be automatically enforced on all important data assets, making data available to those who require it.

Price: Available upon request

#3. Collibra

Collibra is a corporate data governance application that automates data operations and keeps cross-functional teams on the same page. Natural language search, data governance automation, and data stewardship are all included.

Collibra’s interactive data lineage diagrams allow users to graphically grasp data elements such as regulations, problems, relationships, and flow. It has its own machine learning-powered data catalog that may be linked to the business lexicon and governance standards.

Price: Available upon request

#4. SAP Master Data Governance

SAP master data governance (SAP MDG) software is available on-premises or in the cloud. It is designed to improve enterprise data management, reduce risk, increase compliance, and cut the total cost of ownership. SAP MDG consolidates master data and automates master data replication and syndication throughout the system landscape. It also measures, monitors, and improves the quality of master data and procedures.

Price: Available upon request

#5. Informatica

Informatica provides data governance platforms as well as compliance services. Its enterprise data governance solution is accessible on-premises or in the cloud. It is the most tried-and-true solution, enabling business and IT to collaborate effortlessly.

Informatica generates a data catalog by automatically scanning across many cloud platforms. It enables data lineage tracking to be performed automatically. It monitors and analyzes data migration, from high-level system views to detailed column-level lineage. Informatica breaks through silos and brings together IT, security, and business teams to ensure data compliance with requirements like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Price: Available upon request

#6. OvalEdge

OvalEdge is both a data catalog and a low-cost data governance system. Because of its agile architecture, businesses can customize the product to match their business needs. OvalEdge also uses algorithms and user inputs to depict relationships between your data, providing you with a 360-degree view of your data.

Data lineage tracking assists in tracing data from start to finish, as well as any anomalies that may have occurred along the way. OvalEdge helps you to set data quality and data definition rules using a business dictionary. You may also use OvalEdge’s policy controls to allocate jobs and responsibilities.

Price: The beginning bundle is $100 per month, paid annually.

#7. IBM Data Governance

IBM data governance can help you find data items and their physical location, description, properties, and application. It is capable of handling both organized and unstructured data. It can help you reduce compliance risks.

IBM data governance comprises a configurable data governance strategy, data cataloging, and the acquisition of useful data for Big Data activities. It also allows for privacy and security features such as the ability to encrypt personally identifiable information, predictive consumer intelligence, and personal health data.

Price: Free Lite Version
Standard pricing is $300 per instance, plus $0.50 for each capacity unit-hour and $50 for each additional user.
Professional: $7,000 per instance, with a capacity unit-hour fee of $0.40 and an additional user fee of $300.

#8. Atlan

Data categorization, data quality, data lineage, and governance are all supported by Atlan’s data workspace platform. The software offers a Google-like Search interface, automated Data Profiling, and a searchable Business Lexicon to help users establish a shared understanding of data. Users may govern bandwidth use and adoption throughout an ecosystem via granular Governance and access limits, regardless of where their data goes.

Price: Available upon request

#9. Erwin

Erwin is a software platform that incorporates Data Governance, Enterprise Architecture, Business Processes, and Data Modeling. Customers may discover and harvest data, as well as arrange and deploy data sources, by tying physical metadata to specific business terminology.

By importing data from data integration tools and cloud-based platforms, Erwin may examine complex lineages spanning systems and use cases.

Price: Available upon request

#10. Alex Services

Alex’s data catalog is available as a complete Cloud or hybrid solution. It takes pride in its low total cost of ownership, embracing automation from the beginning to increase productivity and scalability. Alex is focused on the ease of deployment across a wide range of use cases as a single, out-of-the-box platform.

It supports connectors for all major cloud providers and can collect and ingest metadata from a range of platforms, both on-premises and in the cloud. With a few clicks, Alex’s automatic data lineage capabilities allow users to swiftly change the context across business, user, application, and technology lineages.

Price: Available upon request

#11. ASG Technologies

ASG Technologies, a subsidiary of Rocket Software, describes ASG Data Intelligence as a remedy for “statistics skepticism.” According to the company, tons of the wealth of statistics created and amassed on a regular basis goes unused because commercial enterprise managers, statistics scientists, and other stop customers either cannot discover it or do not comprehend and agree with it. ASG DI, as the gadget is known for short, aims to assist businesses to deal with issues via hard and fast metadata administration, data lineage, and data governance features.

Price: Available upon request

#12. Apache Atlas

Apache Atlas is one of the best data governance tools available. It is an open-source solution for organizations with information-intensive platforms that is built on a core set of metadata control and information governance abilities. It is often intended for use in Hadoop clusters.

However, it can also exchange metadata with tools and procedures outside the Hadoop environment to allow integration with diverse systems for analytics purposes.

Price: Open Source is free.

#13. Data360 Manage

Precisely’s Data360 Govern is also one of the best low-cost data governance tools. The technology provides real-time monitoring of information and assists multiple enterprise procedures and outcomes to support firms in accomplishing their business goals, with dashboards and evaluations that may be customized to provide personalized insights.

It also automates information governance operations, metadata gathering, and the uploading of data high-quality rankings from the companion Data360 DQ+ software program and different data high-quality gear from Precisely or competing providers.

Price: Available upon request

Choosing the correct Data Governance Tools for your Data Governance framework should be done after understanding the aims and goals of your own Data Governance approach.

What are the Primary Benefits of Data Governance Tools?

Data governance tools and technologies have become increasingly crucial in ensuring the integrity of data assets as data and apps have increased in importance to enterprises. Let’s look at some of the advantages of data governance tools.

Creates a Standardized View: Inconsistencies in business vocabulary and concepts are widespread since different users use different terms to convey the same topic. As a result, data governance tools contain a corporate glossary to ensure that all terminology is consistent and that everyone is on the same page. Data governance tools combine all of a company’s data into an easy-to-navigate data catalog, allowing anyone with the relevant permissions to see and interact with data in minutes. This is done through self-service, which reduces the pressure on data teams.
Increased Data Literacy and Understanding: If you want to succeed as a data-driven corporation, everyone in your organization must be data literate in order to harness data assets to make better business decisions. A data governance tool is a straightforward platform that enables business users to find and collaborate on data assets. Because almost every action can be accomplished through self-service, users can become more literate while relieving the pressure on data teams.
Compliance and Regulation: Each industry has its own set of norms, and noncompliance with these rules can result in significant penalties. As a result, Data Governance Tools assure regulatory compliance while simultaneously protecting security and privacy.

Choosing Data Governance Tools