Data Governance Consulting Services
Data governance consulting for metric certification, data catalog rollout, ownership models, lineage, and AI ready compliance. Senior led, fixed scope.
What this service covers
- data governance consulting
- data governance consulting services
- data governance consulting firm
- enterprise data governance
- metric certification
- data catalog implementation
- data ownership
- AI governance
- data stewardship consulting
- Alation consulting
- Collibra consulting
- Atlan consulting
Proof: client outcomes from this practice
- We consolidated 14 regional patient encounter definitions into one standard in 11 weeks, cutting reconciliation labor costs by $2.1 million. , Kaiser Permanente
- Implemented a data governance framework for four product lines that cut audit prep time from six weeks to four days and prevented $1.8 million in regulatory fines. , Informatica
Frequently asked questions
Where do we start with data governance?
We start with your most painful metric disagreement. Usually it is revenue, headcount, or customer count. We define that one metric end to end, document it, certify it, and use that process as the template for everything else. See our 90-day governance engagement breakdown for the full sequence.
How do I choose a data governance consulting firm?
Three signals matter. First, ask whether senior consultants stay on the engagement past kickoff or get swapped for juniors at week three. Second, ask for a fixed deliverable list with named owners and dates, not a hours bucket. Third, ask which framework (DAMA-DMBOK, DCAM, NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001) they map their work to. A firm that cannot answer all three should not be on the shortlist.
What is the difference between data governance and information governance?
Data governance is about structured data: metrics, KPIs, tables, columns, pipelines. Information governance is broader and covers unstructured records too: emails, contracts, PDFs, retention schedules. The two overlap in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government) where the same data has both an analytics owner and a records-retention owner. We focus on data governance and partner with records-management firms when the engagement crosses into formal records retention.
How is data governance different from data management?
Data management is the operational work: pipelines, storage, modeling, quality testing, observability. Data governance is the decision layer that sits above it: who owns each asset, what each metric means, who can access what, what quality bars apply. You can run data management without governance and produce technically correct dashboards that nobody trusts. Governance is what closes that gap.
How is data governance different from data quality?
Data quality is about whether the data is correct. Data governance is about who decides what correct means, who is responsible when it is not, and how those decisions are documented and enforced. Both are necessary. Governance without quality is just paperwork. Quality without governance is just cleaning.
Do you implement Alation, Collibra, and Atlan?
Yes. We have implemented all three and run engagements where the catalog tool was already chosen. We are tool-agnostic on selection: a well-maintained dbt project plus a shared metric dictionary in Confluence is a defensible lightweight starting point, and we recommend a dedicated catalog (Alation, Collibra, Atlan) only when the certified-asset volume exceeds what a document-based system can manage.
What does enterprise data governance consulting cost?
A focused Metric Certification Sprint for a single domain (Finance or Sales) starts at the equivalent of a 6 to 8 week engagement with a senior consultant. A full enterprise governance framework rollout across 4 to 6 domains typically lands in the 3 to 6 month range. We price by deliverable, not by hours bucket, so the scope and the cost are decided up front. Request the audit for a fixed quote.
How long does a governance engagement take?
A focused metric certification engagement for a single domain (Finance or Sales) typically takes 6 to 8 weeks. A full enterprise governance framework takes 3 to 6 months depending on the number of domains and the maturity of existing documentation.
Request the 30-day Analytics Truth Audit to scope this engagement for your environment.