GDS Data Architecture

• About

Data Sharing Principles

• Overview
• 1. Treat data as an asset
• 2. Federate first
• 3. Reuse sharing solutions
• 4. Support automation
• 5. Design for all data stakeholders
• 6. Use common standards for sharing
• 7. Share data transparently
• 8. Share data lawfully and ethically
• 9. Secure shared data proportionately

Capability Model

• Overview
• Channels
• Infrastructure
• Data Access
• Services
• Governance
• Security
• Trust

1. Treat data as an asset

Statement

We make decisions about data based on its value to our organisation as well as its wider public value.

Why does this matter?

As the public sector modernises, data increasingly underpins the ways that we serve the public. At the core of any digital public service is data management: the practice of handling data assets throughout their lifecycle.

Moreover, public sector data also has value beyond the organisation that holds it. Lying dormant in our data assets are insights for researchers, analysts, policymakers and front-line administrators across the UK. To discover and take full advantage of data sharing opportunities, we must start by shifting the way we think about data: not as a means to an end, but as a versatile organisational asset. Over time, a broader and deeper appreciation of data should embody itself in a culture of digital collaboration and in new data management practices. These practices will help improve the timeliness and efficacy with which we can harness data to create public value.

How do we do this?

Overall, we should invest time and resources into building data management understanding, skills and programmes to generate public value through better data sharing.

Data providers should

• Identify where improved data management and data sharing will help fulfil their team’s objectives.
• Ensure that their digital and data strategies encompass data management and data sharing ambitions.
• Join and participate in the Cross-Government Data Management Community to showcase work, help shape guidance and keep up to date with best practice in data management.
• Follow the Essential Shared Data Asset (ESDA) policy and guidance for making critical data assets available for use across government.
• Assess their overarching organisational data management and data sharing practices, using frameworks like the DAMA Wheels and Context Diagrams to identify areas for improvement.
• Ensure that data management and data sharing provisions such as training, technology and staff are factored into spending reviews.
• Consider establishing Enterprise Data Models to map and connect data assets across their organisation.

Data consumers should

• Identify where improved data management and data sharing will help fulfil their team’s objectives.
• Join and participate in the Cross-Government Data Management Community to showcase work, help shape guidance and keep up to date with best practice in data management.
• Proactively engage and collaborate with data providers to instigate new data sharing activities.
• Ensure that data management and data sharing provisions such as training, technology and staff are factored into spending reviews.
• Consider establishing Enterprise Data Models to map and connect data assets across their organisation.

Data sharing enablers should

• Factor data management into design decisions throughout the development of data sharing initiatives (see Principle 6).
• Help data providers and data consumers understand the data management implications of their data sharing solutions.