Product Framework

Create a shortlist from our product framework.

To help you select data governance platforms to evaluate, Eckerson Group has created a product framework that categorizes data governance platforms at a high level. This framework is a good way to create a short list of products that your team can evaluate in more depth according to the criteria in the prior section.

The framework has two axes, functionality and scope, that constitute four quadrants. The dual Y axis defines the overall domain of the platform: is it more focused on data management or data governance? (left-hand quadrants) or analytics or cloud data platforms? (right-hand quadrants). The scope X axis defines whether the product is a data governance/data management pureplay or a software suite that happens to embed some data governance.

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Wayne Eckerson categorizes data governance products to help organizations create a short list of products to evaluate.

Product Framework

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Quadrants.

Each quadrant contains products with a similar heritage. For instance, the upper left quadrant contains products that focus more on data governance tasks than data management ones. In contrast, the lower left quadrant focuses as much on data management as data governance.

However, the market is changing rapidly and functionality among products in these two quadrants is converging. Data governance-centric products are now adding data management functionality, while data management products are adding data governance functionality. Similarly, cloud data platforms are adding analytics capabilities.

Despite this functional convergence, each product has a technical heritage that signals its strengths and colors its vision and go-to-market strategy. Thus, it’s best to follow this framework when selecting products for a short list.

“Despite functional convergence among [data management and data governance products], each product has a technical heritage that signals its strengths…”

  1. Upper-left quadrant. Choose these products if you already have data management tools and need to supplement them with data governance capabilities.
  2. Lower-left quadrant. Choose these products if you need a data management platform with integrated data governance capabilities.
  3. Upper-right quadrant. Choose these products if you need your analytics vendor to offer data governance capabilities.
  4. Lower-right quadrant. Choose these products if you need your cloud/database vendor to offer data governance capabilities.

Products

Figure 8 offers a list of prominent products with data governance capabilities. Although it’s not comprehensive, the segmented list provides a good starting point for organizations that want to create a short list of commercial data governance products to evaluate. The arrow indicates that data management-centric products are increasingly incorporating data governance capabilities and vice versa. The products in bold sponsored either the December 2021 CDO TechVent on Data Catalogs or the April 2022 event on Data Governance Platforms. (See figure 8.)

Data Governance Products by Quadrant

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Additional Resources