Director for the Office of Institutional Advancement, Prof. Kwasi Dartey-Baah
The University's Office for Institutional Advancement (OIA) has held a day’s training seminar for Senior Members and Senior Staff on Data Governance and Data Management. This training programme was integral to the University's efforts to meet the prerequisites of the ACE Institutional Impact Project by the World Bank. The Director for the Office of Institutional Advancement, Prof. Kwasi Dartey-Baah, noted this in a welcome address to open the session.
Prof. Dartey-Baah disclosed to the participants that the one-day training was a key component of the 7th disbursement bid indicator under the World Bank’s Africa Higher Education Centre’s of Excellence (ACE) Institutional impact project.
He provided a brief overview of the ACE project, saying “the ACE project provides Centres of Excellence in most institutions across the African sub-region with the needed resources to improve the quality and the impact of higher education on the continent.”
“UG has benefited from the project by playing host to 3 of the 53 ACE Impact Centres, that is, WACCI, WACCBIP and WAGMC. It serves as a necessary step towards the realisation of the University’s vision of becoming a world-class research-intensive University,” he further stated.
Prof. Dartey-Baah described the topic under which the training was carried, ‘Data Governance and Data Management,’ as crucial for strategy implementation. “It is no longer news that data has become a critical asset in today’s organisations. This makes data management and governance crucial for strategy implementation and organisational effectiveness. Microsoft views data as a strategic asset and data management and governance as enablers that will allow for deep insights across organisational boundaries.”
The training was split into two segments and was conducted by Mr. Benjamin Cobblah, a Deputy Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO). In the first session, the focus was on Data Management. Mr. Cobblah outlined that “data management constitutes a systematic process that involves the acquisition, organising, safeguarding and storing of an organisation's data, which in turn can be effectively analysed for informed business decisions.”
Mr. Cobblah proceeded to elaborate on the core foundations of data management, encompassing the Data Management Life Cycle, Data Quality, Data Security and Data Integration. He emphasised that data quality necessitates accuracy, accessibility, completeness, consistency, and integrity. Regarding data security, he stressed the importance of safeguarding data confidentiality and integrity, while ensuring the availability and accessibility of underlying systems.
Mr. Benjamin Cobblah, a Deputy Chief Information Technology Officer
The second segment of the session revolved around Data Governance. During his presentation, the Deputy CITO underscored the significance of Data Governance, which involves establishing policies to ensure desired outcomes and implementing control mechanisms related to data to meet governance requirements.
He also revealed the proposed Data Governance framework, subject to approval. “The framework will designate the Vice-Chancellor as the Head of Data Governance in the University, also known as the Data Owner. Following the successful training, various data custodians will be distributed across all Colleges, Units, and Departments of the University once the framework is approved” Mr. Cobblah disclosed.
The two sessions were followed by an interactive session where participants were allowed room to ask questions and seek clarifications. The training hosted over three hundred senior members and senior staff from the various Colleges, Schools, Departments and administrative units of the University.
