In Texas, the legislature passed a requirement that large government state agencies must invest in a data management system, said Texas Chief Data Officer Neil Cooke. The same law established a data management advisory council, led by the chief data officer and including a data officer from each participating agency. The council has 110 members, and for about half of them, data management is a full-time job.
“It’s a great place for spotlighting and sharing our practices and projects, and working through challenges and having a conversation,” Cooke said.
The structure has strengthened data management across the state enterprise, he added.
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NASCIO and Beeck Center Examined CDO Structures and Authorities
The NASCIO – Beeck Center report surveyed 27 state chief data officers across the U.S. It asked them about how their positions were established, their organizational structures and their statutory authorities (if any).
How CDO roles are established, according to the survey:
- 44% Statute
- 26% Not officially
- 19% State CIO directive
- 19% Executive order
- 11% Other
Most chief data officers report to the state CIO, a deputy CIO or similar official in the government’s IT agency, with 67% confirming that reporting structure. “Other CDOs report to the department of administration/budget/finance or similar name; seven percent report to the governor and four percent report to another agency,” the report said.
Most states operate in a federated system, where individual government agencies maintain authority over their data management operations. “This model, however, has challenges for state CDOs, particularly around ensuring consistent adoption of policies and standards across data analytics, sharing, management, stewardship, literacy and quality,” the report concluded.
Using cooperative agreements or data councils, chief data officers have worked across the enterprise, aggregating data to gain a complete picture.
The NASCIO – Beeck Center report described how chief data officers make a difference, citing an example from Washington state, where the State of Washington Enterprise Data Program responded to “real-world challenges with scalable solutions” by integrating data platforms and data analysis.
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