Principle 11

Data Accessibility

Statement

Stakeholders have access to the appropriate data necessary to perform their duties; therefore, data is shared across University functions and organizations.

Rationale

• Timely access to accurate data with fewer sources, and ultimately one virtual, source of truth is essential to improving the quality and efficiency of University
  decision making.
• It is less costly to maintain timely, accurate data in a single repository or application, and then share it, than it is to maintain duplicative data in multiple applications.

Implications

• Data is accessible at anytime from any place; this involves the ease with which users obtain information whether they are on or off campus.
• The way information is accessed and displayed will be sufficiently adaptable to meet a wide range of enterprise users and their corresponding methods of access, while maintaining appropriate security controls.
• Access to data does not necessarily grant the user access rights to modify or disclose the data. This will require an education process and a change in the organizational culture which currently supports a belief in data ownership by functional units.
• To enable data sharing a common set of policies, procedures and standards governing data management and access for both the short and the long term will be developed.
• Standard data models, data elements, and other metadata that defines this shared environment and a repository system for storing this metadata to make it accessible will be developed.
• For the long term, as legacy systems are replaced, common data access policies and guidelines will be developed to ensure that data in new applications remains available to the shared environment and that data in the shared environment can continue to be used by the new applications.
• Under no circumstances will this principle cause Loyola Protected or Loyola Sensitive data to be put at risk.