0401 Governance Definitions¶

The world of governance is divided into different governance domains that focus on a specific set of assets or activities. Egeria aims to unify the metadata and governance activity across these governance domains.

UML

GovernanceDomainDescription¶

The GovernanceDomainDescription entity provides the definition of a governance domain. You can choose to define your own or use the standard set that are defined by GovernanceDomain. Related governance domains can be grouped into GovernanceDomainSets.

The GovernanceDomain enumeration provides a default list of the different types of governance domains that can be unified by Egeria. Notice that there are obvious overlaps and linkages between the domains:

DATA - the governance of data and its use.
PRIVACY - the support for data privacy.
SECURITY - the governance that ensures IT systems and the data they hold are secure.
IT_INFRASTRUCTURE - the governance of the configuration and management of IT infrastructure and the software that runs on it.
SOFTWARE_DEVELOPMENT - the governance of the software development lifecycle.
CORPORATE - the governance of the organization as a legal entity.
ASSET_MANAGEMENT - the governance of physical assets.

GovernanceDefinition¶

GovernanceDefinition describes an aspect of a governance program. They are authored in the metadata repository. They inherit from Referenceable, which means they have a unique identifier and link to external references for more information.

The governance definitions are organized into specific subtypes and linked together to provide a complete description of the governance program. The types for these more specialized definitions can be found on the following pages:

0405 Governance Drivers - describe the motivations behind the governance program.
0415 Governance Responses - describe the policies that support each of the drivers.
0420 Governance Controls - describe how the policies will be implemented.
- 0430 Technical Controls - describe automated behaviour that implements a governance control.
  - 0423 Security Groups - define security groups and the assets and roles associated with them.
  - 0438 Naming Standards - defines naming standard rules.
  - 0461 Governance Engines - support the execution of technical controls.
  - 0462 Governance Action Processes - provide the choreography of the execution of technical controls.
- 0440 Organizational Controls - identity governance roles and manual procedures (such as approvals) that implement a governance control.
  - 0445 Governance Roles - define governance responsibilities, roles and the people associated with them.
0481 License Types - terms and conditions used in rights management.
0482 Certification Types - types of certifications used to shw compliance to a specific governance requirement.
0485 Data Processing Purposes - definitions of purposes used in data privacy regulations.

GovernedBy¶

The GovernedBy relationship links the governance definitions to the elements they are governing. These elements are Referenceable, so they could be Assets, Processes, Infrastructure, People and Teams, Glossary Terms, Digital Services for example.

GovernanceDefinitionScope¶

GovernanceDefinitionScope links the governance definitions to the elements (Organizations, Projects, Teams, ...) that are scoping the impact or applicability of the governance definition.

Related types

The role of leader of a governance domain is represented as a GovernanceOfficer entity.

Implementing Services

The Governance Program OMAS provides the APIs for maintaining the definitions of the governance domains, governance definitions and governance officers. It uses the GovernedBy relationship to link governance definitions with subject area definitions and governance zone definitions.
The Asset Manager OMAS supports the exchange of governance definitions with third party asset managers and governance tools as well as the use of the GovernedBy relationship through its Governance Exchange Interface.

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