Data Core · Data Governance · Module
Access
Who may see what, on what basis, and how that is reviewed — balancing the cost of restriction against the cost of exposure deliberately.
The idea
How it works
Access is granted readily and revoked rarely, which means permissions accumulate with tenure and the longest-serving people can see everything.
Both errors are real. Over-restriction produces workarounds, shadow copies and people asking colleagues to run things for them, which is worse for security than the access would have been.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Grant by role, not by person
Individual grants accumulate and are never reviewed. Role-based access changes when the role does.
- 02
Review access periodically
Annually, with a default of removal for anything unused. It is quick and it always finds something.
- 03
Watch for the workarounds
Exported spreadsheets and shared credentials are symptoms of access being too hard to obtain legitimately.
- 04
Log access to sensitive data
Not to catch people, but so that a question about who saw something has an answer.
One level in
The components of access
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
Exported spreadsheets and shared logins are symptoms of access being too hard to obtain legitimately.
The other modules in data governance
Ownership
Who is accountable for each data set being right, current and appropriately used — one person, in the business rather than in a technical function.
LearnDefinitions and lineage
What each term means, where the figure comes from, and what happens to it on the way — the record that makes two reports reconcilable.
LearnRetention and deletion
How long each kind of data is kept and what causes it to be removed — the decision that is always deferred and always accumulates.
Learn