Data Management

Job Name

Data Management Officer/Specialist

Brief description

Data Management is commonly referred to as Data Resource Management, Managing Data and Enterprise Information Management, and has many definitions (TechTarget, 2007). The work that involves the planning, development, implementation, and administration of systems for the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of data. ( GS-2200 - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GROUP ,2001). It is collection, entering, cleaning, and processing of information gathered during a research project. ( DCRI, 2007). The Data Management Association International (DAMA) formally defines Data Management as 'the development and execution of architectures, policies, practices and procedures that properly manage the full data lifecycle needs of an enterprise' (DAMA, 2004).The discipline which embraces the verification, coordination, validation, integration, and control of data requirements; planning for the timely and economical acquisition of data; and management of data assets after receipt. This discipline also includes monitoring distribution of data required under contract and storage, retrieval, and disposal of these data.(Appendix A-Data definitions, 2006).The role of a data manager incorporates management skills including controlling, organising, leading and planning, with data acquisition. Effectively a data manager integrates, coordinates and controls data requirements, ensuring that requirements are met in an organised and timely manner (Data Definitions, 2006). A data manager will implement and administrate systems to acquire, store and retrieve data (Handbook of Occupations Groups and Families, GS-2200 Definitions, 2001).

In today's information age, Data Management is an essential function. As organisations develop, the data they possess becomes increasingly valuable. Consequently, this 'asset' must be managed, controlled, and leveraged in an effective and efficient manner (DMBOK, 2007). The 9 functions of Data Management can succinctly be described as:

'1. Data Governance - planning, supervision and control over data management and use
2. Data Architecture, Analysis and Design - data modelling and specification
3. Database Management - database design, implementation and support
4. Data Security Management - ensuring privacy, confidentiality and appropriate access
5. Data Quality Management - defining, monitoring and improving data quality
6. Reference & Master Data Management - managing golden versions and replicas
7. Data Warehousing & Business Intelligence Management - enabling reporting and analysis
8. Document, Record & Content Management - managing data outside of databases
9. Meta Data Management - integrating, controlling and providing Meta data'.

(DMBOK, 2007)

Duties & responsibilities of this role

Applicants for this role will be required to perform the following duties and responsibilities:

Coordinating and controlling the structure within the organisation also ensuring employee's positional roles are professionally maintained
Providing expertise knowledge or assistance in SAP HR projects, or other corporate projects with IAG
Supporting and providing knowledge in the organisational structure of IAG projects
Leading and controlling team tasks and projects
Liasing/communicating with HR business partners and customers
Controlling the external environment and stakeholders of IAG, including business partners
Organising, planning and maintaining continuous improvement of the HR Systems Team (Seek.com.au, 13 August, 2007)

Provide the Learning Services management team with advice regarding reported performance information to support review, reporting and school effectiveness processes.

Work with other officers of Educational Performance Services in the development and maintenance of agency-wide data sets and information management systems.

Implement workshops, forums and programs at Learning Services and school levels to enable Learning Services officers and principals to better understand reporting and information management systems.

Work as part of Educational Performance Services and relevant Learning Services teams, including attending meetings, to co-ordinate data requirements at the Department, Learning Services and school levels.
Assist in data collection, analysis and research for Learning Services as required.

Undertake assigned activities to help meet departmental reporting requirements and other duties as required. ( Department of Education, 2007)

Responsible for the overall data management of a patient registry and related clinical trials. This position will include the following responsibilities: Design and implement system for flow and organization of data collection forms; design procedures to analyze and evaluate data, produce data summaries and reports, and compile statistics; assist with design of automated data management system involving ORACLE and Web-based applications and develop computerized data monitoring and editing procedures and routines; manage and maintain the data management system; assist with and write study protocols; collaboratively structure and maintain project web site; responsible for communication with and among the project sites and clinical coordinating center. ( Epidemiology Data Center, 2007)

The purpose of this role is to develop a Data Management Plan (DMP) and associated work instructions (processes) which will:

Define how all documents, records and technical data are to be managed based on an existing data management strategy
Cover the management of technical and non-technical data
Satisfy the requirements of ISO 9001 (International Standards Organisation) and current policies

(Seek, 2007)

More specifically, the successful candidate will be required to undertake tasks consisting of:

- Data Gathering & Planning

Identify statutory, regulatory and functional requirements for data storage and management;
Define all types of documents/data stored by our client;
Define where documents/data are to be stored and who has responsibility for each;
Determine appropriate control, numbering and storage of documents/data;
Define a hierarchy of plans and work instructions to implement the data management system;
Define eMatrix structure to support the proposed data management system;
Obtain stakeholder endorsement of plan hierarchy and eMatrix structure.

Then:

Develop DMP and associated work instructions;
Promulgate DMP and work instructions.

And:

Identify data for migration;
Purify data to remove duplicate and invalid entries and to ensure data for migration is of the appropriate security classification;
Migrate data to the controlled location.

I.Rumley (personal communication, 14 August, 2007)

Job requirements

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS:
The Commissioner has determined that the person nominated for this position is to satisfy a pre-employment check before taking up the appointment, promotion or transfer.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS: A tertiary qualification in business, information or an analysis-related discipline or experience in an educational setting with a focus on data analysis. ( Department of Education, 2007)

Personal skills required for this role include:

Excellent communication
Strong team involvement
Networking abilities
Commitment to work
Excellent customer service

(Seek.com.au, 13 August, 2007)

Self motivation

I.Rumley (personal communication, 14 August, 2007)

Additional requirements for this role include:

Current Department of Defence National Security Clearance of at least Secret (Essential)
Minimum of 5 years work experience (relevant field)

I.Rumley (personal communication, 14 August, 2007)

Salary

A specific salary is not available, but for further information, on a salary or other issues contact IAG. Inclusions with the salary are a 13% superannuation contribution from IAG and annual bonuses based on job performance. Other inclusions to the salary are various staff benefits, for instance, insurance discounts with IAG.

(Seek.com.au, 13 August, 2007)

Contract/Temporary Position - Duration of 6 months with possibility of 6 month extension - Salary Negotiable

I.Rumley (personal communication, 14 August, 2007)

Industry/Organisation

Private Sector

Engineering and Scientific Systems Pty Ltd - Private Sector but Government Contractors

Engineering and information technology consultants
Systems development
Research and development
Technical data capture
Response to government and non-government Tender Request's

Insurance Australia Group IAG

Insurance Industry with some companies having ventured into the finance industry.
Can also find more Data Management roles in industries listed further below.

Talent International

IBM Australia

Diversiti Pty Ltd

Frontier group Australia

Public Sector:

Department of Education, Science and Training

Job listings

To obtain a full copy of this job advertisement please visit:

Seek.com.au (13 August, 2007) Data Management Specialist (HR SAP) Retrieved 14 August, 2007 from www.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=79&PageNumber=1&JobID=10184610

Engineering and Scientific Systems Pty Ltd, Data Management Technical Officer, 13 August 2007, Website: http://www.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=69&PageNumber=1&JobID=9982024

Differences observed

Job Title/Roles/Duties

As most employers have different needs and expectations, an often broad 'job title' can have two or more entirely different meanings. For example, on the 8^th of August 2007, Engineering and Scientific Systems (Essys) advertised for a Data Management Technical Officer. The successful applicant's main responsibility is to develop and implement a Data Management Plan (DMP) while following specific regulations. Prior to this advertisement, on the 1^st of August 2007, The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), a Victorian government authority, also advertised for a Data Management Officer. The responsibilities of this role, however, include a whole range of duties such as data maintenance and capture, quality assurance, documentation and publishing activities (Careers with the Victorian Government, 2007). In short, the Essys position is specifically focused around a DMP and the DSE position, irrelevant to a DMP, incorporates a wide range of various duties. These two examples demonstrate how the same 'job title' can have different meanings.

This idea can further be illustrated by another example. The Data Management Specialist's role, as advertised by Seek, is focused on management and team activities. Other roles, however, are specifically focused around data. For instance, within the Medical industry and Biometrics field, data management involves collecting data, working in teams to trial clinical designs and providing efficient trial designs for statistical data submissions (Clinical Data Management and Biometrics, 2007).

Another data management position is required by the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer (CBRC), Cancer Council Victoria. Also within the Medical industry, the position, entitled Research Data Manager specifically deals with statistics. In contrast to the Data Management Specialist's role, the job description is a lot more detailed. Further, the applicant is required to have a university degree, practical experience, and database and computing skills. In other words, the CBRC position is more data orientated. Successful applicants for this role will, among other things, develop and manage data systems (StatSci.org, 5 July, 2007). This is another example which demonstrates how a job title can have different meanings.

The applications for this role of the Seek will be requied to perform some duties and responsibilities such as: coordinating and controlling the structure within the organisation, providing expertise knowldge, rupporting and providing knowledge in the organizational structure of IAG projects, leading and controlling team tasks and projects, etc. ( Seek. com.au, 13 August, 2007) In comparison to this, the Department of Education requries the duties include: provide the learning sevices management team with advice regarding reported performance information to support review, reporting and school effectiveness processes, work with other officers of Educational Performance Services in the development and maintennance of agency-wide data sets and principals to better understand reporting and information management systems, assist in data collection, analysis and research for learning services as required, undertake assigned activities to help meet department requirements and other duties as required. ( Department of Education, 2007)

Salary

As already mentioned, the CBRC position requires a lot more experience and skill than the Data Management Specialist. The CBRC posts a salary range from $54,356 to $70,000, but the salary of the Data Management Specialist's role is unknown (StatSci.org, 5 July, 2007).

In comparison to this, as the Essys position is a 6-month-contract, the salary is completely negotiable.

In order to understand the relationship between data management skill and salary, more data management positions must be analysed.

Job Requriements

As mentioned above, Seek required the personal skill for this role iclude: excellent communication, strong team involvement, networking abilities, commitment to work and excellent customer sevice. ( Seek. com.au, 13 Auguest, 2007)

In comparison to this, Department of education has two different forms of requirements which is essential requirements and disrable requirements. ( Department of Education, 2007)

Further more , to the personal communication education ,additional requirements for this role include current department of defence national security clearance of at least secret and the other is the minimum of 5 years work experience. ( personal communication, 14 Auguest, 2007)

International differences

The varying role of a Data Management Officer can also be compared on an international level. Carter Murray is a UK marketing recruitment agency. While similar to Seek, this agency has one major difference - those advertising the position can only be contacted through liaising with Carter Murray. Nevertheless, advertised on Carter Murray is a position for Data Management. The position is described as an 'unusual employment opportunity within a global law firm' (Carter Murray - Marketing Recruitment, 2007). This brings forth the diversification of Data Management - the position is not only needed for 'IT' type jobs, but by a wide range of fields (briefly discussed above). Data managers appear in various industries and are required everywhere. They range in industries such as the transport sector, the legal sector, the medical sector, the construction and engineering sector and of course the commercial sector (Johnson Data Management-Industries).
The role, among other things, involves 'introducing and maintaining standards of data management; developing and implementing best practice guidelines, helping to ensure consistency for contact management and complying with data protection legislation across jurisdiction' (Carter Murray - Marketing Recruitment, 2007). This appears to be a collaboration of both the Essys (excluding the DMP) and DSE duties and responsibilities.

Apart from the 'diversification' of the UK position, there appears to be no conclusive differences between data management in the UK and data management in Australia. However, in order to thoroughly compare international differences, more international data management positions must be analysed.

Other Differences
There are many other differences between the positions advertised for Essys and DSE. Firstly, while Essys is a small, private company located in the ACT, DSE is a large government department located in Victoria. Secondly, Essys is only looking for a 6-month contractor, while DSE is looking for a full-time employee. Both these differences may explain why the Essys advertisement on Seek is short and brief and the DSE advertisement on JobSearch is long and extremely detailed.

Other References used

Clinical Data Management and Biometrics (2007) Data Management and Biometrics [Online] http://www.covance.com/data_mgmt/index.php (Retrieved 14 August, 2007)

Data Definitions (2006) [Online] www.ntsc.navy.mil/Resources/Library/Acqguide/cdrldef.htm (Retrieved 14 August, 2007)

Johnson Data Management-Industries [Online] http://www.johnsondata.com.au/industries.html (Retrieved 14 August, 2007)

Handbook of Occupations Groups and Families, GS-2200 Definitions (2001) GS-2200 - Information Technology Group [Online] www.opm.gov/fedclass/text/GS-2200.htm (Retrieved 14 August, 2007)

StatSci.org (5 July, 2007) Research Data Manager, Retrieved 14 August, 2007 from http://www.statsci.org/jobs/2007c/070705b.html

TechTarget (2007). Data Management. Retrieved 14 August, 2007, from BitPipe. Website: http://www.bitpipe.com/tlist/Data-Management.html

The Data Management Association International (2004). About DAMA International. Retrieved 14 August, 2007. Website: http://www.dama.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=71

The Data Management Association International (2004). Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK) Functional Framework. Retrieved 14 August, 2007, from DMBOK Functional Framework Version 2, April 2007. Website: http://www.dama.org/files/public/DMBOK_Functional_Framework_v2.pdf

Careers with the Victorian Government (2007). Data Management Officer. Retrieved 13 August, 2007. Website: http://jobs.careers.vic.gov.au/jobtools/jncustomsearch.viewFullSingle?in_organid=14123&in_jnCounter=221274960

Carter Murray - Marketing Recruitment (2007). Manager, Data Management. Retrieved 13 August, 2007. Website: http://www.cartermurray.com/default.asp?page=jobsearch/jobdetail.asp&id=9324&domainid=

Seek (2007). Job Details. Retrieved 13 August, 2007. Website: http://www.seek.com.au/users/apply/index.ascx?Sequence=69&PageNumber=1&JobID=9982024

GS-2200 - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GROUP (2001). United States Office of Personal Management. Retrieved 17 August,2007. Website:
http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/text/GS-2200.htm

Appendix A-Data definitions (2006). Retrieved 17 August, 2007. Website:
http://www.ntsc.navy.mil/Resources/Library/Acqguide/cdrldef.htm

DCRI : Patient Info: Glossary (2007). Retrieved 17 August, 2007. Website:
http://www.dcri.duke.edu/patient/glossary.jsp

Epidemiology Data Center (2007). Retrieved 17 August, 2007. Website:
http://www.edc.pitt.edu/opportunities.html

Department of Education (2007). Retrieved 17 August, 2007. Website:
sods.education.tas.gov.au/.../Educational%20Performance%20Services/DataMgtOffL8-Generic.doc