Background

Secretary’s Order (SO) 02-2019 formalized the DOL Data Board (DOLDB) as a representative data governance body where issues relating to improving data quality, data management and data use are collaboratively addressed through consensus building, adopting best practices, and innovating appropriate solutions.  From its inception, the Data Board has been a highly effective forum for addressing complex data issues in a collegial and productive way, recognizing the need for more standardized and optimal approaches to data management and use, and building data capacity towards the goal of leveraging data as a strategic asset.

 

Charter / Secretary's Order 02-2019

DOL Data Board Charter

 

Data Board Roles

As stated in the charter, the Data Board is comprised of members with the following roles: 

  • Chief Data Officer (CDO) - serves as a chair to the DOL Data Board and is responsible for lifecycle data management, and leading the development and adoption of more effective data management processes for DOL including the standardization of data format, sharing of data assets, and publication of data assets in accordance with applicable law.
  • Chief Information Officer (CIO) – serves as the vice chair of the DOL Data Board and is responsible for leading information technology  (IT) growth and transformation at the Department, and providing strategic leadership for DOL IT in areas such as capital planning, project initiatives, talent acquisition and enterprise shared services.
  • Chief Data Stewards (CDS) – serve as agency representatives on the DOL Data Board and are responsible for working across organizational lines to collaborate and coordinate effectively on enterprise data strategy, management, and policy issues, as well as agency and Departmental data governance, stewardship, architecture, and utilization. Additionally, they are responsible for effectively coordinating with their agency’s leadership and data steward network to lead programs towards more optimal data management and use in alignment with Departmental goals. 

 

Data Stewardship Network

DOL has established an extensive data stewardship network that works collaboratively to advance the priorities of the Data Board, including:

  • Data Owners – Data stewards with approved authority for decisions about data in their domain. 
  • Data Stewards – Subject matter experts on specific data sources and their programmatic origins within each agency, responsible for defining and controlling specific data assets.
  • Data Analysts – Analysts within each agency leveraging the data to describe activities and outcomes, develop analytical models, support data quality assessment, and review data dictionaries and metadata.
  • Data Custodians – IT personnel  that are responsible for a broad set of roles related to database administration, data architecture, data warehousing, and technology management for specific datasets. 

Contact information for the data stewardship network is located in the Enterprise Data Inventory at the dataset level, but is not made publicly available.

 

Working Groups

Several Data Board working groups have been formed to advance data as a strategic asset. 

(1) Equity Working Group

ODG is supporting this working group through several projects that will better enable DOL to leverage data to assess equity impacts on DOL programs, including: 

  • Further analysis of characteristic data from Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) programs with a specific focus on methods for addressing missing data;
  • Standing up new core technology in the form of DOL's first secure analytical service, enabling appropriate analysis of sensitive data from social insurance programs such as Unemployment Insurance;
  • Adapting existing analytical services to:
    • Support analysis of data containing sensitive information
    • Create a collaborative framework for agencies to share sensitive data in a responsible way, enabling programs to leverage a greater proportion of their data, and supporting the identification of trends and patterns to better inform decision making and program administration. 

 

(2) Enforcement Working Group

This working group focuses on data-relevant topics such as expanding the role of analytics, emerging technology such as APIs, external data, and developing internal data products to best support targeting. The Enforcement Working Group aims to develop consensus on methods behind linking administrative records, leveraging data standardization services, and designing data architectures for unduplicated listings of inspection sites and prototyping common establishment identifiers.

 

(3) Data Talent Working Group

This working group focuses on topics such as building effective data teams, advantages and challenges with staffing teams from different GS series, and the specific skills needed to optimally supervise and lead data science and data analytics teams. Currently the working group is advising the Department on producing standardized hiring materials for the new GS-1560 data scientist position, with career ladder descriptions to all new staff to grow within the enterprise.

 

(4) Data Analytics Working Group

This working group focuses on sharing best practices for data analytics to help agencies more effectively use data to gain insights to inform decision making and program administration.