ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to extend beyond theory into practice by describing seven key elements of an effective data strategy: data acquisition, data governance, data quality, data access, data literacy and usage, data extraction and reporting and data analytics. It focuses on a data strategy framework developed by Stony Brook University, an internationally ranked research institution. The advancement office may maintain all of its records in a separate system for donor management. In all of these instances, the institution has acquired data, but absent a formal data strategy, these data assets will not be leveraged to their fullest extent. Data may be manually keyed by employees or students; optically scanned from documents or barcodes; and/or manually or automatically imported from other sources. In practice, many systems use multiple data capture methods. Development of the strategy should be inclusive, not only to harness institutional priorities and knowledge but also to garner buy-in from key constituencies.
