ABSTRACT
Discussions with the sponsors of the Data Management (DM) initiative must be held to determine the manner in which the function is to operate and how its success is to be measured. The responsibility of the function to increase the awareness of the potential to use and reuse the data resource, must be embodied into the Terms Of Reference (TOR) if the function is to have any serious political profile or impact whatsoever. The signatories on the TOR must be the sponsors of the initiative, and this effectively conforms the political authority and objectives of the function. The input of the mission statements and development plans will assist in crystallising the future direction of the function and enable DM to assess what extra data is required to analyse and support the objectives. Interfaces with the users of information must occur, and the scope of the task, focuses on the following techniques: data modelling, data naming, and data documentation.
