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When I started my studies at Tilburg University in 1998, one of the first things that I learned was an appreciation for the ‘golden triangle’ of processes, data, and systems. Only through careful alignment of these three can organizations function well. It was interesting to see that so many people – academics and professionals alike – worried mostly about either systems or processes, while data appeared to take the back seat.

After my studies, I started working on my dissertation at Nijmegen University. The focus of my research was Web information retrieval. The main idea behind my research was based on economic principles: if you have demand and supply of data, then all you have to do is “match” the two. How hard can that be? After all, the topic of information retrieval had been studied for decades. Let’s just say that I learned a lot in those days, not just about the information needs of people surfing the Internet, but also about semantics, data modeling, data structures, etc.

Since then, I have worked in many different roles, from IT professional to strategy consultant and pretty much every role in between. Over the years, I noticed that data was becoming an increasingly important topic. People started to recognize that mishandling data was costing the organization in missed opportunities, rework, reputational damage, etc. and that products and services could be greatly enhanced when enriched with data. Around this time, people started talking about data as “the new oil” and recognized it for the valuable asset that it really was. This was further strengthened by the apparent rise of topics such as artificial intelligence, data science, and big data.

I started studying data management in earnest around 2008. A few years later, Tanja Glisin suggested I study the DAMA DMBOK [MBEH09] which really opened my eyes to the depth and breadth of the field. I found that the DMBOK was the reference within our field at the time, especially when complemented with other – more in-depth – publications. The second version of the DMBOK was published in 2017 and showed the significant improvement of our knowledge of the field [Hen17]. I have used both versions of the DMBOK over the years, both as a reference during consultancy assignments and teaching.

The DMBOK is a great reference, but may practitioners find it too theoretical to be of practical use. A more pragmatic book that combines theory with practical recommendations is missing. After much debate and discussions with friends, many of whom I have interviewed for this book, I decided to attempt to fill this gap.

The decision to actually move forward with the writing project was made in March of 2019, while visiting the Enterprise Data World conference in Boston, Massachusetts. I wrote the first version of the book during the summer months of 2019 and am forever grateful for all the support and help I received. There are so many people to thank and I sincerely hope I am not forgetting anyone. First of all, I would like to thank my colleagues at Strategy Alliance for their patience and help in preparing the manuscript. I would also like to thank Maurits van der Plas, Ivo van Haren, and Bart Verbrugge of Van Haren Publishing: I know that I have strong opinions on how/ what I want with the book - and I have probably tried your patience over and over. Then, of course, there are the people who graciously granted me interviews to use in this book – you are all heroes:

■ Marco van der Winden is manager of the corporate data management office at PGGM, a Dutch pension provider.

■ Marc van den Berg is managing director of IT and Innovation at PGGM, a Dutch pension provider.

■ Frank Harmsen is managing director at PNA and professor at Maastricht University.

■ Lisa Gaudette is director in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research of Clark University.

■ Jan Robat is head of data quality management at ABN AMRO.

■ Fanny Vuillemin is senior data manager at AXA.

■ Céline Lescop is lead data architect at AXA.

■ Piethein Strengholt is principle data architect at ABN AMRO.

■ Eric D. Schabell is global technology evangelist and portfolio architect director at Red Hat.

■ Tanja Glisin is an experienced data management professional and frequent collaborator of the author of this book.

■ Norbert van de Ven is data governance consultant at Hot ITem.

■ Stijn Hoppenbrouwers is professor of Data & Knowledge Engineering at HAN University of Applied Sciences, Arnhem and assistant professor at Radboud University Nijmegen.

■ Jeroen Cloo is partner at Novius Adviesgroep.

■ Kiean Bitaraf is data management consultant at Deloitte.

■ Raymond Slot is managing partner at Strategy Alliance.

■ Paul Heisen is senior enterprise architect at De Lage Landen (DLL).

■ Robin Vuyk is head of business architecture and design at PGGM, a Dutch pension provider.

■ Daan Riepma is a smart data consultant at Axians.

■ Ronald Damhof, “just a data-guy”, self-employed, often in the role of enterprise (data) architect in large (mostly public) organizations.

The book wouldn’t have been nearly as good without the help of Lisa Gaudette. Thank you so much for your patience, hard work, and grammar/ punctuation lessons. Whenever I thought we had cleaned up a piece of text, you always found more ways to make it better. I would also like to thank Mirjam Visser for her extensive review of the manuscript as well as the pleasant discussions we had on data management. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their support. I know I have been hiding behind my computer to finish the manuscript and wouldn’t have been able to make so much progress without your flexibility and support.

As a last remark, I would like to point out that a lot of time and effort went into checking the material. Any errors that remain are my own. I hope you find the book interesting and useful. Enjoy the read!

Bas van Gils

October 2019