An industry best practice must remain at a conceptual level that can be applied holistically industry-wide. The EDM Council’s approach to Data Management best practice is to develop member vetted best practice constructs. There is an important distinction between a construct and a model.

A construct is used by an organization to inform the design of a customized model for execution. The customization takes into account the size, complexity, geography, and culture of the organization.

Anatomy of a Best Practice Article

DCAM Framework aligned Best Practice articles have a consistent format.

• Issue – description of the pain points and challenges that a best practice is intended to resolve
• Industry Current State – an overview of the range of practice, possible solutions, and remaining challenges
• Best Practice – written at a high enough level to be applied universally across industries and customized more granularly for an individual organization
  • Stakeholders – identify the expected primary stakeholders of the best practice in an organization
  • Scope – identify the best practice boundaries
  • Description – identify the best practice composition
  • DCAM Framework Alignment – all best practice has an alignment to the DCAM Framework
    • Capability Alignment – define the primary and secondary DCAM Components, Capabilities, and Sub-capabilities
    • Design Requirements – define any unique design requirements for the Capabilities and Sub-capabilities
    • Data Management Processes – design any unique processes or modify existing processes; integrate into the complete set of processes
    • Data Management Tools – design conceptual representations of tools supporting the process execution
    • Requirements for Data – define the data required as inputs and outputs of the Data Management processes
  • Notes to the Reader – call-out boxes throughout the text identify the following:
    • Dependencies – identify any assumptions that other required capabilities are in place within the organization
    • Considerations – identify the things an organization would need to consider to customize the concept for their use
    • Challenges – identify the potential risks for adoption

Because procedures are based on lower-level process design and are unique to organizations it is not practical to create industry-standard procedures.

Best Practice Improvements

Best practice will always evolve and improve. All best practice articles published on the Knowledge Portal include a comment feature. Through comment, members can ask questions or share insights. This feedback results in updates to the best practice where appropriate through review and approval by the DCAM governance committee.