You haven't looked at what data work costs the rest of the business.
Your data budget is visible. The hours spent fixing, checking and working around data are not. Put a number on that hidden labour before you approve another saving elsewhere.
For CFOs and finance leads
The Data Decision Tree
You already trust your own numbers. You know how to test cost and value.
Start with the situation in front of you. Go straight to the one check built for it.
That separation is established practice. ISACA's Val IT framework distinguishes “Are we doing the right things?” from “Are we getting the benefits?” The investment decision and benefit realization are related, but they are not the same test. Read the Val IT framework.
Start with your situation
Which request is on your desk?
Each route takes you to the existing check that answers it. Nothing is calculated twice.
You're being asked to approve a new data tool.
The commercial case may be sound. What it cannot show you is whether ownership, controls and the underlying data are ready for what will sit on top of them.
Someone wants budget for a new data initiative.
The proposal explains what the initiative could do. Before releasing the full budget, establish what must be true at each funding decision and what evidence will prove it.
The data team says it has no capacity.
More headcount will not help if existing commitments have already consumed the week. See where the hours go before deciding whether this is a staffing problem.
One data product costs more every quarter.
The platform bill is only one part of it. First check whether old products, support work and dependencies are locking money into a portfolio nobody has chosen to keep.
You need the full cost of one data product.
License and infrastructure costs will not tell you what that product takes to operate. Include the people, usage and ongoing work attached to it before comparing it with an alternative.
When the branch stops
Some decisions need a view you cannot get from inside.
Bring the number you trust and the question it still cannot answer. We will work out whether to fund it, hold it, sunset it or look at the whole portfolio.
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