Yale’s Data Governance program is a university-wide initiative focused on administrative data. It does not govern research or clinical data. Data governance supports efforts focused on responsible data use, data lifecycle management, and improved data quality to enable faster, more reliable reporting. Promoting data literacy across campus is also a key priority.
Mission
Provide a thoughtful and consistent framework for the management of institutional data that will enable responsible use of data, improve data quality, document data lineage, protect data assets, and promote data literacy.
Structure
The Data Governance program at Yale has four executive sponsors.
We also have a governing working group, called the Data Governance Council (DGC).
The DGEC defines Yale’s data domains and appoints a data steward for each domain.
Yale’s data domains
At Yale, a data domain is a logical grouping of related institutional data that supports a specific business, academic, or administrative function. Data domains are defined by purpose, not by individual systems or tools.
A single data domain may include information that lives in multiple systems and is used by many offices across the university. Organizing data into domains helps ensure that responsibility for decisions about data, such as appropriate use, access, quality, and compliance, is clear and consistent.
Each data domain:
- Brings together related data based on business or institutional function
- May span multiple systems, applications, or repositories
- Has an assigned Data Steward responsible for decision‑making and oversight
- Uses sub‑domains to reflect operational or functional distinctions within the broader domain
This structure supports shared understanding, efficient decision‑making, and responsible data use across Yale.
Data Governance resources
Quick links to our current list of data domains, data stewards, & the DGC (CAS login)
The Accordion Block
The Accordion Block can make information processing and discovery more effective by allowing users to engage with content in a progressive manner. Accordions work best when your content falls into natural groupings that only some users will need to access. Since accordions are collapsed by default, it is essential to consider situations where users may not expand accordions or realize the information they need is contained within an accordion item. Use the Text Block and clear, descriptive headings when in doubt.
Despite their usefulness for organizing content, there may be better choices for your website than accordions, as they hide content and rely upon user interaction. For this reason, you should present any critical information outside of accordions.
Your headings are how users will determine whether an accordion is appropriate to expand and read. Headings should be descriptive enough to motivate people to click on them, and the contents of your accordion items must strongly correlate with your headings.
Accordions work best for simple content and links. Overloading your accordion items will make it difficult for users to operate and understand, especially when viewing your content on mobile devices.