It’s been a weird old time since March (extra points if you’ve heard that opening before) and the lockdown. However, Data Architecture is continuing to undertake the important work we do making sure the data our staff have access to is easy to use and now, this is now more important than ever.
The cross-Government Data Architecture Community (GDAC) group has also been busy working away on a few things and we wanted to give you an update on everything that has been happening.
Terms of Reference
What self-respecting Government group wouldn’t be complete without a Terms of Reference (or ToR as it is styled). It’s an important document as it provides a central understanding of the remit of the group, how we work and what we plan to achieve going forwards.
Thanks to the work of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in pulling the draft together it aims to cover the full aims of the group and how we work.
We are currently getting a final draft ready for review from our community group, before we can share this around more widely. Keep an eye on the blog for more information about this soon.
Working Groups
Since GDAC 8 we have been working on developing working groups outside of the main GDAC meeting. These groups aim to push forward some of the key aims and goals we’d like to achieve from the group and allow our members to spend some more thinking time on the issues faced. They are split into four: Business Glossaries, Data Standards, Data Governance and Metadata, we’ve collected the key points from the leads of each group (please note these are all in draft until agreed at the next GDAC meeting).
Business Glossaries
The team have been busy over the last few weeks, working on a draft definition for the term business glossary. This led to the hosting of the first GDAC Presents event where we invited members of the community to dial in and hear a presentation about the standards. There is going to be a full blog post coming soon all about it, including the Q&A we had at the end of the session so keep an eye out for it soon.
Data Standards & Data Governance
Both groups have been getting themselves set up and introduced to themselves. We are hoping to hear more from both in the next few weeks. If you are interested in joining, or would think you can offer a hand, contact is at data.architecture@ons.gov.uk
Metadata
We do not have a lead for the Metadata group. However, we are looking for people to fill this role. So, if you are interested in being a part of takin a lead get in contact with data.architecture@ons.gov.uk to discuss it more.
What next?
Behind the scenes we are still planning and prepping for GDAC 10 (whenever that may be!).
To mark this special occasion, we wanted to do something big. We’ll be releasing more information to our mailing list in the next few weeks. If you want to hear about it keep an eye on this blog or contact data.architecture@ons.gov.uk and we’ll make sure you are on the list.
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