A maturity model for information governance

Information Governance (IG) as defined by Gartner is the “specification of decision rights and an accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the valuation, creation, storage, use, archival and deletion of information. Includes the processes, roles, standards and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information in enabling an organization to achieve its goals”. In this paper, we present how to create an IG maturity model based on existing reference documents. The process is based on existing maturity model development methods. These methods allow for a systematic approach to maturity model development backed up by a well-known and proved scientific research method called Design Science Research. Then, based on the maturity model proposed in this paper, an assessment is conducted and the results are presented, this assessment was conducted as a self-assessment in the context of the EC-funded E-ARK project for the seven pilots of the project. The main conclusion from this initial assessment is that there is much room for improvement with most pilots achieving results between maturity level two and three. As future work, the goal is to analyze other references from different domains, such as, records management. These references will enhance, detail and help develop the maturity model making it even more valuable for all types of organization that deal with information governance.