I’m Lisa Allen, I’m a committee member of DAMA UK since 2017. DAMA UK is part of a global community of Data Management Professionals.

The committee are all data professionals. Between us we have years of experience in managing data. We volunteer our time to build and nurture a data community in the UK. Data is fundamental to all our lives both personally and at work. With technology advancements, there are exciting things you can do with data. From machine learning to self-driving cars. What they have in common is they all need data; well-managed, good quality data. Many hours are wasted through poor quality data and money is wasted through inefficient processes, not to mention the legal ramifications in some cases of not looking after data! That’s where we come in. We bring together data specialists across the UK and across data disciplines. Sharing best practice, industry experience and approaches to manage your data to maximise efficiency and deliver outcomes.

Once a year the DAMA UK committee get together to discuss how we did last year and plan for next. Here’s a summary of what we discussed at this year’s meeting. From our review we found 2019 was a great year. We ran nine face to face events. Connecting data management professionals across England, Scotland and Wales. We had over 250 attend our face to face events. Our webinars went down a storm, with creating a Data Strategy the most popular. If you missed any of these, they are available on our Bright talk channel. We launched a new website with much improved functionality to help our members. We are adding to this all the time based on your feedback.

So what does 2020 have in store? At today’s committee meeting we had a strong focus on professionalising data management. It’s our desire to help more people become Certified Data Management Professionals (CDMP). We want to raise standards and show the importance of the data profession and what we all do. Next week we are running our first boot camp on data management fundamentals with those passing obtaining the status of a Certified Data Management Professional. The great news is this course is sold out and we have a waiting list! We are certainly seeing the demand and are looking at arranging courses for later in the year, so keep a watch out. We also discussed how to ensure data management fundamentals are included in University courses and expose a new generation to the discipline. We want the data scientist of tomorrow to have great data to start with, not waste time finding or cleaning data, but putting their skills to best effect.

We also discussed ensuring we have full UK coverage and a broad range of skills. Therefore, we are currently seeking volunteers with a marketing background as well as someone from Scotland or Northern Ireland. You will need to have the available time to help the committee as well as a genuine interest DAMA UK. If you are interested, please send your details to info@damauk.org

And finally, any committee meeting wouldn’t be complete without planning a number of face to face meetings and webinars. This year we are looking at a range of topics spanning metadata management, data governance to career paths and gender balance in data. Keep an eye on the website for more information on these. And if you’re a DAMA UK member with a burning issue or idea you’d like to discuss, let us know. You’ll find us on Twitter @DAMAUK LinkedIn and at info@damauk.org

It was an enjoyable day; collaborating across data disciplines and sectors all with the aim of building a community of data management professionals of today and inspiring the next generation to join.

Not a member of DAMA?

If you’re not a member of DAMA there are benefits of joining. Not only will you be supporting the data management community in the UK with access to events and webinars which you can find here but as a member you’ll get:

• Mentoring – access to data management technical mentoring. Already experienced? Then join our growing community of experienced mentors inspiring the next generation.
• Discounted rate on the Certified Data Management Practitioners qualifications. (Newly added benefit).
• Resources – including from all the events.
• Advance booking for DAMA UK face to face events and CDMP training sessions. (Newly added benefit).