Use case · Data Governance

Governance meetings that end in decisions.

Shelly prepares and leads your data governance sessions. She gathers competing definitions in advance, walks the council through them, and records the agreed definition, owner, and effective date before the meeting ends.

Talk to Shelly See the process

Definition: Active customer

Illustration

Competing definitions found: 3 (Sales, Finance, Servicing)
Council vote: Agreed
Owner: Head of Customer Data
Effective: Nov 1
Systems affected: CRM, Billing, Data warehouse

The reality

You know how governance really goes.

Governance doesn't stall because people disagree. It stalls because nobody has the time to do the preparation and follow-through that turns disagreement into a decision.

01
The council meets monthly, and the same definition is still on the agenda in month four.
02
Every department brings its own version of "customer," "policy," or "revenue."
03
Data stewards are busy with their day jobs, so preparation doesn't happen.
04
Decisions get made but never recorded in the glossary or catalog.
05
When a regulator or auditor asks why a number was calculated a certain way, nobody can trace it.

The process

Your governance cycle, with Shelly.

Step 1

Prepare the agenda

Today

An agenda with a list of terms and no preparation behind them.

With Shelly

Shelly interviews stewards and data owners before the session about each contested term, and gathers the current definitions from your systems and documentation.

Step 2

Lay out the conflict

Today

The first 30 minutes are spent figuring out where people disagree.

With Shelly

She opens each item with the competing definitions side by side, who uses which, and which systems and reports depend on each.

Step 3

Lead the discussion

Today

The discussion wanders, and the meeting ends without a decision.

With Shelly

She takes the council through definitions, business reference data, and metadata, one item at a time, and proposes wording based on what she's heard.

Step 4

Record the decision in the room

Today

Someone promises to write it up afterward.

With Shelly

She records the agreed definition, owner, effective date, and affected systems before the meeting ends, and reads it back for confirmation.

Step 5

Update the record

Today

The glossary goes stale.

With Shelly

She drafts glossary and catalog entries ready for your stewards to approve and publish.

Step 6

Follow up on what's open

Today

Open items roll to next month's agenda.

With Shelly

She follows up with owners on unresolved items between sessions, so the next meeting starts with answers.

The deliverables

What lands on your desk

Prepared agenda.

Competing definitions and dependencies, gathered before the session.

Decision record.

Agreed definitions, owners, effective dates, and who approved them.

Draft glossary and catalog entries.

Ready for your stewards to review and publish.

Impact list.

Systems and reports affected by each decision.

Open items tracker.

What's unresolved, who owns it, and when it's due.

Full audit trail.

Every decision traces back to the session, the discussion, and the sources.

You stay in control.

Shelly facilitates. Your council decides. She records only what the council confirms, drafts catalog entries for your stewards to approve, and logs every decision with a timestamp. Your data stays isolated to your organization.

See how Shelly handles security →

Sample output

Every decision, on the record.

This is what the council gets after each session. Illustrative example.

Term: Active customer

Session: Data Governance Council · Oct 14 · Status: Approved

Definitions Shelly found before the session

Department	Current definition	Used in
Sales	Any purchase in the last 24 months	CRM pipeline reports
Finance	Any billed policy in the last 12 months	Revenue reporting
Servicing	Any open policy or open claim	Service dashboards

Agreed definition: A customer with at least one in-force policy or one billed transaction in the last 12 months.
Owner: Head of Customer Data
Effective date: Nov 1
Systems affected: CRM, Billing, Data warehouse, 7 reports

Shelly flagged: Sales pipeline reports will show about 18% fewer active customers under the new definition. Recommend notifying Sales leadership before Nov 1.

Sources: Steward interviews, Oct 7 to Oct 10 · Business glossary · Report inventory · Council session, Oct 14

Getting started is simple.

What you provide

Your council members and stewards, the terms on the agenda, and access to your glossary or catalog.

What Shelly works with

Business glossaries, data catalogs, report inventories, and system documentation.

How fast

Shelly can prepare and lead her first session within a week of setup.

Questions governance leaders ask

Keep exploring

Related use cases

Budgeting and Prioritization

Shelly runs the budget intake for you. She interviews every owner, pressure-tests each request, and briefs your committee with the evidence attached.

Learn more →

Active Meeting Participant

Shelly joins your Teams and Zoom meetings as a real participant. She answers questions on the spot with the source attached, and leaves you with decisions and actions, not a transcript.

Learn more →

Consult with Your Data

Ask your operational data a question in plain language, on a call or in a meeting. Shelly answers in real time, shows where the number came from, and says so when the data can't answer.

Learn more →

Requirements and Solution Analysis

Shelly interviews every stakeholder in parallel, reconciles conflicting needs, and returns one requirements set with a solution analysis, effort estimate, and ROI view.

Learn more →

Dashboard and Report Mockups

Shelly interviews the people who will use a dashboard, checks what your data can support, and returns mockups and a build spec your BI team can deliver in one pass.

Learn more →

Recurring Collection and Reporting

Shelly checks in with every owner on schedule, follows up on missing answers, flags what doesn't add up, and turns the updates into one report. Nobody has to chase.

Learn more →

Built for

CDOs and data governance leadsData stewards and data ownersRisk, compliance, and regulatory reporting teamsOrganizations standing up or reviving a governance council

Try it on one contested definition.

Tell Shelly about a term your organization can't agree on. In about 10 minutes, she'll show you how she works it toward a decision.

Governance meetings that end in decisions.

You know how governance really goes.