What is Database Governance? Principles, Controls & Best Practices

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Database Governance Control Areas

Control Area	Key Activities	Governance Objective
Access management	Role-based access; least privilege; access reviews	Data security; compliance
Change management	Schema change control; release management; testing	Data integrity; availability
Performance management	Monitoring; query optimisation; capacity planning	Data availability; SLA compliance
Backup and recovery	Backup scheduling; recovery testing; DR planning	Data availability; business continuity
Security and encryption	Encryption at rest/transit; masking; auditing	Data security; compliance
Compliance	Audit logging; retention enforcement; regulatory reporting	Regulatory compliance

CDMP Exam Relevance

Database governance concepts are tested across multiple CDMP knowledge areas, particularly Data Storage & Operations (6%), Data Security (6%), and Data Architecture (6%). Key exam topics include: the principles of database access management, change management for database environments, backup and recovery strategies, and the relationship between database governance and data governance. Understanding database governance is also important for Data Lifecycle Management questions about data retention and archiving.

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