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Modern Data Governance is Live (Webinar Recap) & May Webinar

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Image is clip from webinar with presenter Andrew Drinkwater inset onto of visual lineage map between data tables, dashboards, and automations.
Visual data lineage helps answer "how did that data get here, and where does it go?". In this case, we're showcasing FactCourseEnrollment (middle), with: - Upstream (left): Excel, Banner base tables, data warehouse tables. Not shown: further upstream, such as additional Banner base tables. - Downstream (right): FME data transformation workflows, additional data warehouse tables. Not shown: further upstream such as Tableau dashboards.

Thanks to everyone who joined us last week. Nearly 40 attendees joined us live (a meaningful milestone for us) and the engagement throughout made it one of our best sessions yet.

Here's everything from the session in one place.

📋 Resources

Modern Data Governance is Live Webinar Slides
Presentation slides from April 2, 2026 10am PT. Click arrow to download.
Modern_Data_Governance_is_ Live_WebinarSlides.pdf
2 MB
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About half the session was a live demo of Plaid Govern — covering visual data lineage, definitions, impact analysis, and ingesting a new system. If you missed it or want to revisit, it's all in the recording.

Looking for the pre-webinar self-assessment tool? Email us to get your copy.

What we covered

We started with a question most institutions recognize immediately: ask how many students are enrolled and get five different answers. Not because anyone is wrong — but because definitions aren't visible, and data moves through systems in ways nobody can fully trace.

From there, we walked through:

  • Why static governance fails — policy documents, wiki pages, and PDF data dictionaries decay over time. They're out of date before the ink dries.
  • How live metadata works differently — automatic discovery, connected lineage, and collaborative documentation that improves over time instead of declining.
  • The hidden data map — the official flow (Banner → Warehouse → Tableau) almost never reflects reality. Shadow systems, Excel extracts, and personal Google Sheets are where institutional data actually lives — and where FERPA / FIPPA risk quietly accumulates.
  • The pilot approach — you don't need a governance office or an executive mandate to start. One dataset, one confusing metric, six weeks.

Join us for the next webinar

next webinar

Retention. Completion. Transfer success. These metrics drive funding, accreditation, and strategy — but often produce different answers depending on where they’re pulled.

In this session, we’ll explore why that happens and how data lineage makes reporting defensible - especially relevant if you’re navigating California’s Vision-Aligned Reporting or similar frameworks.

👉 May 6, 2026 · 10am PDT / 1pm EDT

Register now →

Prefer more detail on the webinar first? View the full session overview →

Questions from the session? I'm happy to connect. Book a conversation or email me at info@plaid.is.