February 8, 2022

What is Data Mapping?

Data mapping is an important component of any organization’s data privacy and sensitive data management program. With the advent of new technologies, the automation of mapping is a real possibility.

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Mark Rowan

For all organizations that deal with sensitive data, data privacy compliance may be a time-consuming process. However, for businesses without the means to invest in software and experts, it can be an extremely difficult one. Luckily, data mapping is something that organizations of all sizes can use for data classification and data privacy compliance and the automation of the process is within reach of most organizations.

In this guide, we’ll provide a brief rundown of where to start to relieve some of the pressure on companies working to improve their data privacy procedures. Implementing data mapping can help any company that is just getting started with data privacy compliance and sensitive data management.

What is Data Mapping?

Data maps guarantee that everyone in the company understands how data moves or flows. Because companies must understand what data they gather, how they use it, and with whom they share it in order to improve their data privacy safeguards, disclosures, and regulatory compliance, it may be a critical first step as well as a key audit function.

The data map frequently includes a visual component. Professionals may use data visualization to rapidly and easily follow personal data flows around the company. The quality of data maps varies substantially. Some people utilize sophisticated software to create their maps. Others arrange their data using basic Excel spreadsheets.

Data mapping can help you comply with Articles 30 and 36 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or other global data privacy laws. Article 30 mandates that some organizations' processes be documented. Before participating in particular processing, businesses must complete Data Protection Impact Assessments, according to Article 36. Although neither is technically required by the rule, they are both regarded recommended practices.

Why is Data Mapping Important for Data Governance?

In 2018, the GDPR formalized the idea of data mapping, and since then, additional privacy laws have developed their own definitions. An important component of every company's privacy program is data mapping. Knowing what data your company gathers and how it's handled is essential for data mapping. Data mapping is required to comply with GDPR, CCPA,CPRA, and any pending privacy legislation.

For the ordinary customer, data privacy standards appear self-evident: no one is permitted to view their data unless they specifically request it. Data privacy and data mapping aren't always as clear-cut for enterprises responsible for preserving personal data.

Companies create enormous amounts of data, of which consumer data is only a small part. More to the point, not all data is created equal. Some pieces of information are more valuable than others and must be safeguarded. Some information is shared, reused, or kept in several places. The same bits of information will be used in various ways by different portions of an organization.

Basically, data mapping is important because the GDPR requires organizations to maintain a record of data activities that can be accessed by authorities at any time.

What Are Some Benefits of Data Mapping?

There are quite a few benefits to data mapping. By increasing data cooperation between internal and external stakeholders, data mapping may help businesses gain a competitive edge and reduce time to insight. Data mapping can improve the effectiveness of your company operations and expedite procedures by offering data insights in real-time. 

Data mapping is not only a smart way to keep your organization’s information up to date, but it also provides a variety of other benefits. You may obtain all of the company's information in an orderly manner via data mapping. Data mapping can immediately result in speedier decision-making due to simple access to information. Data mapping improves client interactions while also increasing sales and profits. It equips managers and employees with the capacity to recognize and respond to emerging trends.

How Data Mapping Effects Different Data Management Processes

Many data management activities need the use of data mapping. Data may get corrupted as it travels to its destination if it is not correctly mapped. Data mapping quality is critical for getting the most out of your data in data migrations, integrations, and transformations.

Migration of Data

The process of shifting data from one system to another in a one-time event is known as data migration. This is usually data that does not change over time. The destination becomes the new source of migrated data after the transfer, and the previous source is decommissioned. By mapping source fields to destination fields, data mapping aids in the migration process.

Integration of Data

Data integration is the process of transferring data from one system to another on a regular basis. The integration can be set up to run on a regular basis, such as quarterly or monthly, or it can be triggered by a specific event. Both the source and the destination store and retain data. Data mappings for integrations match up source fields with destination fields within a database.

Transformation of Data

The process of changing data from one format to another is known as data transformation. This might involve altering datatypes, eliminating nulls or duplicates, aggregating data, enriching data, or doing other transformations. To match the target format, "Wisconsin"can be converted to "WI." The data map contains these transformation formulae. The data map employs transformation algorithms to convert data into the right format for analysis as it is transferred.

Different Data Mapping Techniques

Are you ready to include data mapping into your regulatory compliance plan? Consider which strategies are most appropriate for your situation or demands, as well as the total cost of ownership for the analytics platform that will handle data integration chores. Even if some of these solutions handle the majority of the work for you, data mapping requires some technical understanding. There are a variety of data mapping strategies available, ranging from entirely manual to fully automated, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Manual Data Mapping

Manual data mapping is a strenuous task. It entails linking data sources and utilizing programming to describe the process. Analysts often create the map using coding languages like as SQL, C++, or Java.To transport data across databases, data mappers might employ techniques like Extract, Transform, and Load. However, if a business has data specialists who can perform the work, you may develop the data map with total control.

Semi-Automated Data Mapping

Other businesses could employ semi-automated data mapping. Data mappers that are semi-automated employ graphical representations of the data relationships. Professionals may use a visual interface to construct schema maps. Users may use software like Tableau Prep to match "CustomerName" in one database to "Name" in another database by drawing lines, utilizing a drag-and-drop function, or employing smart clustering capability. Then, similar to the manual approach we stated before, there may be an output script containing the map in coding language. When you wish to generalize your map for various data sources or use scenarios where you don't have automated tools, having a script output to save can help.

Automated Data Mapping

Modern data mapping solutions are progressing toward complete automation, like Data Sentinel. This implies that anybody, from a data expert to a novice, may perform data mapping without coding to organize data anyway they want and update the analysis on a regular, periodic basis to catch all changes. Natural language processing is currently being used by certain mapping platforms to match data fields and characteristics and explain the contents of a data source. This can aid teams in comprehending what the data is trying to tell them, lowering the number of false assumptions.

Contact us below to learn more about our automated data mapping capabilities or to get a demo of Data Sentinel.

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February 8, 2022

What is Data Mapping?

Data mapping is an important component of any organization’s data privacy and sensitive data management program. With the advent of new technologies, the automation of mapping is a real possibility.

Date:
Hosted By:
Register Now

For all organizations that deal with sensitive data, data privacy compliance may be a time-consuming process. However, for businesses without the means to invest in software and experts, it can be an extremely difficult one. Luckily, data mapping is something that organizations of all sizes can use for data classification and data privacy compliance and the automation of the process is within reach of most organizations.

In this guide, we’ll provide a brief rundown of where to start to relieve some of the pressure on companies working to improve their data privacy procedures. Implementing data mapping can help any company that is just getting started with data privacy compliance and sensitive data management.

What is Data Mapping?

Data maps guarantee that everyone in the company understands how data moves or flows. Because companies must understand what data they gather, how they use it, and with whom they share it in order to improve their data privacy safeguards, disclosures, and regulatory compliance, it may be a critical first step as well as a key audit function.

The data map frequently includes a visual component. Professionals may use data visualization to rapidly and easily follow personal data flows around the company. The quality of data maps varies substantially. Some people utilize sophisticated software to create their maps. Others arrange their data using basic Excel spreadsheets.

Data mapping can help you comply with Articles 30 and 36 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or other global data privacy laws. Article 30 mandates that some organizations' processes be documented. Before participating in particular processing, businesses must complete Data Protection Impact Assessments, according to Article 36. Although neither is technically required by the rule, they are both regarded recommended practices.

Why is Data Mapping Important for Data Governance?

In 2018, the GDPR formalized the idea of data mapping, and since then, additional privacy laws have developed their own definitions. An important component of every company's privacy program is data mapping. Knowing what data your company gathers and how it's handled is essential for data mapping. Data mapping is required to comply with GDPR, CCPA,CPRA, and any pending privacy legislation.

For the ordinary customer, data privacy standards appear self-evident: no one is permitted to view their data unless they specifically request it. Data privacy and data mapping aren't always as clear-cut for enterprises responsible for preserving personal data.

Companies create enormous amounts of data, of which consumer data is only a small part. More to the point, not all data is created equal. Some pieces of information are more valuable than others and must be safeguarded. Some information is shared, reused, or kept in several places. The same bits of information will be used in various ways by different portions of an organization.

Basically, data mapping is important because the GDPR requires organizations to maintain a record of data activities that can be accessed by authorities at any time.

What Are Some Benefits of Data Mapping?

There are quite a few benefits to data mapping. By increasing data cooperation between internal and external stakeholders, data mapping may help businesses gain a competitive edge and reduce time to insight. Data mapping can improve the effectiveness of your company operations and expedite procedures by offering data insights in real-time. 

Data mapping is not only a smart way to keep your organization’s information up to date, but it also provides a variety of other benefits. You may obtain all of the company's information in an orderly manner via data mapping. Data mapping can immediately result in speedier decision-making due to simple access to information. Data mapping improves client interactions while also increasing sales and profits. It equips managers and employees with the capacity to recognize and respond to emerging trends.

How Data Mapping Effects Different Data Management Processes

Many data management activities need the use of data mapping. Data may get corrupted as it travels to its destination if it is not correctly mapped. Data mapping quality is critical for getting the most out of your data in data migrations, integrations, and transformations.

Migration of Data

The process of shifting data from one system to another in a one-time event is known as data migration. This is usually data that does not change over time. The destination becomes the new source of migrated data after the transfer, and the previous source is decommissioned. By mapping source fields to destination fields, data mapping aids in the migration process.

Integration of Data

Data integration is the process of transferring data from one system to another on a regular basis. The integration can be set up to run on a regular basis, such as quarterly or monthly, or it can be triggered by a specific event. Both the source and the destination store and retain data. Data mappings for integrations match up source fields with destination fields within a database.

Transformation of Data

The process of changing data from one format to another is known as data transformation. This might involve altering datatypes, eliminating nulls or duplicates, aggregating data, enriching data, or doing other transformations. To match the target format, "Wisconsin"can be converted to "WI." The data map contains these transformation formulae. The data map employs transformation algorithms to convert data into the right format for analysis as it is transferred.

Different Data Mapping Techniques

Are you ready to include data mapping into your regulatory compliance plan? Consider which strategies are most appropriate for your situation or demands, as well as the total cost of ownership for the analytics platform that will handle data integration chores. Even if some of these solutions handle the majority of the work for you, data mapping requires some technical understanding. There are a variety of data mapping strategies available, ranging from entirely manual to fully automated, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Manual Data Mapping

Manual data mapping is a strenuous task. It entails linking data sources and utilizing programming to describe the process. Analysts often create the map using coding languages like as SQL, C++, or Java.To transport data across databases, data mappers might employ techniques like Extract, Transform, and Load. However, if a business has data specialists who can perform the work, you may develop the data map with total control.

Semi-Automated Data Mapping

Other businesses could employ semi-automated data mapping. Data mappers that are semi-automated employ graphical representations of the data relationships. Professionals may use a visual interface to construct schema maps. Users may use software like Tableau Prep to match "CustomerName" in one database to "Name" in another database by drawing lines, utilizing a drag-and-drop function, or employing smart clustering capability. Then, similar to the manual approach we stated before, there may be an output script containing the map in coding language. When you wish to generalize your map for various data sources or use scenarios where you don't have automated tools, having a script output to save can help.

Automated Data Mapping

Modern data mapping solutions are progressing toward complete automation, like Data Sentinel. This implies that anybody, from a data expert to a novice, may perform data mapping without coding to organize data anyway they want and update the analysis on a regular, periodic basis to catch all changes. Natural language processing is currently being used by certain mapping platforms to match data fields and characteristics and explain the contents of a data source. This can aid teams in comprehending what the data is trying to tell them, lowering the number of false assumptions.

Contact us below to learn more about our automated data mapping capabilities or to get a demo of Data Sentinel.

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