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ODGA Department of Wildlife Resources Purview Solution

About the Office of Data Governance and Analytics (ODGA) 

The ODGA partners with Commonwealth agencies and public institutions to maximize the value of Commonwealth data through strategic governance, secure and appropriate data sharing, and enterprise analytics services informing actionable intelligence. The office is led by the Chief Data Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia and is made up of a team full of talented professionals. 

What is the challenge that the Department of Wildlife Resources was facing?

The Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) manages 2500 tables of data and needed an easy way to identify which datasets contain PII and curate metadata. Since some DWR tables are created by 3rd parties, DWR needed a better way to manage Personally Identifiable Information (PII).  

What is the ODGA solution for the Department of Wildlife Resources?  

ODGA has onboarded 2500 tables of DWR data into the Microsoft Purview solution. While this does not mean actual datasets are ingested into Purview, it contains names and descriptions of datasets along with identifying metadata, such as rows and columns. Purview scans this information and classifies it based on the type of PII it contains. The agency is also able to curate their data and update and maintain proper metadata through the solution. This allows DWR to better maintain what data they have in their environment. By better maintaining their data, better decisions can be made about how to protect PII.   

What technologies or processes are being used in this project?

Microsoft Purview is being used to help with the scanning of DWR data. While DWR is onboarding information about datasets into Purview, it is not necessary for an agency to onboard the information in ODGA’s environment. ODGA can connect Purview to already existing market leading databases that agencies are using. 

ODGA maintains top of class security while using the Purview solution. Firewall, network connection, and role assignment rules within Azure apply to anyone using the solution. ODGA has also set up private endpoints to ensure that the data remains within the Commonwealth. Purview is also HIPPA HITrust and SOC2 NIST 800-53 certified. 

In addition to this, ODGA has kept future security measures in mind as the Purview solution grows. As more agencies use the solutions, security measures can be implemented up so agencies can only see their own data. Agencies can also limit access within their own organizations.  

Does this project make the agency more efficient? 

DWR is now able to better manage their data by knowing what datasets they have and what datasets contain PII. They receive ODGA assistance if needed and the agency has saved costs by not having to implement their own solution. 

Purview will act as a data catalog for Commonwealth of Virginia datasets as more agency data is added to the solution, allowing agencies to be aware of both their own data as well as other agency data. This in turn will lead to better protected, documented, and shared data for the Commonwealth.