2004 Dziedzic, Graham, Nolan, & Silverston

About Us > Awards > Award Recipients

Dr. John D. Graham - 2004 DAMA Government Award

Dr. John D. Graham is the Administrator of the Federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the OMB and Professor at Harvard School of Public Health. He is nominated for his work on the Data Quality Act.

The U.S. Chamber Institute for Sound Regulation believes that the Data Quality ("DQA") represents the most significant change to the federal rulemaking process since the Administrative Procedure Act was enacted more than 50 years ago.

This legislation mandates government wide policies for information disseminated by federal agencies . The Act requires government agencies to ensure the quality of the information used when enacting regulations as well as government studies. This includes policy and procedural guidelines for ensuring the maximum quality, utility, objectivity and integrity of information disseminated. Based on this legislation, government agencies can be challenged regarding the information used in their respective agencies.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was responsible to come up with specific guidelines across the Federal agencies. This effort was overseen by Dr. John D. Graham, an expert on risk and regulation from Harvard who is the administrator of the office of information and regulatory affairs of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Dr. Graham's focus on using strict statistical analysis of risks and benefits to judge where to focus public resources has made him a favorite of industry . He has said that the administration's goal was to ensure that all government agencies, "in every duty consider not just the quality of the data they use and communicate, but also the quality of their own analysis. "

Dr. Richard L. Nolan - Academic Award

Richard L. Nolan is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Professor Nolan is the originator of the "Stages Theory," one of the most widely used management frameworks for information technology planning, and is a leading authority in guiding businesses through the transformation from an industrial to an information economy.

Professor Nolan earned his B.A. from the University of Washington in Productions and Operations Research in 1962, and his M.B.A and PhD. in 1963 and 1966, respectively. He returned to the faculty of Harvard Business School in 1991, after serving as the chairman of the consulting firm Nolan, Norton & Co.

In 1974, Dr. Nolan published a seminal article on "Stages of Growth" that included a maturity model for what was then called the "electronic data processing" function in organizations., "Managing the Four Stages of EDP Growth," Harvard Business Review ,1974. This article emphasized the need for and importance of data administration and first introduced the concepts of Data Administration and Data Resource Management.

Dr. Richard L. Nolan was a professor at the Harvard Business School when he introduced his ideas about using data as a resource. In 1973 he edited a book, "Managing the Data Resource Function", by compiling many selections from the Computer Based Information Systems Program at the Harvard Business School. These selections were part of a "Working Paper Series" in which management from various companies contributed their ideas as they pertained to the business world.

Computers have come a long way since 1973, but Dr. Nolan's ideas are still widely practiced today. The following readings are excerpts from his book.

"Although the data resource is not new to management, it might be new to management to refer to data as a resource. Only recently, with a rapid penetration of computers into organizational processes, has the value of data been brought to the forefront of management's attention. The high cost of computer systems to collect, store, process, and dispense data, along with the frequent inundation of managers with data due to ill-conceived designs for computer based systems, continually makes management aware of the data resource. Another reason that it might be unfamiliar to refer to data as a resource is that many have focused on the computer as a basic resource rather than data. The computer has provided the means to increase the value of data. Consequently, the computer is an intermediate resource and not the basic resource."

In one section of his book, Dr. Nolan discusses the evolution of the data resource function and presents a descriptive 'stage hypothesis' for the management of the computer.

"Because of the close association between the emergence of the computer in organizations and the emergence of the data resource function, the stage hypothesis is also descriptive of the development of the data resource function. After presenting the stage hypothesis, high priority behavioral and organizational issues are extrapolated from the stages and management action is prescribed."

Stage	Applications portfolio	DP organization	DP planning and control	User awareness
Initiation	Functional cost-reduction applications	Specialization for technological learning	Lax	Hands-off
Contagion	Proliferation	User-oriented programmers	Laxer	Superficially enthusiastic
Control	Upgrade documentation & restructuring of applications	Middle management	Formalized planning and control	Arbitrary accountability
Integration	Retro-fitting applications with data base technology	Establish computer utility and user account teams	Tailored planning and control systems	Learning about accountability
Data Administration	Integration of applications	Data administration	Shared data and common systems	Effectively accountable
Maturity	Mirroring of information flows in systems	Data resource management	Data resources strategic planning	Acceptance of joint accountability with DP

Dr. Richard Nolan’s Stages of Growth model

Len Silverston

- 2004 DAMA Professional Award

- 2006 DAMA Community Award

Len Silverston is an author, lecturer, consultant, and pioneer in the field of data management. He has devoted his last 22 years to helping organizations effectively manage, integrate and utilize information, most notably via his innovative “universal data models” approach, techniques and repository of re-usable, holistic models.

He is the best selling author of “The Data Model Resource Book” series now in its second edition and in multiple volumes. His first book, The Data Model Resource Book: A Library of Logical Data Models and Data Warehouse Designs (John Wiley and Sons, 1997) was rated #12 on the Computer Literacy Best Seller List and paved the way for his subsequent books, The Data Model Resource Book, Revised Edition, Volume 1: A Library of Universal Data Models for All Enterprises (Wiley, 2001) and The Data Model Resource Book, Volume 2: A Library of Universal Data Models for Industry Types (Wiley, 2001). These books represent an extremely detailed and comprehensive set of over 230 re-usable, proven data models and encompass decades of real life database design experiences, examples and insights, including data models for numerous industries, data warehousing and e-commerce. Aside from being used internationally as the basis for a huge number of database designs and within leading software packages, they are used frequently as a textbook for data modeling in many universities. His most recent book sharing comprehensive industry models has been translated into Chinese. He has also written many articles on Universal Data Models, database design and data warehousing in publications such as Data Management Review and The Data Warehouse Institute’s Journal of Data Warehousing.

In addition to his publications, Mr. Silverston has developed extensive software versions of these models that have helped a great number of organizations to quickly jump-start their data management, data warehouse, and e-commerce development efforts while helping to enhance the quality of their models. Microsoft Corporation has licensed Mr. Silverston’s generic universal data model software worldwide and these models and associated SQL code are now included as part of Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition.

Mr. Silverston has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences. His seminars have been widely appreciated by groups such as IRM UK, The Data Warehouse Institute, Barnett Data Systems, regional DAMA chapters and DAMA International, the Software Productivity Center, Database Design and Programming seminars, Oracle International conferences, CA World conferences, and a host of other international groups. Mr. Silverston teaches an ongoing public seminar on Universal Data Models for the IRM UK Strategic IT Training.

Mr. Silverston's company, Universal Data Models, LLC,, provides consulting, training, and software to help jump-start data modeling and data warehouse design efforts in a fraction of the time by using Universal Data Models which are all fully defined in Universal's CASE repository. He has applied these universal data designs to many diverse organizations and contributed greatly towards effective data integration, higher quality data architectures and designs, and streamlined development.

Larry Dziedzic - 2004 DAMA Community Award

Larry Dziedzic has dedicated countless hours and energy in making DAMA International and DAMA NJ, the organizations they are today. Larry has served on the DAMA NJ board for the past six years. He is currently the VP of Program and previously held the positions of Treasurer and President. As Treasurer for the chapter he implemented procedures that resulted in doubling the chapter's treasury. Based on this work, chapter members have not seen an increase in membership dues in over seven years!

As President and VP of Program he organized and created innovative events and activities such as member appreciation days. His contributions have resulted in increased member satisfaction and additional and creative networking and educational opportunities for DAMA NJ members.

Larry is currently the VP of Operations for DAMA International and has also served as their Chief Financial Officer. His contributions include providing financial assistance to chapters in formation for legal services such as incorporation, providing fax services to the chapters for quicker and easier credit card processing, and adding the American Express card an additional method of payment available to the chapters and members. Larry recently completed work on establishing the DAMA International Trademark and Logo for the U.S., Canada, and Europe. He is currently reviewing insurance options for both DAMA International and the chapters and frequently writes a column in DM Review about DAMA..

He is a popular presenter and speaker at conferences. Larry has presented papers at numerous DAMA International Symposiums, DAMA chapters, and the Enterprise Data Management Conference in Sydney, Australia. A former adjunct college instructor, Larry often guest lectures to information systems classes at the university level.

He is employed by J&J as the Technology Manager, and has worked in all areas of data and information management over the last 30+ years, primarily focusing on pharmaceutical and insurance companies.. Currently, Larry is responsible for supporting global data standardization, as well as consulting on process and modeling standards for J&J worldwide Consumer group. This includes supporting data standardization of global ERP applications, defining data stewardship functions and interfacing with the worldwide Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices and Diagnostic groups.