LIGHTS ON DATA

Put the Lights on Data and treat data as an asset

If data is an asset, how do we treat it as such? This website is full of knowledge and practical content for data professionals in the form of online courses, articles, videos, templates and overall best practices from fellow data professionals.

Available online courses

The following online courses are available to anyone wanting to enhance their skills as a data professional. 

practical data governance course

Includes 10+ downloadable TEMPLATES

Practical data governance: implementation course

Learn the practical steps, best practices, and templates to put together and implement your data governance program from scratch or improve the one you have.

data governance maturity models course

Now includes a BONUS chapter on other Maturity Models (Data Science & Data Lakes)

Data governance maturity model course

Learn all there is to know about data governance maturity models in order to establish or improve your data governance program.

business glossary course

Now includes a BONUS chapter on Operating Models

Business glossary course

Learn step-by-step how to implement an easy to use and efficient Business Glossary that users will adopt and management will praise.

data-visualization-for-data-storytelling-1

Now includes a BONUS chapter that helps you enhance your data stories.

Data visualisation for data storytelling course

Learn how to tell compelling data stories, accompanied by effective data visualizations, that will engage your audience.

Testimonials

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An excellent foundation for Data Governance

If your organisation is ready to get serious about Data Governance, but doesn't have the knowledge of how to start implementing it then this is the course for you.

Jason Kreitner - Data Management at University of Melbourne

Essential to boost data culture and operational momentum

Very good course, right to the point at nice pace with very helpful additional content, like the templates. I found particularly useful the lessons on change, people and communication management as they tend to be overlooked. Good focus on the importance of business side engagement, as many data-related projects are seen usually as IT-only driven, or delivering outcome/feedback unidirectionally from IT to business. I am currently implementing a data governance program for the company I work for as part of a wider data strategy, involving cloud migration and development of a modern data stack, while facing a lot of issues due to poor company engagement in data-related activities. So the course is helping me to set up the path for a more data-driven culture and operations ecosystem that could boost momentum and income to the company, while educating decision makers on the importance of it.

Manuel Castelanotti - Technical Project Manager - Digital Transformation Team

A gift from the heavens

In life, the old saying goes "if its too good to be true, its not", but in the case of this course, it's all good and its all true. Thank you for having the ambition to make such a course and thank you for sharing with others.

Bryan Gonzalez - Senior Data Analyst/ Data Governance Lead

Detailed yet simple

Amazing course that explains the intricate side of data governance in a very simple way.
Thank you!

Kateryna Gagaus - Global Furniture group

Great Course on Maturity Assessment

It is always interesting to understand experts perspectives on data and especially on Data Governance maturity. Going through the available models and how to use them is a key information for anyone starting their Data Governance journey or wanting to re-assess their maturity level. Great job George!

Laurent Dresse - Data Governance Evangelist & Head of Consulting

I rate this course a 10!

This course gives the essentials for implementing Data Governance within your organization. It provides templates, additional videos and resources. The content is in-depth and thorough. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest score, I rate this course a 10.

Jenny Erdman - Data Governance Analyst

I recommend this course to others

To be honest, I have watched a lot of videos on YouTube and read many articles, but still was still feeling something is missing. I have learned plenty things from this awesome course, since the stuff being taught is extremely useful for people who have heard and at least have high level understanding about Data Governance Program/Project.

Azer Baghirov - Financial Expert

Great Stuff

Thanks for this course. To the point. Concise. Well communicated. Good voice and tone. Nice illustrations. Good content. Very well explained.

Orville Zichterman - Data Management Consultant

Concise, useful, and easy to grasp

I actually learned more practical, clear to apply concepts, hands-on tools than when I read the DAMA DMBOK2. This course is an accelerator on actualizing the benefits of having Data Governance in the organization. In my first two weeks in my new role as a Data Management Executive, I've used the course's basic concepts, metrics & KPIs, and tools deployment & selection lessons in shaping our roadmap towards becoming an insight-driven organization. Because of this, our top management now fully supports our key data initiatives e.g. Single Source of Truth, DM Fundamentals ( Enterprise Business Glossary and Data Catalog, Data Quality Management).

At first, I wasn’t sure that an online course would guide me well enough to produce tangible results in my first dip into Data Governance, but George really knows his stuff! The video tutorials and downloadable templates are concise, useful, and easy to grasp. Please keep producing such great content to help us data professionals! Thank you!

Aiza-Cecilia Lulu - Data Management Executive

Business Glossary: what you need to know

The online business glossary course gives a well-structured overview on all relevant topics to be aware of when starting to deal with a business glossary. The lessons are easy to follow, full of helpful hints and tips and best practice examples. Some good templates are provided. Having in mind the range of data governance activities, the creation of a business glossary is foundational. Only with a unique language for business terms, the same understanding of their meanings, data management can be done effectively. It doesn´t matter if it is on data reports, data quality rules, master data management, data integration or whatever data topic of interest: a good business glossary supports a common language for the business and prevents friction losses in data management. This course shows how a good business glossary can be built to support data governance and data management.

Christiana Klingenberg - Principal Business Consultant Master Data Management

Rare and valuable course!

This is the first course I found on Data Governance that I really understood and could imagine myself implementing it while viewing the videos. Other courses only give you disorganized information that you don't know how to use, but this one is certainly a must have. Thanks George!

Oscar Zeledon Masis - Assistant Vice President

It's really helpful!

The course was really helpful and showed the specifics over the requirements on a Business Glossary. Would really recommend to people who want to start on the process of creating a business glossary in their organization.

Hafeeza Hassan Makda - Data Governance and Quality Analyst

Simply Amazing!

This practical Data Governance course is simply amazing. The content is so clear, not tiring and examples help you better understand it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a role in data governance and data management.

Hafeeza Hassan Makda - Data Governance and Quality Analyst

What an amazing course

Hello George and Donable! What an amazing course you have created. I highly recommend this course even if you have some background in data visualization and storytelling because the content in the lessons is always something beyond you can usually find. The examples provided are inspiring and really complements the lessons' content. The extensive list of examples and resources is super valuable. The lessons are engaging and mind blowing. Even with the extensive content, the lessons are easy to watch and aren't exhausting. I really enjoyed the course and I highly recommend it. I think the Breaking the Rules lesson was amazing. I also enjoyed the Color Usage and the Selecting the Right Visual series.

Monica Oliveira - Soon to be a data viz developer

Just perfect!

The length and quality of the course is just perfect. I personally loved the Bonus section - very crisp. Apart from that it is hard to pick as it was beyond my expectation and it truly lived up to its title. The section that I struggled with was Business Glossary , Data Dictionary and Data Catalog. The concept was well explained, but I missed a bit of visual representation of how these 3 hold together . Overall I would say it is a great course and would highly recommend it.

Divya Bhat - Data Governance Lead

A great course!

This course was thoughtfully designed to help people understand data governance from scratch. George used illustrations that make each concept stick to the brain. Overall, it is a great course.

Quadri Ibrahim - Data Governance Analyst

Great course

Thank you for making this great course. I have learned many new things which will become very helpful.

Jörn Ishikawa - Data Governance Manager

Highly recommended!

Great course!
Good coaching to implement a step-by-step and pragmatic approach. Highly recommended!

Aurélie Faussurier - Sourcing Analyst

I would highly recommend it

This course is the A to Z of how to build a great Business Glossary. It covers everything you need to know and also the things to avoid. After attending this course I was able to use the material to create the right Business Glossary for my company and we are now able to ensure our definitions are accurate and complete.

I would highly recommend it, whether you’re just starting out building a new Glossary, or if you already have a Business Glossary that needs to be improved.

Claire Laws - Data Governance

This is a great course

This is a great course that we will come back to later as we develop our data governance program. The information provided gives us a good jump start.

Kristine McNicholas - Data Management Specialist at PMI

10/10 would recommend

This course has provided me with an excellent basis of data governance understanding and start, to implement a data governance program within my own company using the tools provided. The videos were actively engaging and the course/video length was a perfect length to understand the topics presented without losing interest by being too long. The course breadth was extensive and feel I have a holistic view of data governance as a topic. The examples/templates were particularly great, and I'll be using them to help build our own data governance program. I'd recommend this course to anyone wanting the complete data governance picture and a practical start to implementing their own data governance program. Thank you George!

Abe Furlong - Data Engineer

I wish I had found this course earlier

George has achived to make simple what it is complex and to put into words what I have struggled to express for years.

The course is full of data-related, leadership and communication knowledge which is paramount in any Data Governance Program.

If I had found this course when I started the journey, we would have added 10 times more value to our businesses.

Edgar Talavera - Data Governance Lead @ Mercadona

Great course!

Great course! Thorough, practical and easy to understand.

Udeme Anosike - Data Integrity Specialist

A great course!

Great course, I really appreciate the pragmatic and clear step-by-step approach. I feel operational now to start with this topic.

Faussurier-Lestiennes Aurélie - Richemont

Plenty of positive reviews

I had the privilege to take part of the in-person training with George and I see that the online content available here is as much of an engaging and fun learning experience as the one I had.

I didn't expect to enjoy the content as much as I did, so I'm glad I went for it. I found the materials and content to be very useful in identifying what we could do to improve our Business Glossary and deliver a second iteration of it that got plenty of positive reviews from throughout the organization.

Anca Stefan - Senior Data Steward

Great course!

Frankly speaking, 3 months ago, I did know nothing about the Data Governance Program and topics related to it. However, thanks to this course and the course which I took previously (Practical Data Governance: Implementation), now, I became a person who could support this program within the organization. So, what is the next? Next is the course about Business Glossary, which I waited for with big passion. Hope it will be also at the level it is expected to be. Mr. Firican, huge thanks for these great courses, which I enjoyed and it lightened my way to Data Governance.

Azer Baghirov - Management Information System Expert

Great course

Great overview of the different methodologies.

Patricio Cofre - EY Partner

Excellent!

This training course is excellent, and providing a valuable insights and practical advice in Data Governance.

Zakareya Jumaa Alalawi - Head of IT

10/10 Great course, would recommend

As with the Practical Data Governance: Implementation course, George delivers a great encompassing course on the Business Glossary. The lessons were informative, engaging and feel I've come away with the skills needed in order to implement our companies own Business Glossary.
The templates and examples given are a great takeaway for anyone building their own Business Glossary to get started on! I'd recommend this course for anyone creating a Business Glossary or taking part in a data governance program!

Abe Furlong - Data Engineer

Great course!

Great course! I enjoyed the pace and the flow of information was on point. Thank you!

Kimberly Van Laere - Senior Business Process Analyst

Excellent course highly recommended

Excellent course highly recommended. From the first session George captivates by his teaching ability. His shared experience adds value to the course. I like this analogy, it's like running a 10K marathon with a great coach. Thank you George for the great course that has helped me a lot and I am already applying these concepts at work.

Luis Martin Grados Salinas - Data Managment Lead

Includes everything you need to build, launch and maintain a Business Glossary

My biggest struggle was trying to get the Business Glossary off the ground after pausing the efforts on it several times in the past 6 months. There were too many factors to consider and we didn't want to just launch a "good enough" tool.

I took the "in-person" version of this course and it has changed everything for me. It provided me with the clear steps that I needed to take in order to see this project through and the guidelines and best practices needed to ensure the content of the glossary is great and that our colleagues are using it.

I would recommend the Business Glossary course, because it includes everything you need to build, launch and maintain a Business Glossary or enhance the one that you have. Plus a lot of great know-how on how it fits in with a data dictionary and a data catalog.

Gabriel Reyes - Data Steward

This course was great

This course was great. We have been working to stand up a strong Data Governance Process and this course provided great guidance for areas to concentrate on.

Kristine McNicholas - Data Management Specialist at PMI

Very detail-oriented & easy to follow

Very detail-oriented, easy to follow step by step instructions/content with corresponding templates for individuals ready to hit the ground running on their Data Governance journey.

Thank you for offering a practical course to learn and implement data governance.

Jessie Hundal - Senior Programmer Analyst, Enterprise Data & Business Intelligence, UBC IT

Totally worth it!

I really enjoyed the course and it gave me lots of thoughts and materials to work the data gov in my organization. It was totally worth it and excellently presented. Thanks!

Andreas Obermeier - Team Lead Big Data

Great Course

This course has been very helpful to me in my journey as a data governance professional! Thank you!

Elaine Zawada - Data Governance Manager

A very well structured course

If you believe that a Business Glossary should be part of your organization, this course is a perfect starting point for anyone wanting to know more about how to get started, design and implement it and keep it running. Very well structured course and easy to adapt material.

Michael Bendixen - Data Management & Business Analytics Lead

A solid foundation for data story telling

A good resource not only going through once, but coming back to as a reference. I applied things that I learned immediately in my field, and produced noticeably better looking data stories.

Lance Dofflemyer - Chief Data Scientist

Incredible asset, very enlightening

This course exceeded my expectations. It covered a great deal of topics, especially the ones related to Accessibility and Cognition. Sometimes it is difficult to negotiate with an organization's data analysts and designers when we want to integrate best practices in UX and Inclusive Design. This course covered the basics of intention and goal when choosing a suitable visualization. The presenters were all very well-spoken and interesting, and they all provided excellent examples. The course helped me create documentation for our organization around best practices on choosing and using different types of charts and graphs. My notes on UX and Accessibility in particular were beefed up by the knowledge and resources provided in this course. I would definitely (and already have) recommend this course to others, especially UX designers, UX researchers and anyone working in the field of Accessibility and Inclusive design. Thank you kindly!

Joel Bethell - UX Designer

Insightful and practical

This has been the most insightful Data Governance course I have taken till date. Having worked in Data Governance for a while, I love that I could relate with a lot of the examples and some of the steps outlined are what I could have used in my role for better outcomes. I will recommend this course to every Data Governance enthusiast or professional looking for some improvements or best practices in their Data Governance implementation.

Oyinlola Oresanya - Senior Data Governance Consultant

A well structured, complete and pleasant online course

I really appreciated to follow the online course on Data Governance Maturity Models. The course is very well structured: as well on content level as in format, short videos which stimulate you each time to watch the next one. The explications of George are very clear and pleasant to listen to. The content is stuffed with practical tips and his own experiences. On top of that there are extra texts and links to interesting information and documents. It really helped me to have a good overview of all types of Data Governance Maturity Models and how to understand their value.

Leen Poppeliers - Consultant

Excellent!

Excellent! I have acquired a lot of new information and ideas.

Juan Pablo Rey Souto - Data Business Office Manager

Great comprehensive course!

This course was very useful as it explains step by step how to implement a business glossary. I appreciated having many real life examples. Thank you!

Marie-Claude Boudreault - Ministry of transportation

Where my students work

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Hi, I'm
George Firican

Your friendly data guy :). As a passionate advocate for the importance of data, I created LightsOnData.com.

I've been an award-winning data professional for over 15 years, I am a frequent conference speaker, YouTuber and LinkedIn influencer, being ranked among Top 5 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Big Data, Digital Disruption, Top 15 on Innovation and LinkedIn Top Voice.


I aim to provide fellow and future data professionals like you with practical content in the form of online and live courses, templates and guides, best practices, articles, videos, webinars, conference and key-note sessions to address your questions and challenges.


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