Australian Government Architecture Reference Models Version 3.0

4.7.2 Data and information
In the information age, data is a commodity in the same way that employee labour and financial resources are,
and as such it must be managed in order to ensure that agencies are using the data and information that they
possess effectively and efficiently. To manage and use data in an effective and efficient way, agencies need to
understand the data that they hold; this requires agencies to measure it.
52 Data and information
5201 Costs (data)
A – Acquisition
B – Sustainment
C – Disposal
5202 Quality (data)
A – Continuity / completeness
B – Currency
C – Accuracy
5203 Accessibility (data)
A – Standardisation
5204 Relevance
Figure 4-30: Data and Information measurement branch
Measurement Area Rationale Defined by
[5201]
Costs (data)
Data and information, like other
business resources, impose a
financial cost on agencies to
acquire, create, maintain and
dispose of. Therefore, the cost
attribute of data as an input is
multivariate, and to fully
understand the cost of data
requires measuring data and
information costs within each of
the attribute variables outlined
below.
A. Acquisition
Quantitative measures of how much financial resource is
expended on the procurement (purchase or creation) of
data to support the delivery of government programs and
the operation of the agency. Procurement costs can
include:
� purchase of data from third-party providers
� costs of running field acquisition activities
� legal fees for consultancies engaged to manage
tender processes
� costs associated with the printing of surveys etc.
B. Sustainment
Quantitative measures of the how much financial
resource is expended through custodianship activities for
the data assets held by agencies.
C. Disposal
Quantitative measures of the financial resources
expended in the disposal of data. Costs in this
measurement grouping would include items such as:
secure shredding of paper-based information
destruction of ICT equipment that has held sensitive
information (DAT, HDD)
costs associated with the physical transfer of data
between agencies when control and responsibility are
transferred (secure courier etc.)
Australian Government Architecture Reference Models Version 3.0
83