Förhoppningar och förutsättningar : En undersökning om datastyrning i praktiken i offentlig sektor på kommunal nivå

Sammanfattning: Data has been recognized as an important resource in the public sector. As a result, the expectations regarding data and its potential use cases have increased. In Sweden, key stakeholders have emphasized the importance of data for data-driven purposes. However, the amount of data collected, stored and analyzed has dramatically increased, which from an organizational perspective presents new demands on how public organizations govern and control their data management. In this study, data governance in the public sector at the municipal level was investigated with the purpose of creating an overview of how data governance occurs within municipalities. The study was divided into two sections, the first phase consisted of interviews with a specific municipality, whereas the second phase consisted of a survey distributed to all 290 Swedish municipalities. The results show that the current approach to data governance presents several challenges in the municipal sector. The results also indicate that the municipal sector may potentially be more focused on information governance rather than data governance and that there may be a lack of knowledge about the distinction between data and information. The findings suggest that the municipal sector lacks the prerequisites for managing data as a valuable and strategic asset, which is a concern given the public sector’s ambitions for data to generate and enhance services for society.