DCAM™ is the documentation of best practices associated with the management of data across an enterprise along with a detailed set of standard evaluation criteria used for measuring data management capability. DCAM™ was created as a collaborative effort among practitioners within banks, investment managers and other participants across the global financial industry.

The development and release of DCAM™ comes at a particularly important time for the financial industry in that it directly coincides with the work of banks and other financial institutions to align data across multiple internal repositories in order to operate more efficiently and meet regulatory risk aggregation requirements. "The EDM Council has captured the fundamental tenets of data management within DCAM™. It is a comprehensive and practical definition of the operational best practices needed to successfully drive data management" says Peter Serenita, Chairman of the EDM Council and Group Chief Data Officer for HSBC.

The focus of DCAM™ is on the measurement of data management capability and the definition of the specific requirements needed to ensure trust in data as a factor of input into business processes. It is organized into eight core categories (strategy, business case, organizational structure, governance, data architecture, technology architecture, data quality, and data control environment). Each component is preceded with a definition of what it is and why it is important so as to demystify the data management process. The components are structured into 35 primary capability areas with 108 specific measurement criteria used for the evaluation of effective data management programs.

"The financial industry is global, complex, interconnected and data intensive" says Michael Atkin, Managing Director of the EDM Council. "Management of that data so that regulators and business users have confidence that it is harmonized and fit-for-purt-for-purpose is an essential requirement for managing this complexity. DCAM™ provides both the roadmap for navigating the intricacies of data management as well the criteria for measuring data management capability."