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7 Best Practices For Snowflake Data Governance
7 Best Practices For Snowflake Data Governance
Governance (2024)
Data is ruling the world, but with the staggering amount of data being generated and stored,
can we trust it all? As data continues to grow at an exponential rate, the complexities and
challenges surrounding it are becoming increasingly apparent. This is exactly where data
governance comes in—ensuring that data is managed and used correctly to maintain
accuracy, security, and quality.
In this article, we will learn about what is meant by "Snowflake data governance", explore
the best practices for effective Snowflake data governance, and get a brief overview of
Snowflake's built-in data governance features to help businesses maintain the integrity and
security of their data within the Snowflake platform.
Data governance is critical for safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring it is secure,
compliant and high-quality. It lowers data breaches and misuse while improving data
quality, allowing for discovering relevant data insights. Good data governance is essential in
regulated industries such as healthcare, banking, and finance because it ensures data
traceability and prevents unauthorized access or removal.
Data reliability: Good practices for data governance help make sure data is correct,
consistent, and reliable, allowing businesses to make better-informed decisions based on
reliable data.
Data compliance with regulations: Businesses are bound by regulations/standards that
govern how data should be kept and secured. Data governance ensures these requirements
are followed, which can help prevent legal complications and massive penalties/fines.
Data security: Data breaches can be costly and detrimental to a business's reputation.
Effective data governance practices can improve data security by controlling access to
sensitive information and protecting it from unauthorized disclosure or data misuse.
Data efficiency and productivity: Data governance helps ensure that data is available
when and where it is needed, which cuts down on wasted work and might boost
productivity.
Data decision-making process: Data governance helps businesses make better decisions
and achieve their objectives more effectively by providing them with reliable and accurate
data.
Now, let's jump back to understanding the concept of Snowflake data governance.
Snowflake data governance refers to the policies, procedures, and practices that can be
implemented to guarantee proper management and control of data stored on the Snowflake
Platform. To keep the integrity and value of data, Snowflake data governance needs a full-
scale approach that includes data security, data quality, and data management.
Snowflake data governance is fundamentally about creating and following rules about
accessing, protecting, and using data. This includes establishing roles and permissions to
manage who can access and update data on the Snowflake environment. Users can also
leverage the powerful features provided by Snowflake, such as Virtual Private
Snowflake (VPS), and third-party services, such as PrivateLink (not affiliated with
Snowflake), to safeguard their data better and make sure only authorized users are allowed
to access it.
1) Column-level security
Dynamic Data Masking hides plain-text data in tables and views columns based on
masking policies at query runtime. These schema-level policies prevent unauthorized access
to sensitive data while letting authorized users access sensitive data at query runtime. The
policies use conditions and functions to transform the data when conditions are met.
External Tokenization is a feature that enables accounts to tokenize data before loading it
into Snowflake and detokenize the data at query runtime. Tokenization is the process of
removing sensitive data by replacing it with an undecipherable token. External tokenization
makes use of masking policies with external functions . Before data can be loaded into
Snowflake, it must be tokenized by a third-party tokenization service. At query execution,
Snowflake uses the external function to make an API call to the tokenization provider,
which then analyzes an externally-created tokenization policy before returning tokenized or
detokenized data depending on the masking policy conditions.
What is Masking Policy?
Masking policies are schema-level objects that protect sensitive data from unwanted access
while allowing authorized users to view the sensitive data during query execution. These
masking policies are made up of conditions and functions that change data during query
execution when the given criteria are met.
Masking policies can be applied to one or more columns in a table or view that have the
same data type. Masking policy conditions can be expressed using Conditional Expression
Functions and Context Functions or by querying on a custom table.
You can add a row access policy to a table or view either when the object is created or after
the object is created. The policy admin can easily apply row access policies to tables and
views.
Check out this official Snowflake documentation to learn more about the Row level
policy and how it works.
TLDR; Snowflake's row-level security is a powerful way to control access to sensitive data
at a granular level. It ensures that only authorized users or roles can see or access specific
rows of data in a table or view.
3) Object tagging
Object-tagging feature in Snowflake is also only available in the Enterprise
edition or higher. To define what "object tags" are, they are simply labels that allow you to
assign metadata to Snowflake objects, such as tables, views, and schemas, by using tags.
Tags are essentially labels that consist of key-value pairs. These tags can be used to
categorize and describe Snowflake objects, making them easier to manage and organize.
Check out this official Snowflake documentation to learn more about the in-depth
process of Object tagging and its benefits.
Snowflake object tagging offers several benefits, with one of the main benefits being the
ability to inherit tags based on where they are applied. On top of that, it also has numerous
advantages, including tracking and finding sensitive data, classifying data and objects,
tracking resource consumption, adding row-level security, tag-based masking data—and
much more!!
TLDR; Object tagging in Snowflake enables efficient data categorization and organization
using labels called "tags," providing benefits such as tracking sensitive data, implementing
access policies, and simplifying Snowflake governance
Whenever a column is tagged with the tag associated with a masking policy, the policy is
automatically applied to that particular column. The masking policy will only get applied if
the column's datatype matches the datatype specified in the masking policy signature. If a
column has both a directly assigned masking policy and a tag-based masking policy, the
directly assigned policy takes precedence. Also, it is recommended to create a generic
masking policy for each data type supported by Snowflake, such as STRING, NUMBER,
and TIMESTAMP; this policy should specify how authorized roles can see the raw data
while unauthorized roles can see a fixed masked value. This simplifies the initial process of
column data protection.
The classification process involves three main steps: analyze, review, and apply. The first
step, analyze, involves calling the EXTRACT_SEMANTIC_CATEGORIES function to
analyze the columns and output possible categories and associated probabilities. The second
step, 'review,' involves validating the results, while the third step, 'apply,' involves
assigning system tags to columns containing personal or sensitive data.
Check out the official Snowflake documentation , to learn more about the data
classification.
6) Object dependencies
Object Dependencies is a built-in Snowflake governance feature that allows users to identify
dependencies among Snowflake objects.
Object Dependencies enables users to view and track these dependencies between
Snowflake objects, which is particularly useful for impact analysis, data integrity assurance,
and compliance purposes.
7) Access History
Access History feature in Snowflake is also only available in the Enterprise
edition or higher. Access History is a built-in Snowflake governance feature that provides a
record of all user activity related to data access and modification within a Snowflake
account. Essentially, it tracks user queries that read column data and SQL statements that
write data (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE). The Access History feature is particularly useful
for regulatory compliance auditing and also provides insights into frequently accessed tables
and columns.
Check out the official Snowflake documentation , to learn more about Access
History.
TLDR; Access history features help users easily maintain a detailed record of all data access
and modification events within their Snowflake accounts.
Snowflake offers a range of built-in governance features that can be used to ensure that data
is properly classified, secured, and audited. These features include object tagging, dynamic
data masking, row access policies, and object dependencies. It is crucial to understand and
use these features effectively to ensure that data is appropriately governed.
Data policies and procedures are essential for ensuring data is managed and governed
effectively. These policies and procedures should cover various areas such as data quality,
data privacy, data security, data retention, and data access. The policies and procedures
should be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that they remain relevant and effective.
Stakeholders
Data stewards
Data managers
Data custodians
Compliance officers
Data Architects
Information Security Officers
Data Quality Analysts
So, by forming a Snowflake governance team with these key roles, businesses/organizations
can ensure that their Snowflake data governance program is effective and aligned with the
needs of the business.
A data governance framework should be developed to ensure that data is managed and
governed in a consistent and structured manner. The framework should include policies,
procedures, guidelines, and standards used to manage and govern data across the
organization. The framework should also include roles and responsibilities for data
governance and a process for managing data governance issues and escalations.
Security measures are essential for protecting data from unauthorized access or breaches.
Organizations/businesses should implement various security measures such as access
controls, encryption, data masking, and more! It is also crucial to establish a security
monitoring and incident response process to ensure that any security incidents are detected
and responded to in a timely manner.
6) Maintain Data Quality standards
Maintaining data quality standards is important for ensuring that data is accurate, consistent
and reliable. Organizations should establish data quality standards and implement processes
to monitor and maintain data quality. This includes processes for data validation, data
cleansing and data enrichment.
Automation and monitoring tools can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
governance processes. For example, automated processes can be used to apply data
classification tags to objects based on specific criteria or to enforce row-level access
policies whereas Monitoring tools can be used to track access to data, detect security
incidents, and monitor data quality.
1) Collibra
Collibra's mission is to help businesses secure their data, ensure appropriate governance and
utilization, and eliminate potential fines and risks associated with noncompliance with
regulatory requirements. So, by integrating Collibra with Snowflake , enterprises can
effectively manage their data assets within Snowflake by leveraging Collibra's governance
capabilities. This combination enables data democratization and enterprise-wide
collaboration, while also enabling businesses to easily discover and scale access to reliable
data. The unique features and complementary capabilities of both platforms empower
businesses to increase data usage, collaboration, and ultimately deliver faster insights and
innovation, all while ensuring proper governance of their data within Snowflake.
Collibra (Source: collibra.com)
Collibra offers six key functional areas to aid in data governance:
Collibra Data Quality & Observability : Monitors data quality and pipeline reliability to aid
in remedying anomalies.
Collibra Data Catalog : A single solution for finding and understanding data from various
sources.
Data Governance : A location for finding, understanding, and creating a shared language
around data for all individuals within an organization.
Data Lineage : Automatically maps relationships between systems, applications, and reports
to provide a comprehensive view of data across the enterprise.
Collibra Protect : Allows for the discovery, definition, and protection of data from a unified
platform.
Data Privacy: Centralizes, automates, and guides workflows to encourage collaboration and
address global regulatory requirements for data privacy.
2) Alation
Utilizing query log ingestion, Alation analyzes queries to pinpoint the most frequently
accessed data and its primary users. This information forms the foundation of the catalog,
which allows users to collaborate and contextualize the data. With the catalog established,
data analysts and scientists can swiftly locate, scrutinize, validate, and repurpose data,
enhancing their productivity.
However, Alation's capabilities extend beyond a mere data catalog solution. It also serves as
a data governance platform, enabling analytics teams to effectively manage and enforce
policies for data consumers. Through Alation's comprehensive metadata management,
organizations can establish and enforce policies, monitor usage, and maintain compliance
with data privacy regulations. Its adaptable workflows and dashboards empower governance
teams to effortlessly create, modify, and disseminate policies, ensuring responsible data
usage across the enterprise.
Alation is an optimal solution for Snowflake data governance, as it centralizes data, fosters
collaboration, and enforces adherence to data access and usage policies. This leads to
heightened productivity and innovation, making Alation an invaluable resource for
organizations seeking efficient Snowflake data governance.
Alation
(Source: Alation)
Key benefits of using Alation:
Alation Data Catalog : Improves the efficiency of analysts and the accuracy of analytics,
empowering all members of an organization to find, understand, and govern data efficiently.
Alation Connectors : A wide range of native data sources that speed up the process of
gaining insights and enable data intelligence throughout the enterprise. (Additional data
sources can also be connected with the Open Connector Framework SDK.)
Alation Platform : An open and intelligent solution for various metadata management
applications, including search and discovery, data governance, and digital transformation.
Alation Data Governance App : Simplifies secure access to the best data in hybrid and multi-
cloud environments.
Alation Cloud Service : Offers businesses and organizations the option to manage their data
catalog on their own or have it managed for them in the cloud.
Conclusion
Snowflake data governance is essential for ensuring data quality, security, and accuracy.
Snowflake provides a comprehensive set of features to help businesses implement data
governance, but these features must be combined with an effective strategy. In this article,
we defined Snowflake data governance, discussed best practices for implementation, and
provided an overview of the built-in and third-party tools available to support Snowflake
data governance.
You can think of Snowflake Governance as a fence protecting your data garden from any
trespassers. Use it to your full advantage to create reliable data security measures and data
access controls, safeguarding the privacy of your sensitive data stored in Snowflake.
FAQs
Snowflake data governance refers to the policies, procedures, and practices implemented to
manage and control data stored on the Snowflake Platform. It ensures data integrity,
security, and management.
Advantage of data governance strategy include improved data reliability, compliance with
regulations, enhanced data security, increased data efficiency and productivity, and better
decision-making based on accurate data.
What are some best practices for implementing Snowflake data governance?
Snowflake can be integrated with a range of security and governance tools, such as Collibra,
Alation, and others.