National Data Index Operational Excellence
Saudi Arabia · Guideline · Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA)
Our summary
This guideline defines a measurement framework for assessing operational excellence in data management across Saudi government entities. It establishes metrics across six domains - data sharing, open data, metadata, reference data, data quality, and data operations - using data collected from national platforms. Each entity receives a unified score from 0 to 5 based on weighted metrics that evaluate efficiency and effectiveness in data management practices.
Written by the Index in our own words. It is not legal advice; the official text is the authority.
Inside this policy
Every section of this policy in order. Our notes summarise each one in plain language and do not quote the official text, which is the authority.
Drafted by the Index An automated summary of the official text, not yet reviewed by a person.Reviewed Checked by a person against the official text.
15 sections
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1 Glossary
Defines abbreviations and acronyms used throughout the document, including key infrastructure and organizations such as the National Data Index, National Data Lake, and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority.
2 Introduction
The National Data Index framework by SDAIA measures government entities' progress in data-driven transformation across three components: Compliance, Maturity, and Operational Excellence. This document focuses on the Operational Excellence component, which evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of entities' data management operations using measurable metrics derived from national data platforms.
3 National Data Platforms
Describes seven mandatory technology platforms that government agencies must use for data management, governance, and sharing: the Government Service Bus for transactional data integration, National Data Lake for data preservation and processing, Collaborative Data Labs for analytics access, Data Marketplace for automated sharing, National Data Catalog for metadata inventory, Reference Data Platform for standardization, and Open Data Portal for public data publication.
4 Operational Excellence Calculation Approach
The Operational Excellence score is calculated by measuring multiple metrics across data management domains, normalizing their outputs to a unified scale from 0 to 5, and combining them using a weighted sum equation where metric weights reflect their importance and priority in the data management landscape.
5 Operational Excellence Metrics
2 sections
This section describes how operational excellence metrics are organized and which specific metrics apply under each domain of the national data management and personal data protection framework. It includes sections on metric organization and an enumeration of applicable metrics.
4.1 Metric Structure
Each metric contains standardized elements: a unique identifier, name, description with rationale, applicable NDMO domain, supporting platforms, calculation constituents, transformation process, magnitude, acceptable thresholds, scale level intervals, version history, and prerequisites.
4.2 List of Metrics
The Operational Excellence component includes metrics organized under six NDMO domains: Data Sharing and Interoperability, Open Data, Data Catalog and Metadata, Reference and Master Data Management, Data Quality, and Data Operations. Some domains are excluded due to their nature or lack of quantitative metadata.
4.2.1 Data Sharing and Interoperability (DSI)
4.2.2 Open Data (OD)
4.2.3 Data Catalog and Metadata (MCM)
4.2.4 Reference and Master Data Management (RMD)
4.2.5 Data Quality (DQ)
4.2.6 Data Operations (DO)
6 Measurement Approach
Government entities are assessed annually against these metrics, with metric weights adjusted each year based on factors including importance, metadata availability, and criticality to reflect changing priorities.
7 References
Cites the National Data Management Office's Data Management and Personal Data Protection Standards as the foundational framework underlying this Operational Excellence component.
Controls
What this policy requires, forbids, grants or penalises, one control at a time and in our own words. Each control links to the official text, which is the authority. This is not legal advice.
Drafted by the Index Drafted automatically from the official text, not yet reviewed by a person.Reviewed Checked by a person against the official text.
Themes covered 8 of 35
Choose a theme to see only its controls. About the themes
Risk and scope 0 of 4
- Risk classification, not covered
- Prohibited practices, not covered
- Risk management system, not covered
- Impact assessment, not covered
Data and privacy 1 of 4
- Data subject rights and consent, not covered
- Cross-border data transfer, not covered
- Copyright and training data, not covered
Transparency and records 3 of 4
- Labelling of synthetic content, not covered
Technical safeguards 2 of 4
- Human oversight, not covered
- Bias and non-discrimination, not covered
Assurance and lifecycle 1 of 4
- Conformity assessment and certification, not covered
- Registration and notification, not covered
- Incident and breach reporting, not covered
Rights and protected groups 0 of 4
- Automated decision-making rights, not covered
- Children and vulnerable groups, not covered
- Biometric identification and surveillance, not covered
- Whistleblowing, complaints and redress, not covered
Roles and organisation 1 of 6
- Supply chain and provider-deployer duties, not covered
- General purpose and foundation models, not covered
- Training and AI literacy, not covered
- Public sector use and procurement, not covered
- Innovation support and sandboxes, not covered
Enforcement and sectors 0 of 5
- Enforcement, penalties and regulators, not covered
- Sector rules: health, not covered
- Sector rules: finance and insurance, not covered
- Sector rules: employment, not covered
- Sector rules: education, not covered
The full list of controls could not be loaded, so only the first 29 are shown.
2 2 controls
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
SDAIA should develop a data-driven economy and increase data literacy across government entities for operational efficiency.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities should be measured regularly on Compliance, Maturity, and Operational Excellence components.
3 7 controls
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies must use the Government Service Bus to integrate and share standardized transactional data.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies must use the National Data Lake to preserve, process, cleanse and share national data securely.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies must use Collaborative Data Labs to enable employee access to data analytics and AI technologies.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies must use the Data Marketplace to enable automated cross-agency data sharing.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies must use the National Data Catalog to maintain an inventory of metadata and data policies.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies should use the Reference Data Platform to standardize and ensure accuracy of reference data.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government agencies should use the Open Data Portal to publish open data for public innovation and economic development.
4 1 control
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Entities' Operational Excellence is calculated by measuring multiple metrics across data management domains and combining them using a weighted sum.
4.1 1 control
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Metrics must contain standardized elements including a unique identifier, name, description with rationale, applicable domain, supporting platforms, calculation constituents, transformation process, magnitude, acceptable thresholds, scale level intervals, version history, and prerequisites.
4.2.1 3 controls
- ObligationApplies to: DeployerDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the percentage of attributes shared on the Government Service Bus that are not officially produced or delegated to the entity.
- ObligationApplies to: DeployerDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the percentage of their systems that are integrated with the National Data Lake against the total number requested.
- ObligationApplies to: DeployerDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the time taken to process data sharing requests from consumer entities, including approval or rejection decisions.
4.2.2 3 controls
- ObligationApplies to: DeployerDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the percentage of datasets published in the Open Data Platform against the total number required to be published.
- ObligationApplies to: DeployerDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the delay in refreshing published datasets in the Open Data Platform relative to the expected update frequency.
- ObligationApplies to: DeployerDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the average number of issues reported by end users on their published datasets in the Open Data Platform.
4.2.3 3 controls
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Entities should catalog their critical systems in the National Data Catalog by scanning and uploading complete technical metadata.
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Entities should document business attributes in the National Data Catalog and connect them to their corresponding technical data columns.
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Entities should record reporting assets such as key performance indicators and metrics in the National Data Catalog to make them discoverable for other users.
4.2.4 3 controls
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Entities should make standardized reference data tables available on the Government Service Bus to support other government organizations' business operations.
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Entities should publish newly requested reference data to the Government Service Bus within a target timeframe of 10 to 30 days depending on performance level.
- ObligationApplies to: AnyoneDrafted by the Index
Entities should address and resolve issues found in published reference data within an acceptable timeframe to maintain data quality across government systems.
4.2.5 2 controls
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure and calculate the average data quality index of their data shared on the Government Service Bus by applying data quality rules across various dimensions to all attributes.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure and calculate the average data quality index of their data integrated into the National Data Lake by applying data quality rules to critical attributes.
4.2.6 3 controls
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the delay in response time of their Government Service Bus APIs after subtracting platform latency, with a target of no more than 2 to 10 percent delay depending on performance level.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the responsiveness of their published Government Service Bus APIs by tracking the percentage of failed API calls against total API calls received from consumer applications.
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities should measure the responsiveness of their integration solution with the National Data Lake by tracking operational issues encountered.
6 1 control
- ObligationApplies to: Public authorityDrafted by the Index
Government entities will be assessed against the operational excellence metrics on an annual basis, with metric weights adjusted each year based on importance, metadata availability and criticality.
Change history
No changes recorded since we began monitoring this policy.