---
title: What Is GovFrame
description: >-
  GovFrame organizes data governance by company, connecting context, owners,
  sources, controls, and deliverables.
audiencia: People starting a data governance implementation
roles: >-
  User | Data Steward | Data Owner | Data Engineer | Administrator |
  Superadministrator
modulo: Cross-functional view of data governance
revision: '2026-10-19'
section: empezar
order: 10
sources:
  - CONTEXT.md
  - Modelodeobjetosyrelaciones.md
  - Módulosydependencias.md
  - 'Roles,capacidadesyalcance.md'
  - Cómoleerelmapaderelaciones.md
locale: en
---
# What Is GovFrame

GovFrame is a SaaS data governance platform for operating a common method across each company’s catalog. It brings together responsibilities, scope, business definitions, technical context, quality controls, data products and contracts, as well as tasks and requests. Its purpose is to enable an organization to answer, from a shared context, what information it has, what it means, who is responsible for it, where it is recorded, and what relationships exist with other governance objects.

The unit of work is the **company**. Its catalog, governance, connection, and configuration data are kept separate from those of other companies. The same person can belong to more than one company, but their role and scope are determined separately for each one. Normal operations require the company to be `active`; the only documented company states are `provisioning`, `active`, `suspended`, `disabled`, and `deprovisioned`.

## The taxonomy provides context

The taxonomy is the backbone of the catalog. It can be used in a standard structure, **Domain → Entity → Attribute**, or in an expanded structure that includes a **Subdomain** between Domain and Entity. The Domain defines a business and responsibility scope; the Attribute makes it possible to document the precise information element. The remaining objects are associated directly with one of these levels or inherit their context from an already recorded relationship.

For example, a quality rule belongs to an Attribute and inherits its Domain, Entity and, where applicable, Subdomain. A Technical Dictionary field materializes the link between that Attribute and a physical source. This distinction avoids inferring relationships from similar names: a relationship exists when it is documented, not merely because two objects share a Domain.

> **Synthetic example:** the “Hire date” attribute can be linked to a physical field, have a completeness rule, and be part of a contract. Each link contributes a different element: traceability, control, and a delivery commitment.

## From meaning to operations

GovFrame makes it possible to build a connected view without requiring everything to be done at once:

1. The taxonomy is defined, and owners and scope are assigned.
2. Terms, Entities, and Attributes are documented; technical context can also be recorded through Repositories and the Technical Dictionary.
3. Quality rules, assets, products, and contracts are associated where applicable.
4. Workflows, requests, tasks, approvals, KPIs, and policies help track operations and improve governance.

Modules are configured per company. A disabled module is no longer available for operations, and its procedures are rejected; disabling it does not automatically delete data that already existed. Therefore, the process should start with the enabled capabilities and their dependencies, rather than assuming that all areas are available.

## Responsibility, capability, and scope

Tenant roles—User, Data Steward, Data Owner, Data Engineer, and Administrator—describe different responsibilities. The Superadministrator belongs to a separate platform layer. No role replaces scope: a person may view permitted objects, but creating, editing, associating, or approving requires the necessary capability and authorization for the Domain, Subdomain, or Repository. Checks are applied during operations, not only in the interface.

This model allows the Owner and Steward to maintain meaning and decisions within their scope, while the Data Engineer manages Repositories, metadata, and synchronizations within their technical scope. The Administrator has global scope within the active company.

## What GovFrame does not assume

The platform does not turn Risks or Controls into independent catalogs. A control can be represented by a quality rule, policy or procedure, workflow, task, approval, classification, or certification, depending on the case. Nor does a Quality Rule by itself promise executable SQL: SQL can only be generated from valid associations to physical fields and a configured dialect; this documentation does not assume automatic execution.

Metadata synchronization can be configured as manual, daily, weekly, or monthly, and preserves versioned snapshots. The existence of this configuration does not confirm that effective automation or production jobs are enabled for a specific company.

## To learn more

- [Object model and relationships](/en/explicaciones/modelo-de-objetos-y-relaciones/)
- [How to read the relationship map](/en/guias/como-leer-mapa-de-relaciones/)
- [Roles, capabilities, and scope](/en/referencia/roles-capacidades-y-alcance/)
- [Modules and dependencies](/en/referencia/modulos-y-dependencias/)