Operationalizing Critical Data Elements: A 2026 Field Guide for Practitioners in Finance

Most teams have policies on paper—but struggle to make governance real. The answer? Critical Data Elements (CDEs).

By transforming policy into measurable, repeatable workflows tied to business risk, you can focus your efforts where they matter, pass audits with confidence, and pave the way for AI-ready data.

In this whitepaper, you’ll learn how to:

• Prioritize and declassify CDEs using a simple, risk-based framework

• Stand up a hybrid operating model and a five-phase CDE workflow

• Link CDEs to lineage and data quality, and track progress with clear metrics and automation

Whether you’re piloting in one domain or scaling enterprise-wide, this field guide—grounded in Aware Super’s real-world lessons—shows how to move from policy to practice and sustain momentum.

Unlock audit readiness and AI value—download the whitepaper now.