Stewardship & Accountability
Data Stewardship is the accountability/responsibility associated with controlling and using data assets effectively. Stewardship often exists informally before a formal governance program; governance makes decision rights and responsibilities explicit.
Four stewardship activity clusters
- Core Metadata / business terms.
- Rules, standards and Data Quality rules.
- Data Quality issue management.
- Operational governance / adherence.
Role family
Chief Data Steward
Enterprise-level governance leader; may chair governance bodies, act as a virtual/distributed CDO or sponsor coordination depending on the model.
Executive Data Steward
Senior manager serving on a Data Governance Council.
Enterprise Data Steward
Oversight of a data domain across business functions.
Data Owner
Business person accountable for decisions about data within a domain.
This is the key business decision-accountability role.
Business Data Steward
Business SME accountable for/working on a subset of data. Works with stakeholders to define and control meaning, rules, glossary content and day-to-day stewardship.
Technical Data Steward
IT/Data Management professional operating within a technical Knowledge Area — e.g., DBA, integration, BI, Data Quality or Metadata.
Coordinating Data Steward
Leads/represents teams of business and technical stewards across groups and interfaces with higher-level stewardship.
The exam-critical three-way distinction
| Role | Deciding clue |
|---|---|
| Data Owner | Final business-domain decision accountability. |
| Business Data Steward | Business meaning/rules/definition and ongoing stewardship of a subset. |
| Technical Data Steward | Technical Knowledge Area expertise/implementation/support. |
Memory hook: Owner decides; Business Steward defines/controls meaning; Technical Steward implements/supports technically.
Scenario
A technical steward maintains access Metadata, a Business Steward explains the Customer definition, and the organization must decide whether a new use of Customer data is allowed within the domain.
Primary accountable role: Data Owner. The stewards provide expertise and implement/document the governed decision.
Responsibility, not title prestige
Chapter 3 warns implicitly through its role definitions that titles vary. Classify by what the person is accountable to do, not by which title sounds most senior.
Source anchors: Chapter 3 pp. 77–79.