Data Governance Job Descriptions - Data Steward
In metadata, a data steward is a person that is responsible for maintaining a data element in a metadata registry. A data steward is a broad job role that incorporates processes, policies, guidelines and responsibilities for administering organizations' entire data in compliance with business and/or regulatory obligations. A data steward’s responsibility stems from an understanding of the business domain and the interaction of business processes with data entities/elements. A data steward ensures that there are documented procedures and guidelines for data access and use.
A data steward may share some responsibilities with a data custodian, and work with database/warehouse administrators and other related staff to plan and execute an enterprise-wide data governance, control and compliance policy.
Data stewardship roles are common when organizations are attempting to exchange data precisely and consistently between computer systems and reuse data-related resources. Master Data Management often makes references to the need for data stewardship for its implementation to succeed.
Data Steward Responsibilities
A data steward ensures that each assigned data element:
- Has clear and unambiguous data element definition
- Does not conflict with other data elements in the metadata registry (removes duplicates, overlap etc)
- Has clear enumerated value definitions if it is of type Code
- Is still being used (remove unused data elements)
- Is being used consistently in various computer systems
- Has adequate documentation on appropriate usage and notes
- Documents the origin and sources of authority on each metadata element
- Is protected against unauthorized access or change