"Everyone is responsible for data qualitydata qualityThe degree to which data is fit for purpose: accurate, complete, consistent, timely, valid and unique. Poor quality data undermines analytics, reporting and AI.View full definition →" is one of the most destructive phrases in data management. When everyone is responsible, no one is.
Effective data governancedata governanceData governance is the set of policies, roles, and processes that ensure data is accurate, secure, well-defined, and used responsibly across an organization.View full definition → requires clear, named accountability at three distinct levels, and most organizations confuse them, combine them, or skip them entirely.
Data Owner
The data owner is an executive or senior manager with business accountability for a data domain. They have budget authority, business accountability, and the organizational standing to enforce standards in their domain.
Key responsibilities:
The data owner is NOT a technical role. They are the business executive who stakes their reputation on data qualitydata qualityThe degree to which data is fit for purpose: accurate, complete, consistent, timely, valid and unique. Poor quality data undermines analytics, reporting and AI.View full definition → in their area. The VPVPA clear statement of the benefits your product delivers, the problems it solves and why customers should choose you over alternatives.View full definition → of Sales owns customer data. The CFO owns financial data. The CHRO owns people data.
Data StewardData StewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition →
The data stewarddata stewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition → is the CDO's frontline agent in each business domain. They are typically a senior individual contributor with deep knowledge of both the business processes and the data that supports them.
Key responsibilities:
The data stewarddata stewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition → is the person in the business who actually knows where the data comes from, what it means, and why it sometimes looks wrong. They are invaluable. Losing a data stewarddata stewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition → is a significant organizational risk, their knowledge rarely exists in documentation.
Data Custodian
The data custodian is typically an IT or engineering role. They manage the technical infrastructure that stores and processes data, databases, pipelines, storage systems. They implement the access controls defined by governance but don't set the policies.
Knowledge check
1. According to the lesson, who typically owns customer data in an organization?
2. Which statement best describes the Data Custodian role?
3. Why does the lesson call 'Everyone is responsible for data quality' a destructive phrase?
4. Select ALL correct responsibilities of the Data Owner according to the lesson.
Sélectionnez toutes les réponses correctes.
5. Select ALL statements that are true about the Data Steward role.
Sélectionnez toutes les réponses correctes.
Most organizations assign data ownership wrong. They either:
The right approach: assign ownership at the domain level, mapped to the organizational structure.
Identify your domains: What are the fundamental data categories that mapmapUsing software to automate repetitive marketing tasks and campaigns, enabling personalisation at scale across channels like email, web, and social.View full definition → to your business model? For a retailer: Customer, Product, Transaction, Supplier, Inventory, Pricing. For a bank: Customer, Account, Transaction, Risk, Counterparty.
Map domains to business owners: Each domain maps to the executive who has business accountability for it. There should be no ambiguity. If two executives claim ownership of the same domain, that's an escalation to the CDO and ultimately the CEO.
Define ownership accountability metrics: Data ownership isn't honorary. Owners are accountable for Data qualityData qualityThe degree to which data is fit for purpose: accurate, complete, consistent, timely, valid and unique. Poor quality data undermines analytics, reporting and AI.View full definition → scores in their domain, which feed into their performance metrics. In organizations that do this well, data qualitydata qualityThe degree to which data is fit for purpose: accurate, complete, consistent, timely, valid and unique. Poor quality data undermines analytics, reporting and AI.View full definition → is a KPIKPIKey Performance Indicator, a measurable value that shows how effectively you're achieving a specific objective, tracked over time against a target.View full definition → on the executive scorecard.
The most effective CDOs build a Data StewardData StewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition → network before they build any technology. Here's why: technology can be replaced. Institutional data knowledge embedded in human relationships cannot.
A well-functioning Data StewardData StewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition → network:
Organizations that skip the Data StewardData StewardA business-side owner responsible for the quality, consistency and appropriate use of data in their domain.View full definition → network and go straight to technology consistently fail at data governancedata governanceData governance is the set of policies, roles, and processes that ensure data is accurate, secure, well-defined, and used responsibly across an organization.View full definition →. The tools are empty without the human network that populates and maintains them.