Data and Information Inventory and Attributes - Ownership and Stakeholder attributes for the Data and Information Inventory
Data and Information Inventory and Attributes
Chapter 11. Ownership and Stakeholder attributes for the Data and Information Inventory
Executive Summary: Chapter Overview
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Core Concepts
| Concept | Definition & Strategic Role |
|---|---|
| Owner | The Owner holds strategic accountability for the data type’s definition, quality expectations, use, and governance obligations. Clear ownership prevents unmanaged content from becoming everyone’s and no one’s responsibility. |
| Data Steward | The Data Steward manages operational quality, definition maintenance, and day-to-day governance coordination. This role translates executive accountability into recurring stewardship practices. |
| Custodian | The Custodian is responsible for the technical environment or platform that stores or processes the data type. Distinguishing custody from ownership prevents technical teams from inheriting business governance accountability by default. |
Quick Q&A
Question: Why does this chapter distinguish owners, stewards, and custodians?
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Ownership and Stakeholder attributes establish the governance accountabilities for each Data and Information type — who owns it, who stewards it, and which system is the authoritative source.
| Attribute Name | Maturity | Description and Notes |
| Owner | Crawl | Description — The named business role or individual accountable for the accuracy, completeness, definition, and appropriate use of this Data and Information type. The Owner sets the governance rules and resolves disputes about what the correct value is. Benefit(s) — Establishes the organizational accountability that makes data governance enforceable rather than advisory. Without a named Owner, data quality issues have no escalation path and definition conflicts have no resolution authority. Source — Manual. Examples — Chief Financial Officer (Financial data types), VP of Customer Success (Customer data types), Chief HR Officer (Employee data types) |
| Steward | Walk | Description — The operational role responsible for day-to-day data quality management, definition maintenance, lineage tracking, and governance process execution for this Data and Information type. The Steward implements what the Owner governs. Benefit(s) — Provides the operational accountability complement to the Owner’s strategic accountability. The Owner sets the rules; the Steward enforces them. Data governance without a named Steward typically means governance decisions exist on paper but are not operationally implemented. Source — Manual. Examples — Finance Data Steward, Customer Data Manager, HR Data Quality Analyst |
| Authoritative Source | Crawl | Description — The single system or organizational unit recognized as the master source of truth for this Data and Information type — the origin from which all other copies are derived or synchronized. When the value in the Authoritative Source conflicts with a copy elsewhere, the Authoritative Source value is correct by governance definition. Benefit(s) — The most important organizational governance attribute in this inventory. Without a governed Authoritative Source, every data governance conversation devolves into a debate about whose copy is correct. Designating the Authoritative Source does not mean other systems cannot hold copies — it means one source is canonical and all others are derived. Source — Manual. Examples — Salesforce CRM (Customer Profile), SAP S/4HANA (Supplier Invoice), Workday (Employee Record), Enterprise Data Warehouse (Sales Analytics) Notes — Distinct from Source of Truth Store (see Relationship Attributes) — Authoritative Source identifies the organizational system or unit accountable for the data; Source of Truth Store identifies the specific physical data store where the master copy lives. |
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