Data and Information Inventory and Attributes

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)

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

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.