Establish Effective Data Stewardship

Leverage your organization's business subject matter experts to drive impactful data use and handling.

Analyst perspective

Leverage your organization's business subject matter experts to drive impactful data use and handling.

Data stewards bring valuable expertise and knowledge about their business areas: priorities, business capabilities and processes, and challenges and opportunities with respect to data. Because this knowledge cannot be easily replicated, going outside your organization to hire a data steward is not the most effective route.

While it may seem difficult, organizing internally to harvest the already existing institutional knowledge of your business subject matter experts (SMEs) will give a better – and faster – return when setting up and formalizing data stewardship.

The role must be well defined and communicated. We cannot expect SMEs to wear a hat without understanding the expectations for their role. They must be set up for success – they must be empowered, recognized, and rewarded.

Crystal Singh
Director, Research and Advisory, Data and Analytics Practice
Info-Tech Research Group

Phase breakdown

Phase 1: Data Stewardship Value Proposition

• Define the value of data stewardship and data governance, their importance, and the relationship between them.
• Determine where data stewards fit in the bigger data governance operating structure. The data steward role will not be effective without the other data governance roles.
• Highlight the gains of effective data stewardship: e.g. data quality management, data definition, data sharing, and the ethical use and handling of data.

Phase breakdown

Phase 2: Data Steward Role Design

• Who makes a good data steward? Important knowledge and skills include subject area expertise, institutional knowledge, collaborative skills, interpersonal, and political skills, an understanding of your organization's culture, and the ability to build good partnerships across business functions and with data management.
• Seek out SMEs from within your organization. This may require you to mold and shape individuals to step up and into the role. An external hire will give capacity but will be more difficult (and time consuming) to ramp up.
• Consult internally in your organization. For example, consult and liaise with Human Resources (HR) to determine if job descriptions need to be updated, if there would be any impact to compensation, etc.
• Determine if this role needs to be a full-time role.
• Demystify the role. Clarify that this is not an IT role and therefore will not require IT skills.
• Leverage Info-Tech data governance patterns:
  • Data Stewardship in Action – Sample Data Quality Issue Resolution Process Template and Business Term and Data Definitions
  • Sample Data Steward (and Data Owner) to Data Domain Mapping

Phase breakdown

Phase 3: Strategies for Data Stewardship Success

• Establish a solid data governance foundation in your organization.
• Develop data stewardship onboarding: e.g. literacy and training, and frequently asked questions (FAQs).
• Gain support from data owners, the director general (DG) committee, data leadership, and executive leaders/champions.
• Set up rewards and recognition for the role.
• Establish a feedback loop/mechanism for data stewards so the stewardship program can be adjusted accordingly.
• Establish communication and create awareness of the role.

Establishing effective data stewardship

Leverage your organization's business SMEs to drive impactful data use and handling.

Unlock the value of data through people.

Data Steward Value Proposition
Clearly articulate the data stewardship value proposition. What's in it for the person, their line of business or mandate, and your organization as a whole.

Data Steward Role Design
Formally design and define the role of a data steward, including the functions and capabilities.

Strategies for Success
Set up your data stewards for success. Having a detailed role definition on paper is not enough. Ensure that you go the extra mile to deliver the relevant training, such as data stewardship onboarding and an awareness program.

Executive summary

Info-Tech Insight
Effective data governance requires a solid foundation. Data stewards provide the foundation for data governance. The time and effort to define this role properly will yield sound data governance return.

Phase 1: Data Stewardship Value Proposition

What is the VALUE of a DATA STEWARD?

Value of a Data Steward

Improved Data Quality Management

Clear and Consistent Data Definition

Increased Data Sharing and Collaboration

Ethical Handling of Data

Define the strategic value of data in your organization

Harness the value of data to power intelligent and transformative organizational performance.

Optimize the way you serve your stakeholders.

Respond to industry disruption.

Develop products and services to meet ever-evolving needs.

Manage operations and mitigate risk.

Data governance is an enabling framework of decision rights, responsibilities, and accountabilities for data assets across an organization.

Data governance is:

• Executed according to agreed-upon models that describe who can take what actions with what information, when, and using what methods (CIO.com, 2021).
• True business-IT collaboration that leads to increased consistency and confidence in data to support decision making

If done correctly, data governance is not:

• An annoying, finger-waving roadblock in the way of getting things done
• An inhibitor or impediment to using and sharing data

Data governance is about putting guard rails in place to better support the use and handling of your organization's data.

Is there a clear definition of data accountability and responsibility in your organization?