In my last blog posting, I talked about the Subject Area Data Stewardship Subcommittee and how it is the forum for collaboration and stewardship over a specific data subject area or domain. In this article, I will describe three key roles involved in Data Governance and Stewardship organizations which are critical for setting and maintaining a constant vision and standard practice.
The first role I will discuss is the Chief Data Steward. The Chief Data Steward serves as the chair for the Data Governance Board and the Data Stewardship Coordinating Committee and is the primary leader in Data Governance and Stewardship. The Chief Data Steward is typically at a director or VP level, ideally from a business unit, has high visibility across the enterprise (not just within his/her business unit), and is widely respected. The Chief Data Steward coordinates with the Executive Sponsor to ensure Data Governance and Stewardship are aligned with enterprise business strategy and goals in order to help prioritize Data Governance and Stewardship initiatives and to ensure that Data Governance benefits are realized. The position of Chief Data Steward is usually a part-time assignment, though making this a full time role can be beneficial.
The next role is that of the Data Governance Program Manager, who coordinates the day to day activities of Data Governance and Stewardship, such as planning meetings, ensuring DG decisions are communicated and acted on, coordinating Data Stewardship activities with Business Stewards, overseeing DG initiatives such as developing the Enterprise Data Model, MDM, Business Glossary development, etc. A Data Governance and Stewardship environment could easily call for the DG Program Manager to be a full time position.
Figure 1 – Example Data Governance and Stewardship Organizational Chart
