What Is a Data Steward?

Data stewards are data governance employees who collect and maintain data for their organization while protecting its data assets. They also participate in developing and implementing data assets. As such, they improve the quality and fitness of their organization’s data assets even if they are not responsible for the information.

They work with databases, analytics, and big data. While they may share responsibilities with data analysts, the two positions differ.

Read More about a Data Steward

These stewards come in various types and have several responsibilities. Despite that, having them around brings about many benefits. Learn more about them here.

What Are the Types of Data Stewards ?

There are three types based on the information they manage.

Domain: These stewards maintain data for specific domains that several departments in an organization work with. They include stewards who manage customer data.

Business: These stewards maintain all data relevant to a particular business operation. They include stewards who manage marketing data.

System: These stewards monitor the data in specific IT systems. Unlike the first two types, they focus on how data interacts with enterprise applications. The two above focus on human-to-data interactions. They include enterprise data warehouse architects.

What Are the Responsibilities of a Data Steward ?

The stewards have many responsibilities. As such, they should:

Know and document what types of data their organization possesses and their quality
Understand where their data assets are located and monitor their use
Ensure that their data remains of high quality, accessible, usable, safe, and trustworthy by quickly identifying quality-related issues
Enforce data policies, business rules, and initiatives regarding how their data can be used
Help their organization make the most of its business data to maintain their competitiveness
Ensure stakeholders, data owners, and business users adhere to a data-driven culture

For more on the steward’s responsibilities, watch this video.

What Are the Benefits of Having a Data Steward ?

Employing such stewards provides many benefits. First, they ensure your data remains accurate, consistent, and reliable to support decision-making and business operations.

Data stewardship also allows your organization to adhere to legal and regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of noncompliance and associated penalties. It also demonstrates your commitment to data accuracy, privacy, and security, thus building trust among your stakeholders.

You should also know that high-quality and well-governed data lets your leaders make informed and efficient decisions, driving business growth and innovation.

Lastly, the stewards identify and mitigate potential data-related risks, thus protecting your organization’s reputation and financial interests.

What Skills Should a Data Steward Have?

Here are some of the common skills such a steward should possess.

Data stewards work with company data and should implement the rules surrounding database usage in their departments. As such, they must understand database structures to construct or manipulate databases to produce analytics or reports. They also need to navigate databases and find data errors. In sum, they must consistently identify and fix corrupted or compromised data.
They often train fellow employees on the data protection procedures they create, so they must have excellent verbal and written communication skills. These competencies will also help them interact with colleagues to address database errors and prevent them from reoccurring.
They should also be familiar with the needs of each department to determine what data to collect to improve productivity and efficiency.
They must have problem-solving skills to detect the causes of data errors and find solutions to protect its integrity. This capability will help them create policies and processes to prevent issues during data collection and maintenance.

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As more organizations rely on data and the emphasis on data privacy and regulatory compliance increases, data stewards have become a must.

Key Takeaways

Data stewards are governance employees who collect and maintain data for their organization while protecting their data assets.
They come in three types, depending on the information they handle—domain, business, and system.
They ensure data accuracy, privacy, and security.
Ideal candidates should know about database management, maintenance, and training, among other skills.