Defining data stewardship

Data stewardship is the practice of managing and protecting data to ensure it is accurate, secure, and accessible. It involves the development of policies and procedures to ensure data is properly managed and used in accordance with legal and ethical standards.

According to the Data Management Association (DAMA) (www.dama.org), one of the goals of data stewardship is that employees can have a mutual data conversation and make decisions without the need for someone to show them the path. The data governance committee in an organization can focus more on education and communication to spread data culture and knowledge among employees to have consensus and fruitful conversations about their data. Later on, we will also use the guidelines from the Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Council (www.edmcouncil.org) to illustrate the best practices of data stewardship and governance.

Let’s drill down to the key pillars of data stewardship and the key activities...