Job Description

DATA MANAGER/ DATA STEWARD

Data stewardship is a functional role in data management and governance, with responsibility for ensuring that data policies and standards turn into practice within the stewardxe2x80x99s domain. Data stewards assist the enterprise in leveraging domain data assets to full capacity.

Data stewards fill an ever-evolving role as expectations of enterprise data governance get more complex around the world. As the volume, velocity, and variety of data increasexe2x80x94so will the need for more of these data experts.

The data steward can wear multiple hats that serve a specific organizationxe2x80x99s needsxe2x80x94at times requiring multiple data stewards to cover multiple domains or business unites.

Theyxe2x80x99re often seen as the:

Go-to experts for the company with anything in the realm of data; responsible for assuring quality and trust in the data, creating standard definitions for the organization to follow, and maintaining a consistent use of data resources across the organization

Trusted resources who keeps the company adhering to changing data laws locally, regionally, and nationally to avoid penalties or fines

Advocates and thought leaders of data, educating employees and keeping a pulse on new best practices and technology

What do data stewards do?

Data stewards carry out six key responsibilities, that otherwise would be overlooked in a data governance program:

Define the data and identify assets within their own data domains. This ensures there isnxe2x80x99t conflict with other data elements.

Create processes and procedures along with access controls to monitor adherence. This includes establishing internal policies and standardsxe2x80x94and enforcing those policies.

Maintain quality of the data using customer feedback, concerns, questions; internally reporting metrics; evaluating and identifying issues; and coordinating and implementing corrections regularly.

Optimize workflows and communications.

Monitor data usage to assist teams, share best practice trends in data use, and provide insight into how and where teams can use data to help in day-to-day decision-making.

Ensure compliance and security of the data. Data stewards are responsible for protecting the dataxe2x80x94while providing information on potential risks and offering regulatory guidance.

Skills of the Data Manager * Business know-how skill set

Data Stewards are the subject matter experts of the business in terms of data. Data Stewards understand the data in an enterprise and especially in their own department often better than anyone else; But remember that Data Stewardship is not an IT function it is a business function. In order for data steward to be successful they need to have knowledge of the business. Thatxe2x80x99s why data stewardship roles are given to those with experience in that business line of work

Again, a successful data steward needs to have knowledge of the business and have a business acumen. They need to understand the business needs that inform how data should be stewarded and the business impacts that happen as a result of changes in data or as a result of not addressing data issues. Because of that the data steward should have the ability to talk data geek to the technical IT partners.

• Technical skill set

SQL and Teradata

The data steward is the go-to person for all types of end users for data usage and even data management, so they should be well-versed in the business uses of data, business terms, and the data elements related to them.

A data steward also has knowledge of the physical implementation of these business terms. They know where to find data elements within the computing infrastructure and how they relate to business concepts and other data elements. Yes, they do more than just talk data geek, they are usually the subject matter experts. So it helps to have at least a bit of know-how in data warehousing, data modeling, data profiling, and relational databases. Plus in our growing big data world, it helps to have an understanding of non-relational systems. And you know what? At least exposure to a primary programming language never hurts.

• Analysis skill set

When things go south, some of the data issues can be very detailed and complex. A good data steward will have the tenacity to tackle these issues and see them through to their conclusion, and that conclusion isnxe2x80x99t just about solving the issue, but also identifying and fixing the cause of the issue, whenever possible. For this itxe2x80x99s great to have at least some business and technical analysis skills.

• Interpersonal skill set

A data steward must be a good facilitator, communicator, negotiator, and enforcer. The data steward must always look at broader impacts even if they officially only represent one area. So this means that a data steward should be inquisitive in all things and diplomatic at the same time. The data steward also has the ability to communicate effectively with all levels of the organization to show the value of the data stewardship function and help evangelize the importance of data.

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