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126 CHAPTER 11 Governing framework design

KEY CONCEPT
A moment for stewardship
We are not talking about a portion of a Protestant church servicedwe are talking about the definition of
stewardship in the context of data governance. The term “stewardship” has been overused, and we look at it as
more of a function than an individual role. The entire DG framework is essentially the vessel for data stewardship.
Rather than focusing on assigning a body to a title, focus on defining accountability and responsibility.

This activity takes the functional framework and refines the various layers required to do gover-
nance. Then the responsibility and accountability can be identified. The federation (if required) of DG
is also determined and specified. After that, the process of approval and socialization of the new
framework for governance can start.
At the core of this activity is the final arrangement and definition of the layers of governance. The
prior activity developed a preliminary view, but we need to declare an official version. Again, there is
not a single formula, and successful DG requires an understanding of why this is the case.
• Stewardship is multidimensional. A common error is to declare an individual as the steward of a
subject or content area (e.g., “Bob in marketing is now the czar for customer data”). However,
stewardship is not an individual role. The context and manner in which data is used will make
a huge difference in the required style and intensity of stewardship. Figure 11-1 illustrates how
asingle subjectdin this casedcould easily have two or more parties officially accountable for

FIGURE 11-1
Example of Stewardship as Multidimensional.