What is the role of a data steward and why is it important in today's data environment?

Maria Villar: The role of the 'data steward' is to lead the data program for their data domain, and to represent the enterprise requirements and outcomes, not just one function or team. I prefer to call this role a 'data leader' vs steward, especially to sell its importance to the business stakeholders. The role requires leadership, communication, and subject matter expertise. They may or may not have a direct team, but they will still need to lead the program activities for their respective domain.

An important role is also to lead the process to identify and prioritize the data that matters most in driving business outcomes. This is even more important today because of the vast amount of data being created and user’s demands. Not all data is the same and requires the same level of capabilities. Leading the decision making process and then subsequently the organizational change management for their data, is more important than ever—especially the post COVID 19 demands for real time analytics and process automation.

Dave Wells: Data stewards fill so many important roles in data and information management that it is hard to list all of them. They participate in data strategy, policy management, data privacy and protection, managing data quality, and data definition and metadata quality. I think one of the really big emerging roles is as data coaches and builders of data literacy. Today data stewards are at the center of collaboration, coordination, and communication among data consumers, data governors, and data management staff.

What are the current trends driving the need for data stewardship?

DW: There are so many things going on in the world of data today that managing data without stewardship is at least impractical if not impossible. The first thing that comes to mind for me is data privacy. It’s in the news and it’s a regulatory compliance challenge — GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations. Add to that the growth in users and uses of data — everything from self-service with tools like Tableau and Power BI to artificial intelligence and machine learning with far-reaching implications and managing appropriate use of data becomes imperative. Stewards are critical because it works better to achieve appropriate use through education and understanding than through policy enforcement. Now add in the rapid explosion in volume and variety of data and simply knowing what you have becomes a challenge. Data catalogs are the technical response but cataloging doesn’t work without people — curators and stewards — to manage completeness and quality of metadata in the catalog. So to sum up a long answer, I think the trends are more regulations, more data, more users, and more uses of data.

How do you see the field continuing to grow in upcoming years?

MV: I agree with Dave, that the field will continue to grow in importance. Adding data ethics to the ever growing list of data risks will also require data leaders/stewards to expand their scope and also their partnership with their privacy, legal and security teams. I also hope to see technologies, like artificial intelligence and machine learning be applied to the data steward tasks, making them easier to perform. One of the reasons organizations struggle with the business data steward role is that the job requires expertise, time and effort. If AI/ML can be leveraged to automate and simplify their responsibilities, they can spend their time on more strategic data activities.

DW: I’m glad you brought up data ethics. It is such an important topic and there are so many organizations that struggle with it or simply ignore it. Ethics is a difficult subject but one that must be addressed. The starting place is simply to create awareness through open discussions about data ethics. I think data stewards are in a unique position to lead the charge there. The point about AI/ML is also a good one. We’re beginning to see some progress in that direction with AI/ML capabilities in some of the smart data catalogs and data preparation tools. But we’ve just scratched the surface. There is still lots of opportunity for growth there.

What is the value of data stewardship education and what does certification in data stewardship signify?

DW: I have believed for years, and often said when speaking and teaching, that too many organizations set their data stewards up to struggle or fail. They designate data stewards and give them responsibilities without also setting expectations for the role and giving stewards the tools to do the job. And I believe that the most essential tool for a data steward is knowledge. With a broad scope of responsibilities a data steward needs to know about metadata management, policy management, data quality management, data curating and cataloging, data architecture, data management, business processes, facilitation, consensus building, issues management, and lots more. What I’m saying is that the scope of knowledge for data stewardship is exceptionally broad and the person who has all of the right knowledge is extremely rare. To position a data steward to succeed you need to give them the opportunity to learn and expand their knowledge. That’s the value of education. Becoming a Certified Data Steward says that you made the commitment, invested the time and effort, acquired the necessary knowledge, and are well qualified to take on data stewardship responsibilities.

Updated CDS Program

We've updated our Certified Data Steward Program to keep pace with the needs of this important and growing field. Our Data Stewardship Body of Knowledge, on which these programs are based, has been updated to cover machine learning, data science, big data, data integration processes and methods, data ethics, data literacy, modernizing data governance, and more.

Our CDS Package is the most time- and cost-effective way to earn CDS designation. It includes four CDS courses, covering the credits you need to earn CDS.

Our CDS Ex Package covers the entire Data Stewardship Body of Knowledge in 7 courses. Upon completion of this program, you will know everything a data steward needs to know and earn a CDS Ex designation.

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