Paul Jones: Data, Strategy, Innovation

In Part 4 , I explained why data ownership is still needed and how Data Owners depend on the other roles to be really effective in fulfilling their obligations.  In this final part, I explain what Data Custodians and Data Stewards are; and wrap-up with a few suggested next steps. Please read my Disclaimer by clicking here. No data governance series would be complete without mentioning Data Custodians and Data Stewards.  To round this series off, here's a very brief explanation of these roles, linked back to some of the concepts that have been introduced in previous posts. Data Custodians – looking after the containers of data I tend to think of Data Custodians as anyone who looks after a "container" of data but doesn't touch the data in it themselves (unless specifically instructed as a technical action, rather than as a day-to-day responsibility).  By "container", I mean anything that stores data, such as a system or network folder or filing cabine...

In Part 3 , I introduced the concepts of Process Owners, Data Producers and Data Consumers; and explained how all these roles build on the same basic foundations of data responsibilities.  In part 4, I explain why data ownership is still needed once these other roles are in place and how Data Owners depend on the other roles to be really effective in fulfilling their obligations. Please read my Disclaimer by clicking here. Why do you need data ownership, when you've established all these other responsibilities and things? Whilst everything I've explained in the past 3 posts is useful and important to manage data effectively, in most organisations, especially large ones, the problems encountered with data are not found at an individual system or process level.  Instead, they manifest themselves in inconsistencies across multiple systems; or in the misuse of data in scenarios that the data was not originally captured for.  For example, if the same data in three system...

In Part 2 , I explained how data responsibilities extrapolate up an organisation and then introduced the concept of a Business System Owner and how such a role could be used in a very powerful way.  In part 3, I explain how Process Owners, Data Producers and Data Consumers all work as part of a wider set of data roles and responsibilities; and also explain why formalised “data ownership” may still be needed, after all of these other roles and responsibilities are in place. Please read my Disclaimer by clicking here. Process Owners - for completeness... Given that I've touched on Business System Owners, I thought it was important to address the concept of "process ownership" too, especially for organisations that already have such a role in place.  Moreover, even if you only have the concept of localised process ownership, if you consider that a process has a set of inputs, which will include data inputs; that a process then performs a set of tasks, which almost alwa...

In Part 1 of this series of posts, I introduced the basics about data responsibilities, starting from the very bottom of an organisation.  In summary, I explained that anyone who captures or processes data is responsible for it while it is in their possession.  In this part, I work up the organisational hierarchy and explain how these basic responsibilities naturally extrapolate upwards. Please read my Disclaimer by clicking here. One level up If you run a team, you are responsible for the conduct and performance of the individuals in your team.  This is a universal truth in most organisations following a standard management structure. As such, a team leader is responsible for the data that their team captures and processes.  If the team doesn't capture data they are supposed to, or captures invalid, inaccurate data, or mishandles it resulting in security breaches due to the actions that they have taken, the team leader is responsible, just as the individual...

Whilst I know many people have written articles on the topic of data responsibilities, in this series of posts I will present a slightly different and simpler spin on how responsibilities for data work in most organisations, plus a few pointers for things companies can do to make data management roles even more effective. Please read my Disclaimer by clicking here. The wonderful truth: establishing who is responsible for data is easy! It's really common for organisations to struggle with concepts such as "data ownership", "data stewardship", "data custodianship" and the like.  When these ideas are introduced, they are often met with resistance, especially when they are communicated as something "new" that need to be done in addition to people's "day jobs". The great thing is, working out who is responsible for data is extremely simple and is based on the fundamental way that any organisation works.  "Data ownership...