With our traditional quarterly Infographic, we take a look at the Data Steward and Data Manager roles. We highlight their key characteristics, similarities, and differences.
To ensure that an organization has reliable data and can get the most out of it, it is essential to give data the right attention. This requires different data roles. Terms such as data steward, data analyst, data scientist, and data manager are frequently mentioned, and these are just a few of the many job titles we encounter in the data domain. In this blog and infographic, I’ll guide you through the roles of data steward and data manager. What do these roles entail? They have many similarities, but what are the key differences between a data steward and a data manager?
What is a Data Steward?
Let’s start with the term data steward. Literally translated: data administrator (stewardship literally means stewardship). Managing data is important to avoid confusion within organizations about the accuracy of data. A data steward is involved in ensuring the quality and suitability of data usage, along with the security guidelines that apply. This makes them a bridge between the IT department and the business side of an organization. It’s a relatively new role and is sometimes confused with roles such as data scientist, data analyst, or business analyst.
A data steward is often compared to airline stewards. Just as a flight attendant ensures a smooth flight, a data steward ensures the proper flow of data.
Responsibilities of a Data Steward
That confusion is understandable, as there is some overlap in responsibilities. However, the role of data steward is somewhat different from the roles mentioned above. A data steward monitors data and ensures it is not corrupted, so it can be made available to the right person on request and be used to generate valuable insights.
A data steward is often compared to airline stewards. Just as a flight attendant ensures a smooth flight, a data steward ensures the proper flow of data. It’s essentially a tactical role, mainly focused on the short term and often highly specific.
Possible responsibilities of a data steward include:
- Investigating how an organization structures and stores data;
- Aligning definitions and policies;
- Communicating about data governance, vision, and goals.
Different Types of Data Stewards
The tasks mentioned above are just a small selection of a data steward’s responsibilities. In some organizations, distinctions are made between different types of data stewards. In practice, the following four types are commonly recognized: the business data steward, the technical data steward, the domain data steward, and the project data steward. The latter two typically have a broader, more overarching role in organizations and support the business and technical data stewards.
Data management is about maintaining, updating, managing, and securing data, with the goal of ensuring that an organization’s data is complete, reliable, and available in time for applications that rely on it.
What is a Data Manager?
Now let’s look at data management. Data can support effective business processes—provided the data is reliable. Data management is therefore about maintaining, updating, managing, and securing data, to ensure that an organization’s data is complete, reliable, and available on time for data-driven applications.
A data manager is responsible for an organization’s data management and ensures that data is used efficiently and effectively. In practice, data management is also referred to as enterprise data management (EDM) to indicate it involves managing company and organizational data. Data management is becoming increasingly important due to growing legal requirements for structured data governance—for example, the handling of personal data.
Responsibilities of a Data Manager
Now that we know that data management is the process or role that provides access to data, handles its storage, and oversees its governance, the next question is: what exactly does the job entail? After analyzing several data manager vacancies, we find that the role includes:
- Ensuring that the correct data and data quality are properly stored in designated systems;
- Implementing and designing process improvements;
- Providing actionable insights by analyzing and optimizing data;
- Setting up and maintaining the data platform.
A data manager focuses primarily on the data itself, while a data steward also focuses on definitions and data policies, thereby giving meaning to the data managed by the data manager.
Data Steward vs. Data Manager: Similarities and Differences
Looking at the two roles discussed in this blog, we see that both the data manager and data steward are involved in managing data.
Still, there are notable differences between the two. For instance, a data steward often plays a connecting role between IT and the business side. A data manager focuses mainly on the data itself, while a data steward also deals with definitions and policies, thereby giving meaning to the data the data manager handles. The roles differ in content, but both are essential for organizations working with large volumes of data.
Click this link for a PDF version of the Infographic.
Curious about the data steward and/or data manager job openings we post? Check them out here.
Sanne de Haas