105 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
105 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
**MD file:** `Data Owner.md`
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**Estimated reading time:** 8–10 minutes
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# Data Owner
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## Definition
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A **Data Owner** is the person or business role accountable for a data domain, dataset, or important business definition.
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The Data Owner has authority over meaning, acceptable use, access, quality expectations, retention, and important business rules.
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## Simple Mental Model
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> **The Data Owner decides what the data means and what should happen with it.**
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IT may host the system. Data Engineering may build the pipeline. An analyst may build the dashboard. None of them automatically owns the business meaning.
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## How It Works
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Example:
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```text
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Employee Data
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Business owner: HR
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IT: operates systems
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Data team: pipelines and reporting
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```
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Ownership is accountability, not technical administration.
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## Example
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Marketing and Product disagree on `Active User`.
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The data team should not silently choose the definition because it owns Power BI.
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A Data Owner should approve the business definition, which can then flow into [[Business Glossary]] and [[Semantic Layer]].
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## How It Fits Into the Bigger Picture
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```text
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[[Data Governance]]
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↓
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[[Data Owner]]
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Accountability / decision authority
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↓
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[[Data Steward]]
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Day-to-day quality and maintenance
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```
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## My Company / Real-World Context
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Potential ownership could look like:
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- Advertising Revenue → Finance / Advertising business leader
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- Employee Data → HR
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- Content Metadata → Programming / Content
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- Streaming Audience KPI → agreed business owner
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Your Data Governance team can facilitate and implement without owning every business concept.
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## CTO Perspective
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A common failure is confusing system ownership with data ownership.
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A useful question is:
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> **Who has the authority to make the final business decision about this data?**
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If nobody can answer, ownership is unclear.
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### Questions to Ask
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- Who is accountable for this data?
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- Who approves its business definition?
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- Who approves access?
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- Who establishes acceptable quality?
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- Is the owner a business role or merely the person who built the system?
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- Is ownership documented?
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## Meeting Scenario
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**Situation:** Marketing and Product ask your data team to decide the definition of Active User.
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**Possible response:**
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> "Data can quantify the options and explain the consequences, but this is ultimately a business-definition decision. We need an accountable owner who can approve the definition, after which we'll implement it consistently."
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## Key Takeaways
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- A Data Owner is accountable for business meaning and appropriate management.
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- Ownership is not the same as building or hosting the system.
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- Business departments should normally own business meaning.
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- [[Data Governance]] should make ownership explicit.
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## Related Concepts
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- [[Data Steward]]
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- [[Data Governance]]
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- [[Business Glossary]]
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- [[Metadata]]
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- [[Data Catalog]]
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- [[Semantic Layer]]
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- [[KPI]]
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