A data owner is a data management role with the authority to make decisions about business term definitions, policy, data quality, accessibility and retention requirements as they tie to the business needs

Data owners are members of business teams [1]. The data owner clearly knows who the business is, what the business wants and how it is organized. He or she understands that data quality is crucial to provide consistent and correct information to the end customers across different channels [2].

The data owner is the person that ‘owns’ the data [4] of a certain set of data [5]. A data owner has the authority to make decisions about business term definitions, policy, data quality, accessibility and retention requirements as they tie to the business needs [3]. The data owner must have the budget and resources to cleanse and fix data [1].

Main responsibilities of a data owner are: [4]

• Developing policies, protocols and guidelines in relation to the information asset, process and/or system.
• Approving the classification of information assets to ensure integrity.
• Ensuring data collections are adequately protected by implementing the relevant security controls.
• Approving significant changes to the data collection, process and or system.
• Delegating responsibilities for decisions and tasks to custodians/stewards.

[1] DAMA (2017). DAMA-DMBOK. Data Management Body of Knowledge. 2nd Edition. Technics PublicationsLlc. August 2017.

[2] Hoe stel je een data management team samen? (z.d.). Yellowground. Geraadpleegd op 1 juli 2022, van https://yellowground.eu/hoe-stel-je-een-data-management-team-samen/

[3] Firican, G. (z.d.). 5 main data roles found in data governance programs. LightsOnData. Geraadpleegd op 3 juli 2022, van https://www.lightsondata.com/5-main-data-roles-data-governance/

[4] Deeb, A. (2018, 13 juni). The roles and responsibilities for open data governance. Salsa Digital. Geraadpleegd op 4 juli 2022, van https://salsadigital.com.au/insights/the-roles-and-responsibilities-for-open-data-governance

[5] Askham, N. (2021b, augustus 13). What you need to know about Data Governance roles and responsibilities. LinedIn. Geraadpleegd op 4 juli 2022, van https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-you-need-know-data-governance-roles-nicola-askham/?trackingId=Le3x8dXmRxWhs7Ibw1LZig%3D%3D