Dataejere

Dataejere are individuals or roles responsible for data assets within an organization. They are accountable for governance, quality, privacy, security, and lifecycle management of the data they own. The concept is central to data governance, ensuring that data is properly defined, protected, and used in accordance with business objectives, legal requirements, and risk controls. A dataejer may exist at the level of a business unit, a data domain, or across the enterprise.

Dataejere are distinct from data stewards and data custodians. The dataejer sets policy, defines purpose, and approves access and sharing rules; data stewards handle day-to-day data quality activities and metadata; custodians manage the technical systems that store and process data. In practice, organizations designate dataejer roles by data domain, such as customer data or financial data, with clear reporting lines to governance committees.

Responsibilities include classifying data, establishing retention schedules, defining access controls, approving data sharing agreements, and ensuring compliance with applicable laws such as the GDPR. Dataejere coordinate with legal, security, and compliance teams, maintain up-to-date data catalogs, and oversee risk management related to their data assets.

Common challenges include unclear ownership, cross-organizational data sharing, and balancing data access with privacy. Best practices involve defining RACI for data ownership, documenting data lineage, providing training, and aligning data ownership with business objectives. Effective data governance hinges on clearly appointed dataejer with the authority to enforce policies.

Examples: a bank assigns a dataejer for customer data; a hospital designates a dataejer for patient records; a retailer assigns a dataejer for supplier and product data.