"Data governance without a concrete operational framework remains an aspiration. The dictionary, lineage, committees, and roles are not technical tools — they are human coordination mechanisms in service of decision-making."
Complete operational framework: Data Owners, Data Stewards, DPO, committee structure, data dictionary, lineage, quality, federated / centralized / domain models.
CDO, Data Owners, Data Stewards, DPO, domain leads, data project managers, CIO, data quality teams.
Cigref/IFACI/ISACA BP2 & BP4 2026, DAMA-DMBOK, Collibra/Data Galaxy (tools), Data Mesh (Zhamak Dehghani), DCAM (EDMC).
1 day (7h) — 3 learning sessions + 1 RACI workshop + 1 organizational model workshop.
The data governance framework is built on clearly defined roles, distinct from traditional IT functions. Each role has a well-delineated scope of responsibility — and a specific position within the data decision chain.
| Role | Reporting line | Key responsibilities | Distinguish from... |
|---|---|---|---|
| CDO | Executive Committee | Data strategy, governance policy, arbitration, Board reporting, roadmap | CTO (architecture) / CIO (IT operations) |
| Data Owner | Business unit leadership | Accountable for a data domain (e.g., customer, contract, product). Defines usage rules, validates quality, appoints Stewards. Remains accountable even when data resides in a third-party system. | Project Manager (ad-hoc project) / CIO (technical) |
| Data Steward | Data Owner (functional) | Operationalizes Data Owner decisions: maintains the dictionary, runs quality checks, remediates anomalies, engages domain users. | Data Engineer (build) / Analyst (usage) |
| DPO | CEO (independent) | GDPR compliance: processing register, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA), data subject requests, interface with regulators. Participates in data committees on sensitive matters. | CISO (security) / Legal Counsel (contracts) |
| Data Quality Manager | CDO or CIO Data | Defines quality criteria and KPIs, manages the control framework, chairs quality committees, coordinates remediation plans between Stewards and IT teams. | Data Steward (domain) / Data Engineer (technical) |
| Data Architect / Engineer | CIO Data | Data platform architecture, modeling, technical lineage, implementation of governance tooling (data catalog, data quality, MDM). Technical counterpart for Stewards. | Data Owner (decision) / Data Steward (business) |
The data dictionary must be shared and understood by both business and IT, with clear identification of Data Owners. It is not a technical document: it is a contract between business and IT on the meaning and accountability for each data element.
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