Explain the difference between data ownership and data stewardship.

• A. Data owner is accountable for data asset (policy, decision rights), while data steward handles day-to-day data quality, usage, and metadata management.
• B. Data owner handles daily data quality; data steward sets policy.
• C. They are the same role.
• D. Data owner manages metadata only.

Answer: (A)

Data ownership vs data stewardship focuses on who is accountable for governance versus who handles day-to-day data management. The data owner is the person or business unit accountable for the data asset, deciding policy, data classifications, retention rules, access rights, and other governance decisions. This role holds the responsibility for the data’s value, risk, and compliance.

The data steward, on the other hand, takes those governance decisions and makes sure they work in practice. They handle ongoing data quality activities (accuracy, completeness, timeliness), manage metadata (definitions, lineage, data dictionaries), and oversee how data is used and accessed on a daily basis. In short, ownership defines the “what and why” of the data; stewardship handles the “how” of maintaining and using it.

So the best answer reflects ownership as policy and decision-right accountability, with stewardship managing day-to-day quality, usage, and metadata. The other options mix up or blur these roles or claim they are the same, which doesn’t align with how governance separates governance (ownership) from management (stewardship).