What is a data steward responsible for?

• A. Owning a data asset, ensuring data quality, policy adherence, and appropriate usage
• B. Setting pricing policies for data products
• C. Managing external communications about data policy
• D. Approving all data-related budgets

Answer: (A)

A data steward serves as the practical caretaker of a data asset. Their role centers on owning the asset in the sense of ensuring its quality, governance, and proper use. This means establishing and enforcing data quality standards (accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness), maintaining metadata and data definitions so users understand what the data represents, and tracking data lineage. They ensure policy adherence and guide how data can be accessed and used, balancing availability with privacy and security requirements. In short, they make sure the data is reliable, well-documented, and used in ways that align with organizational rules and regulatory needs, acting as the bridge between business users and IT for everyday data governance.

Other tasks described in the distractors—setting pricing policies for data products, managing external communications about data policy, or approving all data-related budgets—fall outside the steward role and are handled by data product management, communications/privacy/legal, and finance or governance leadership, respectively.