In order to ensure that appropriate data governance coverage exists over university data at NC State, data stewards are appointed by data trustees to oversee the data governance of large logical groupings of data based on the various types or functions of university operations. Data stewards are responsible and accountable for the confidentiality, integrity and availability of university data categories and elements within their assigned data domain or subject area.

Responsibilities

• Approving the use of software, applications and tools that use their assigned data categories and elements
• Classifying data within their data domain based on the degree of protection needed and in accordance with federal law, state law, contractual provisions and university policies, regulations, rules and standards 
• Reassessing data classification levels at least once every three years
• Verifying that data access request processes are in place and that Data Access Guidelines have been developed for the data for which they are responsible
• Developing data quality programming to promote and maintain trustworthy and reliable data within the data steward’s domain/sub-area
• Designating data managers as applicable to support the University Data Governance Program
• Participating in related audits as necessary
• As necessary, developing and administering additional data domain/sub-area specific data governance frameworks
• Participating as a full member of the Data Stewards Committee and subcommittees
• Approving system-to-system integrations and APIs involving data within the data steward’s domain
• Completing training and onboarding in processes related to data steward duties
• Serving as a point of contact and coordination for data governance related issues within the data steward’s domain/sub-area

The following responsibilities can either fall to the data steward or be delegated to applicable data managers.

• Approving access to protected data within the category, determining the degree of user access to data (create, read, write, delete) and periodically reviewing authorizations
• Defining or describing data and initiating requests to modify university data definitions under their respective oversight
• Implementing and enforcing data-related policies, regulations, rules, procedures and standards within the data category 
• Ensuring compliance with applicable external requirements that impact the data category
• Reviewing University Data Catalog documentation for enterprise analytics products (i.e. dashboards and reports) for the appropriateness of designated data access details and data classification for enterprise analytic products that use data from their data category 

Data Steward Backups

The data steward backups are individuals assigned by data stewards to assume their role’s authority and responsibility in cases when that data steward is unavailable due to employee leave, illness or unforeseen circumstances for time-sensitive decisions.