Alternate Names for Data Steward

Alternate Names for Data Steward

Steward is a word that doesn't translate well into other languages.

Steward is a word that sometimes infers 'order taker' rather than 'decision maker'.

Alternatives:

Data Manager

Data Guardian

I also like manager, but manager usually means a manager of people. Some other words similar to steward are official, organizer, coordinator, custodian, or caretaker.

Do you need to use the term?  I don't use the term Data Steward unless that's something the client really wants.  It's not a full time job.  It's really just some activities someone is doing along with their other work.

Thanks, John and Merrill. It sounds like involving some HR folks in deciding terminology may be helpful. In the end, I think the work associated with a Data Steward needs to be recognized, in action, as part of another person's job and something that helps the organization when done well. It is not just where the finger points when some data is poor quality or there is a problem with the data. If that is happening in reality, I am not sure any alternate term for Data Steward would be helpful.

Michelle Knight

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I always involve HR.  If someone is doing additional tasks, those tasks need to be in their job description so they can be held accountable and be rewarded for the work they're doing.  My point though is that you're typically not a full-time Data Steward.  You get additional tasks added to what you're doing.  That's why I don't see the point in using that term.  We should all be good stewards of the data.  ("Steward" is already a real English word.)

Hi everyone!
I use Data Steward for manager-level, accountable for the overall data quality (for a domain, subject area or even for an entity or group of attributes), and Data Guardian for business analyst level, accountable for the data quality in systems, applications and analytics solutions.
Kind of arbitrary, but it worked so far!
Translation is an issue, so for spanish speakers:
• Data Steward = Dueño del Dato
• Data Guardian = Guardián del Dato

I'm curious where you landed on this question -

I have a small team of full time stewards, and I also wrestle with the titling.

Data Guardian is also a good one. How about Data Martial, Data organiser, Data Administrator, Data Custodian something like that