Data Roles and Responsibilities

Responsibility for BU’s strategic data falls to four data roles: Data Executive, Data Trustee, Data Steward, and Data Subject Expert.

Data Executive

The Data Executive is the executive or head of a University department that creates, maintains or processes authoritative source data that is relied upon by the campus community. The Data Executive provides strategic oversight of the subject data for which they are responsible. In cooperation with the appropriate Data Subject Expert(s), the Data Executive provides the guidelines by which policies and procedures can be developed for creation, access, use, and reporting or release of data.

Major responsibilities: 

  • Designate Data Trustees to ensure daily management of data access and use standards and procedures.
  • Provide strategic direction for use and access of subject data by which Data Trustees can create standards and procedures.
  • Approve access to data within their oversight, and/or delegate this responsibility to Data Trustee(s).
  • Work with Data Subject Expert(s) to define appropriate business use guidelines and role-based access definitions.
  • Define data that may be considered “public” and accessible without permissions via the BU Fact Book, website, and other official materials.
  • Provide annual review and communication of data use and access policies within their departments.
  • Ensure Data Trustee receives relevant training provided by IS&T Information Security, and understands the major responsibilities of the role.
  • Working with the Strategic Information Group and other appropriate governance committees, oversee and approve the establishment of data policies and procedures, including relevant university data policies.
  • As needed, and working with Data Subject Experts, define standards by which contact information can be shared with members of the BU community or external groups for surveys or other forms of contact.

Data Trustee

A Data Trustee is a senior university administrator with significant responsibility for a functional area utilizing a system/application serving as an authoritative source of data. The Data Trustee provides operational oversight, guiding the creation, standardization, and communication of the standards by which subject data under their purview can be accessed and appropriately used by the university community. Data Trustees are responsible for collaborating with overlapping data roles, including Data Subject Experts and Data Stewards, ensuring that data standards and policies meet legal and other compliance regulations.

Major responsibilities: 

  • Manage, protect, and ensure the integrity, accuracy, completeness, privacy and usefulness of data within their area.
  • Designate, train and oversee one or more Data Stewards to handle day-to-day responsibilities for defining, managing and protecting subject data.
  • Establish data standards and clearly define the range of acceptable values for the subject data.
  • Ensure that Data Stewards implement appropriate standards and procedures to keep the subject data secure, maximize data accuracy, and ensure that responsible staff are trained to maintain data quality based on data standards.
  • Assign an appropriate classification to subject data.
  • Monitor the integrity of subject data and ensure compliance with federal and state laws related to data governance.
  • Determine and communicate appropriate use of data and information in relation to Boston University policies and other legal and compliance regulations.
  • Oversee access to subject data either through role-based guidelines or ad hoc review of requests, following strategic guidelines determined by the Data Executive and Data Subject Expert(s).
  • Determine and publish the appropriate criteria for obtaining access to Subject Data, grant or deny access to the Subject Data and perform regular audits to ensure approvals for access to Subject Data remain valid and appropriate.
  • Serve as escalation point for issues related to data governance and ensure that corrective action is taken on data quality issues in their area.
  • Collaborate with other Data Trustees and the BU Data Governance Program to resolve issues related to standards and definitions for those data elements that cross domain(s).
  • Advise on, establish and oversee data retention policies, including publication of policies in the University’s official Data Retention Policy overview.

Data Steward

A Data Steward is an administrator tasked with establishing and promoting appropriate data practices with the data that they create, use and/or analyze. Data Stewards are responsible for day-to-day operations associated with data collection, maintenance, storage, security, access, and/or use. As such, Data Stewards provide knowledge and expertise around particular subject data, and have responsibility for ensuring completeness, accuracy, and integrity of use of that data.

Major Responsibilities include, as role appropriate:

Operational

  • Implement policies and procedures affecting day-to-day use of data and the system of record.
  • Provide training and establish compliance protocols for users.
  • Maintain catalog of data currently in use.

Data Quality

  • Establish and monitor data quality Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
  • Create and manage error, audit, or other monitoring reports.
  • Identify process or issues affecting data quality and implement corrective action.
  • Privacy, Security, and Risk Management
  • Oversee day-to-day access of data according to policies developed in cooperation with Data Trustee.
  • Maintain appropriate data retention policies
  • Provide expertise on applicable regulations and compliance requirements.
  • Policies and Procedures:
  • Assist in definition of policies and procedures for data access.
  • Monitor and report to Data Trustee any irregularities or vulnerabilities in integrity, availability, or appropriate use of data.
  • May be assigned responsibility for overseeing access and deprovisioning processes by Data Trustee

Data Subject Expert

The Data Subject Expert is an executive or head of a University office whose role impacts and is impacted by authoritative source data managed in systems of record within oversight of the Data Executive and Data Trustees. As such, the Data Subject Expert is responsible, in cooperation with the Data Executive, for creating guidelines for strategic use of the data within their area of expertise.

Major responsibilities: 

  • Work with Data Executive to define appropriate business use guidelines and role-based access definitions.
  • Define data that may be considered “public” and accessible without permissions via the BU Fact Book, website, and other official materials.
  • Provide strategic direction for use and access of subject data by which Data Trustees can create standards and procedures.
  • Working with the Strategic Information Group and other appropriate governance committees, oversee and approve the establishment of data policies and procedures, including relevant university data policies.