Statements of Responsibility for Data Custodians

Definitions^[1]

• Data Custodian:The branch director^[2] who establishes province-wide policy, definitions, and rules for business information within their mandate, to enable the ministry to gain maximum value out of the information.
• Steward:A branch director who at the request of and on behalf of a Data Custodian, can be delegated technical decisions of how the data will be stored and retrieved (province-wide), or operational decisions of how systems processes will act on the data to maintain its technical integrity (province-wide). This would only happen if the Data Custodian does not have the appropriate operational resources available to provide the necessary functions.
• Application Custodian:The branch director who sponsors projects to develop information systems, and provides ongoing support for those systems, to enable staff to meet business needs.
• Data Resource Manager:A generic title for someone who is responsible for collecting and/or managing corporate data (to the standards set by the Data Custodian). The most senior manager in each office (district manager, regional executive director, or branch director) is ultimately accountable for ensuring corporate data collection and management is done properly (e.g. in the district) to enable effective business decisions.

Core Data Custodian Roles

Leadership

• A Data Custodian is a full partner in managing corporate information. Steering, direction setting, and decision-making in information management is within their mandate.
• A Data Custodian represents the ministry's business (i.e. policy); it is mandatory that the business be represented in information system development (e.g. data modelling, requirements definition, etc.). A Data Custodian is accountable for the advice they give and the decisions they make.
• A Data Custodian accepts responsibility for coordinating change management where they initiate the change.
• Where a Data Custodian does not have the appropriate operational resources available to provide the necessary technical functions, they may delegate decisions about how their information is stored and retrieved to a Steward. Such delegation should be completed through a shared agreement (note: business accountability cannot be delegated).

Data Standards

• A Data Custodian must identify or define the data and information needs that support the business within their mandate, including any requirements specified in legislation or regulations. The results must meet the entire ministry's needs, not just the Data Custodian's own program area needs.
• A Data Custodian must identify or define data collection procedures, standards, and compilation (algorithms used to make sense of data points), e.g. measurements, manuals, forms, etc. This does not include procedures and standards that deal with processing or storage of the information, e.g. software, tools, etc.
• A Data Custodian must rationalize gaps, overlaps, and issues that relate to data standards (see "Consultation").
• A Data Custodian may delegate day-to-day tasks or issues to a senior branch position (generically titled "Data Standards Manager"), but remains accountable for the business decisions and delivery.

Consultation

• A Data Custodian must consult widely (other Data Custodians, Application Custodians, business people including Operations representatives, possibly industry) with a corporate perspective and approach. Where there are irresolvable problems, normal escalation processes should be used, however, it is the Data Custodian's responsibility to ensure these business conflicts are eventually resolved.
• A Data Custodian allocates their resources, consults widely, and influences other program areas where necessary, to communicate and demonstrate throughout the ministry how the policies and definitions will meet the ministry's goals.

Assessing Compliance

• A Data Custodian is responsible for assessing the effectiveness of their standards - i.e. assessing whether the defined standards for data are meeting the ministry's business needs.
• A Data Custodian is responsible for defining quality assurance standards:
  1. quality assurance processes for data collectors to follow to assure themselves that their collected data meets the defined standards (Data Custodians develop these with Data Resource Managers)
  2. quality assurance processes for automated storage or information systems so application users can rely on built-in checks to catch simple entry errors (Data Custodians develop these with Application Custodians and/or Stewards)
• A Data Custodian is responsible for having knowledge of the state of collected data's integrity [within their mandate]. They therefore must be assessing the quality of data over time, and satisfying themselves of the degree to which data is being collected to their standards by the Data Resource Manager^[3].
• If a Data Custodian discovers an unacceptable lack of data quality, they must publish the problem (to protect people who would use the data from being misled), and initiate action to bring the problem to the attention of appropriate management.
• A Data Custodian must assure that the business processes designed by an Application Custodian for collection and reporting have maintained the integrity of the data, the data standards, and the application's support of the business area.

Business Training and Support

• A Data Custodian is responsible for communicating, training, documenting, and supporting any product or standard they produce.
• Clarification: an Application Custodian is responsible for communicating, training, documenting, and supporting any product they produce. Since using an application requires both knowledge of the business (Data Custodian) and how the application works (Application Custodian), there is a shared training and support role between the two. This shared role ensures the end client receives coordinated instructions that make sense.

Information and Reporting

• A Data Custodian is responsible for contributing to the business design of standard or routine report functions (a shared role with the Application Custodian), and for handling requests for customized business interpretations (e.g. information or reports). Where a Steward exists (handling agreed systems or database technical matters), the Data Custodian would normally negotiate delivery of the reporting function with the Steward.
• Generally, the client will produce their own reports from the data and reporting functions provided.

Footnotes

1. More information is available in Guide S35 - Management Guide to Custodianship
2. District Managers and Regional Executive Directors are not Data Custodians because they do not have the mandate to act in a province-wide context.
3. Data integrity is a corporate responsibility, with each player contributing by exercising their role. The Data Resource Manager is accountable for collecting and recording the data to standard such that the data has integrity. The Data Custodian is accountable for periodically making a reasonable assessment of the degree of data integrity.

(Signed)

1. understanding
2. job description