What is a Data Custodian?

A data custodian position is responsible for monitoring the archival, transfer, and transmission of information within an organisation to ensure compliance with all policies and procedures. Data custodians are responsible for maintaining databases and their contents.

Database administrators are another name for a data custodian. Data stewardship is an important role in information management and governance. To protect sensitive information, it is crucial that only authorised parties have access to it.

Although the two terms are commonly used interchangeably, the work of data stewards is distinct. Knowledgeable individuals, known as “data stewards,” are in charge of vetting information sources for reliability and establishing guidelines for how they should be used. However, data custodians are responsible for ensuring that the security rules and standards outlined by data stewards are met.

As data’s value has increased over the years, so has the need for careful administration. Data governance cannot be efficient or successful without clearly defining who does what. This will not only improve efficiency but will also encourage responsibility. One of the persons in charge of data governance is called a “data custodian.”

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What Functions Does a Data Custodian Play?

As a data custodian, you’d be responsible for things like:

Limit user access to sensitive information.

It is the responsibility of data custodians to restrict access to information to just those who need it. The usage of identity and access management (IAM) systems for authenticating users and regulating data access may be necessary for them to complete their roles successfully. Data stewardship includes the obligation to assign someone to oversee each and every dataset.

Maintain accurate records.

The data steward’s responsibility includes ensuring the reliability and consistency of information across the organisation. They will be expected to use industry-standard technical methods to validate and audit data for this assignment. One of a data custodian’s responsibilities is working with data stewards to address data quality concerns.

Storage management

The best data storage solution should be determined by those in charge of the data. In addition to the most recent version, they should have a history of all previous revisions of the data.

Data custodians have a responsibility to ensure the security of all stored information, both online and off.

Differentiating between work roles is vital to achieving adequate delegation and responsibility. Data custodians are commonly misunderstood, and their roles are often conflated with those of data stewards and data owners. What sets them apart is discussed in further depth below.

What Is the Difference Between a Data Custodian and the Data’s Owner?

If someone has physical access to data, they can assume they possess it. However, a data owner is someone who is responsible for the data and how it is collected, organised, used, and maintained. They typically serve in executive-level positions and report directly to upper management.

The Head of Marketing is an example of a data owner because of the authority and responsibility that comes with the role. By way of illustration, the Head of Marketing makes sure that data protection regulations are followed when gathering email addresses.

Data custodians, on the other hand, may work in IT and are responsible for protecting sensitive information against loss, misuse, or alteration.

Difference Between a Data Custodian and a Data Steward

A data steward is a job that is sometimes mistaken with data custodian. Data stewards are people in businesses whose job it is to make sure the data is accurate and usable for a certain purpose.

A data steward for email marketing might be a digital marketer who ensures the data is clean and organised. For example, they should confirm that all email addresses in the contact list are correct and legitimate.

The average salary for a data custodian iN $

According to ZipRecruiter, a data custodian makes roughly US$17,500–111,000 per year. In the United States, they earn $43,645 a year on average.

These values are quite similar to Glassdoor’s estimate, which is between US$22,000 and US$122,000 yearly.

Ultimately, the duty of a data custodian is to secure corporate data given to them by data stewards and data owners. Similar to a bank, they employ regular procedures for protecting both physical and digital assets.