The University of Maryland, College Park recognizes the importance of university data as a resource of the institution and has implemented a structure which defines responsibilities for the stewardship of institutional data. Although campus units do not own the data, stewardship of data subsets are the responsibility of designated campus entities. The authorization and monitoring of data policy are responsibilities of the Data Policy Advisory Committee (DPAC).

Data stewardship structure

The UMD data stewardship structure is defined by five levels of roles within the institution:

Data owner

Role

The University of Maryland is the owner of all university data. No single person or unit within the institution owns university data.

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Data trustees and DPAC

Role

Data Trustees are designated University Executives who have overall responsibility for the collection and use of data subsets within their division. They comprise the membership of DPAC and attend regular meetings to decide data policy issues on behalf of the University.

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Data stewards

Role

Data Stewards are designated senior University officials. Data Stewards have responsibility for subsets of institutional data that are managed by their reporting units. Some data subsets may have more than one Data Steward, where more than one functional unit uses and collects the same information.

Responsibilities

1. Understand and implement applicable statutes, regulations, policies, and guidelines of the State of Maryland and the University System of Maryland.
2. Adhere to data standards developed by the ODA on such matters as data element naming conventions and standard abbreviations, and take steps to assure the integrity, accuracy, and completeness of data.
3. Identify the level and type of access accorded to each element of data within data subsets; e.g., public access, UM access, or limited UM access. They comply with University Guidelines and Procedures Governing the Inspection of Public Records, VI-5.00(A), 8/1/1990.
4. Establish protocols consistent with university policy which facilitate appropriate, lawful access to data elements and data subsets.
5. May recommend policies to DPAC for review and Acceptance.
6. Establish procedures and guidelines to protect and maintain the accuracy and integrity of data subsets.
7. Implement and maintain appropriate security over data.
8. Actively participate to resolve issues that emerge when more than one Data Steward claims responsibility for the same data elements and escalate to DPAC for further resolution as required. 

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Data managers

Role

Data Managers are UMD officials who have the responsibility to collect, maintain, define, disseminate, and manage a specific subset of data in their functional area. 

Responsibilities

1. Review and act on requests by university users and members of the public to access data subsets in accordance with University policy and protocols.
2. Implement and assure compliance with data access security standards through staff training.
3. Define data elements within a data subset in coordination with data administration as administered by IT and business stewards.
4. Train and assist in data interpretation, and develop relevant business and reporting rules.

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Data users

Role

A data user is any UMD employee or UMD student, or a member of the public who has lawful and appropriate access to a specific subset of data. All users must adhere to federal, state, and UMD laws, regulations and policies regarding access.

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Data subsets, managers, stewards, trustees, and DPAC

Data Subset names and content have been defined by the Data Managers and Data Stewards, and agreed upon by the Data Management Working Group.

The Division of IT maintains mailing list for Data Stewards, Data Managers, and Data Trustees, which are named data-stewards@umd.edu; data-managers@umd.edu; and data-trustees@umd.edu. These mailing lists are for internal use only.

Download the current list of data subsets, managers, stewards, and trustees in the Attachments section below. If you would like to receive notification of updates, subscribe to this Knowledge Base page using the link found in the upper right corner of the page.

To learn more about University of Maryland policies which are pertinent to the delivery of data, see Data Policies.

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