Domain ownership enables you to assign and manage accountability for data domains within your organization. By designating owners at the domain level, you establish clear responsibility for data quality, definitions, and lifecycle management across your data landscape.
Understanding domain ownership
Understanding the following concepts helps you effectively manage domain ownership:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Domain | A logical grouping of related data assets that represents a stable business capability. Domains are the primary level at which ownership is assigned. |
| Child domain | A child domain within a domain hierarchy. Child domains inherit ownership from their parent domain but can also have locally assigned owners. |
| Domain owner | A user or group assigned responsibility for a domain. Owners can have different responsibilities such as Data Steward, Sponsor, or Procurement Specialist. |
| Ownership type | A classification that defines the role or responsibility of an owner (for example, Data Steward, Sponsor, or Procurement Specialist). Ownership types help distinguish different types of accountability within a domain. |
| Ownership inheritance | The automatic propagation of domain ownership to child domains and related assets. Child domains inherit owners from their parent domain unless overridden by local assignments. |
| Ownership propagation | The cascading of domain ownership down the domain hierarchy and to one asset type level (such as Business Terms or Applications). Ownership does not propagate beyond the first related asset type. |
Ownership propagation through hierarchies
Domain ownership propagates down the domain hierarchy and continues through one level of asset relationships:
- Domain to child domain: Ownership automatically flows from a parent domain to all child domains.
- Domain to related assets: Ownership propagates from a domain
to directly related assets that are linked through relationships.
- One level only: Ownership does not propagate beyond the first level of asset relationships.
- Example: If a domain owner is assigned to a Customer domain, the ownership propagates to directly related Business Terms such as "Customer ID" or "Customer Name." However, if those Business Terms are linked to Data Elements, the domain owner does not automatically own those Data Elements. This constraint ensures that ownership remains focused and prevents over-assignment to tangentially related assets.
This controlled propagation ensures that ownership remains meaningful and prevents over-assignment of owners to assets that are only tangentially related to a domain.
Ownership types
Ownership types enable you to assign multiple owners to a domain, each with a distinct role and responsibility. By using different ownership types, you ensure that different types of requests and issues are routed to the appropriate person or team.
Default ownership types available are:
- Data Owner
- Data Steward
- Technical Owner
- Subject Matter Expert (SME)