CDS Data Governance & Stewardship Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A data steward is asked to evaluate whether a dataset meets fitness-for-purpose criteria. Which dimension is LEAST relevant to this evaluation?
- Accuracy
- Completeness
- Storage cost per gigabyte (Correct answer)
- Timeliness
Correct answer: Storage cost per gigabyte
Storage cost is an infrastructure concern, not a data quality dimension used to assess fitness for a specific business purpose.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes 'data provenance' in a governance context?
- The legal jurisdiction governing data storage
- The documented history of data origin, movement, and transformation (Correct answer)
- The sensitivity classification assigned to a dataset
- The business glossary term linked to a data element
Correct answer: The documented history of data origin, movement, and transformation
Data provenance tracks where data originated and all transformations it underwent, supporting auditability and trust.
Question 3: A regulated financial institution must prove that its risk calculations use only approved, validated data. Which governance capability most directly supports this requirement?
- Data virtualization
- Master data management
- Data lineage tracking (Correct answer)
- Data lake architecture
Correct answer: Data lineage tracking
Data lineage tracking documents the source, movement, and transformation of data, enabling proof of approved data usage for regulators.
Question 4: The concept of 'data as an asset' implies which of the following governance obligations?
- Data must be encrypted at rest and in transit
- Data must be inventoried, valued, and managed throughout its lifecycle (Correct answer)
- Data must be replicated to a disaster recovery site
- Data must be shared freely across the organization
Correct answer: Data must be inventoried, valued, and managed throughout its lifecycle
Treating data as an asset requires formal inventory, valuation, and lifecycle management just like physical or financial assets.
Question 5: An organization notices that critical data elements have no assigned stewards and no documented business rules. This situation is best described as:
- Data sprawl
- Shadow IT
- Data governance debt (Correct answer)
- Metadata drift
Correct answer: Data governance debt
Data governance debt refers to the accumulated deficit of undocumented rules, unassigned ownership, and missing policies that must eventually be remediated.
Question 6: Which data governance concept ensures that a master record is maintained as the single authoritative version of a shared entity like Customer or Product?
- Reference data management
- Master data management (Correct answer)
- Canonical data modeling
- Data virtualization
Correct answer: Master data management
Master data management (MDM) creates and maintains a single trusted record for shared business entities across the enterprise.
Question 7: A data steward is reviewing a proposed data sharing agreement with an external partner. Which governance concern takes highest priority?
- The partner's cloud storage pricing
- Ensuring data use restrictions, privacy obligations, and security controls are contractually binding (Correct answer)
- Optimizing transfer bandwidth
- Aligning ETL schedules between organizations
Correct answer: Ensuring data use restrictions, privacy obligations, and security controls are contractually binding
Data sharing agreements must contractually enforce permissible use, privacy requirements, and security standards to protect the organization legally and ethically.
CDS Data Governance & Stewardship Principles 3
A data steward is asked to evaluate whether a dataset meets fitness-for-purpose criteria.
Which dimension is LEAST relevant to this evaluation?