DMC Data Governance and Standards 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is data governance in the context of data modeling?
- A software tool for automating database deployments
- The framework of policies, processes, roles, and standards that ensure data is managed consistently and responsibly (Correct answer)
- A method for encrypting sensitive columns
- A backup and recovery strategy
Correct answer: The framework of policies, processes, roles, and standards that ensure data is managed consistently and responsibly
Data governance establishes the policies, processes, accountability structures, and standards that define how data is created, stored, maintained, used, and retired across the organization.
Question 2: What is a data steward's primary responsibility?
- Writing SQL queries for data extraction
- Accountable for the quality, definition, and appropriate use of specific data elements within a business domain (Correct answer)
- Administering database server hardware
- Developing ETL pipelines
Correct answer: Accountable for the quality, definition, and appropriate use of specific data elements within a business domain
A data steward is the business owner accountable for defining, maintaining, and ensuring the quality and correct usage of specific data assets within their domain.
Question 3: What is the purpose of a data naming convention standard?
- To speed up query execution
- To ensure consistent, meaningful, and unambiguous naming of data elements across the organization (Correct answer)
- To restrict who can create new tables
- To compress data by using shorter names
Correct answer: To ensure consistent, meaningful, and unambiguous naming of data elements across the organization
Naming convention standards ensure that all data objects — tables, columns, entities — follow consistent patterns, reducing ambiguity and making models easier to understand and maintain.
Question 4: What does 'data lineage' document?
- The age of data records from creation to deletion
- The origin of data and how it flows and transforms through systems over time (Correct answer)
- The genealogy of database schema versions
- The list of users who accessed specific data
Correct answer: The origin of data and how it flows and transforms through systems over time
Data lineage tracks the complete journey of data from its source through every transformation and system it passes through to its final destination.
Question 5: Which DMC concept refers to a consistent definition of a business entity agreed upon across the enterprise?
- Master data (Correct answer)
- Operational data
- Transactional data
- Derived data
Correct answer: Master data
Master data represents the core business entities — customers, products, employees, locations — that are shared and used consistently across multiple business processes and systems.
Question 6: What is a data owner in a governance framework?
- The DBA who created the table
- A senior business executive accountable for the strategic use and protection of a data domain (Correct answer)
- The developer who wrote the ETL script
- The analyst who most frequently queries the data
Correct answer: A senior business executive accountable for the strategic use and protection of a data domain
A data owner is a senior business stakeholder with ultimate accountability for the strategic direction, access policies, and quality of a data domain.
What is data governance in the context of data modeling?