Data Roles and Responsibilities at Hamilton College
Data Roles and Responsibilities
Data Trustees are senior college officials and typically members of the senior staff or their designees at Hamilton College who have planning and policy level responsibility for the data within their functional areas and management responsibility for defined segments of institutional data.
Delegates authority to data governance team to make governance and standards decisions. Ensures participation of organizational personnel in data governance roles.
They are the individuals within the institution ultimately responsible for the data and stewards/custodians of their department.
Responsibilities:
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Assigning and overseeing Data Stewards.
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Overseeing the establishment of data policies in their areas.
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Determining legal and regulatory requirements for data in their areas.
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Promoting appropriate data use and data quality.
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Functional Areas
To learn more about who is the trustee for each functional area visit Functional Areas
Data Stewards are college officials, or their designees, at Hamilton College who have direct operational level responsibility for the management of one or more types of institutional data and serve on the Data Governance Subcommittee (DGS).
Stewards are subject-matter experts and the most knowledgeable authorities on data and program-specific database systems as well as the business processes that use the data.
Stewards are the individuals within the institution ultimately responsible for technical control of data assets, including security, scalability, configuration management, availability, accuracy, consistency, audit trail, backup and restore, technical standards, policies, and rule implementation.
Stewards are responsible for both determining appropriate levels of access and authorizing access to data and are accountable regarding risks to data and are responsible for conveying deficiencies in security controls to management.
Responsibilities:
- Ensure integrity of data entry, maintenance, and reporting.
- Establish and maintain business processes, procedures, and supporting documentation for data collection, storage, handling, and maintenance
- Improve accountability for data accuracy
- Attain a single point of truth for the data and minimize redundancy in the data collection
- Create, review, and approve data definitions and specifications
- Improve understanding of data and quality to reduce cost of work in relation to clean-up and analysis.
- Improve understanding and communication with regard to federal and state legislation impacting the data.
- Ensure the proper users and groups have access to tables, dashboards, and reports.
- Communicate new and changed data requirements; needs for data security; and criteria for archiving data to necessary individuals.
- Review data access requests and determine whether the use case and data viewer are appropriate.
- Responsible for decision-making regarding data that is specific to their division
- Identifies data definitions and requests that require broader input and brings them up to the Data Governance Subcommittee (DGS).
- Participate in discussions and decisions for all college data through membership in the Data Governance Subcommittee (DGS).
- Escalate issues, as necessary, to the Data Governance Subcommittee (DGS).
To learn more about who is the data steward for each functional area visit Functional Areas
Data Custodians are central or distributed areas or computer system administrators are responsible for the operation and management of systems and servers which collect, manage and provide access to institutional data such as technical control of data, including security, scalability, configuration management, availability, accuracy, consistency, audit trail, backup and restore, technical standards, policies, and rule implementation.
Responsibilities:
- Define the meaning and correct usage of data, specify data controls, content and metadata management related to a set of data assets.
- Manage, implement, and monitor technology systems to maintain, secure, and provide access to data, ensuring availability.
- Maintaining physical and system security and safeguards appropriate to the classification level of the data in their custody.
- Complying with applicable college computer security standards.
- Maintaining disaster recovery plans and facilities appropriate to business needs and having adequate time to maintain or restart operations in the event systems or facilities are impaired, inaccessible, or destroyed.
- Managing Data User access as prescribed and authorized by the appropriate trustee and/or steward.
- Support tools for reporting and data collection.
Stakeholders are employees of Hamilton College (e.g. Institutional Research, college offices, faculty, etc.), that require either student level or aggregate data sets to comply with requests from outside data requests from organizations such as:
- Legislators and other government Officials
- Research Institutions
- Higher Education Institutions
- Federal and State Agencies
- Media
- Special Interest Groups
- General Public
Data users and those who request data refer to college departments or individual members of the college community who have been authorized access to institutional data to carry out specific duties or roles assigned within the institution. This access is strictly for the purpose of conducting college-related business.
Responsibilities:
- Adhering to the policies and procedures set forth by the Functional Area Data Trustee/Data Steward.
- Adhering to Federal and State regulations, along with Hamilton College policies, procedures, and standards governing the use of institutional data.
- Utilizing institutional data solely for conducting Hamilton College business within the scope of employment.
- Enforcing safeguards provided by relevant Data Stewards for restricted data and limited access.
- Ensuring institutional data used for conducting college business is appropriate, accurate, and timely."
- Reporting any unauthorized access, data misuse, or data quality issues to the Information Security Office and the Functional Area Data Steward for remediation.
The Business Intelligence (BI) Architect is responsible for designing, developing, and overseeing an organization's data architecture and analytics infrastructure. This professional ensures that data systems align with business objectives, integrate efficiently, and provide actionable insights. They bridge the gap between technical implementation and business needs, driving data-driven decision-making across the organization.
The Data Engineer is responsible for building and maintaining the data pipeline infrastructure that enables efficient data collection, processing, and analysis. This role focuses on implementing technical solutions, ensuring data quality, and creating scalable systems to support analytics and reporting needs. They work with various data technologies to transform raw data into meaningful, accessible information for business users and data analysts.
Responsibilities:
- Design data architecture:
- Develop and maintain the overall structure of the organization's data systems.
- Data integration:
- Plan, develop and maintain the integration of data from various sources into a coherent ecosystem.
- Data modeling:
- Create logical and physical data models to support business requirements.
- Performance optimization:
- Ensure data systems are efficient and scalable.
- Security and compliance:
- Implement data security measures and ensure compliance with regulations.
- Technology evaluation:
- Assess and recommend appropriate BI and data management tools.
- Collaboration:
- Work closely with stakeholders to align data architecture with business goals.
- Documentation:
- Maintain comprehensive documentation of data structures and processes.
- Strategic planning:
- Contribute to long-term data strategy and roadmap development.
The Business Intelligence (BI) Developer translates academic and operational data into visualizations and reporting for stakeholders.
Responsibilities:
- Create and modify data sets to support visualizations
- Govern data and create specifications for data requests
- Maintain existing reports, updating datasets as needed when updated data is required.
- Manage (add, edit and remove) reports in the data portal
The Data Governance Manager's role is coordinating institution-wide data governance initiatives under the direction of the Director of Enterprise Information Systems. The incumbent develops frameworks, policies, and procedures to effectively manage data as a valuable asset, ensuring compliance with data policy, and promoting a data-driven culture at the college
Responsibilities:
Data Governance Functions
Under the direction of the Director of Enterprise Information Systems, develop and implement institution-wide data governance frameworks, policies, and procedures.
Define data ownership, stewardship roles, and responsibilities across departments.
In cooperation with the Director of Information Security and Privacy, develop data access, security, and privacy protocols compliant with laws such as FERPA, GDPR, and other regulations.
Collaborate between Enterprise Information Systems, Institutional Research, and leadership to align data initiatives with strategic goals.
Provide governance oversight on data management, data quality, and data lifecycle processes.
Assess and develop institutional data literacy and training programs for different college stakeholders. Coordinate with Institutional Research and Assessment to ensure their data training and programming compliments programs offered.
Facilitate workshops and mentoring on data-informed decision-making and best practices.
Develop learning materials, documentation, and user guides for data literacy support.
Train data trustees, stewards, custodians, and users on governance policies, tools, and processes.
Translate technical data concepts into accessible information for non-technical stakeholders.
Lead outreach programs to foster cross-functional collaboration in data governance and literacy.
Engage with external partners to stay informed on data management trends.
Monitor data governance systems and tools, including new feature evaluation and implementation advice.
Monitor and report on data governance maturity, compliance, and quality metrics.
Advise on data management opportunities, legal implications, and best practices.
The Director of Information Security and Privacy is responsible for overseeing and managing an organization's information security and privacy programs. This position ensures the protection of sensitive information, data, and systems, and compliance with relevant regulations and industry standards
Responsibiliuties
- Creating and maintaining policies, procedures, and protocols for data protection, access control, and incident response
- Monitoring and ensuring adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, FERPA
The Director of Enterprise Information Systems oversees the operation, maintenance, and enhancement of the college’s enterprise software applications, including Student Information Systems, Human Resources, Finance, and Advancement.
Responsibilities with respect to data management:
- To ensures reliable integration of various systems and platforms across the college to provide seamless user experiences and operational efficiencies.
- Lead initiatives to harness data analytics and business intelligence in support of strategic decision-making processes.
- Develop and implement policies and practices for data governance, ensuring accuracy and accessibility of data while maintaining privacy and security standards.
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Last updated: July 29, 2025
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