Information and Data Stewardship
Developing a diverse set of digital skills is essential for both personal and professional development in today's technology-driven world. The Government of Canada has developed a framework of six key digital competencies (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) to guide team and personal development: digital literacy, continuous improvement, information and data stewardship, digital responsibility, cyber security vigilance, and inclusive interactions. This series of six articles will cover each of these competencies, giving you valuable insights and practical strategies to help you develop these essential skills so you can navigate the digital landscape with confidence and contribute effectively to an increasingly connected environment.
This series was developed in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Information Officer to ensure alignment with current digital priorities and practices.
What is information and data stewardship?
Information and data stewardship means managing data in a responsible way—keeping it safe, secure, and ethical. It involves planning and overseeing data throughout its life cycle: how it's collected, stored, accessed, protected, analyzed, shared, and eventually disposed of.
In the past, data was managed by a few specific roles. Today, everyone plays a part. Whether you're entering data, using it for decisions, or sharing it with others, your actions affect how well information is managed and protected. As a public servant, this means understanding your responsibilities at every stage of the data life cycle, being proactive about understanding data governance and compliance requirements, and communicating information clearly and effectively.
Why is this important?
In the public sector, information and data stewardship is a shared responsibility because data underpins every decision, service, and interaction that builds public trust. From frontline employees to senior leaders, everyone plays a role in how data is generated, accessed, managed, and used.
By upholding shared responsibility, public servants can work towards ensuring that data is accurate and handled securely and ethically, reflecting key public sector values like transparency, accountability, and fairness. Governance frameworks (policies, standards and principles) guide how these values are applied in daily work. Understanding and applying them is key to managing data responsibly and building a culture of trust.
When implemented properly, stewardship makes data more accessible, reduces time spent searching for information, supports informed decision-making, and protects sensitive information. Without it, organizations risk breaches, inefficiencies, and public mistrust.
How to apply it
To help you become a strong data steward, we've broken information and data stewardship into three skill areas that every public servant should explore and develop:
- Proactive understanding of data governance and compliance requirements
- Data life cycle management
- Turning data into meaningful information
Proactive understanding of data governance and compliance requirements
Effective data stewardship starts with understanding how governance frameworks shape your role. This means developing the skill to read, interpret, and apply key directives, policies, and standards to your daily work.
You don't need to be an expert overnight. Start by identifying the policies, standards, or principles relevant to your tasks—like those on data retention, classification, or access permissions, or resources like the information and data governance requirements and guidance.
Proactive data governance for individuals means taking intentional, forward-thinking actions to ensure that data is managed, collected, stored, and shared in compliance with relevant policies, standards, and ethical guidelines. Departments and agencies establish data governance structures, but every public servant plays a role in supporting those structures through daily actions like collecting accurate data, using approved tools and storage systems, applying proper access controls, classifying information correctly, and responsibly disposing of outdated records.
Practical tips
These tips will help you understand the governance shaping how you should manage data:
Regularly review and adhere to relevant principles and privacy and security requirements.
Data life cycle management
Data life cycle management covers the full journey of data—from creation and collection to storage, access, use, archiving, and disposal. In the digital era, it's not enough to manage data; you also need to consider safety, privacy, efficiency, and environmental impact.
This is where other digital competencies come into play. Cyber security vigilance ensures protection from threats, digital responsibility ensures ethical and transparent use, and governance ensures alignment with policies and best practices.
Practical tips
Look for available learning resources to build your skills in managing the data life cycle. Many of these resources are listed at the end of this article, and others may be available through your department. Below are some tips to help you understand what data life cycle management is about:
- Use approved digital tools such as GCdocs and SharePoint to store and manage data securely, ensuring it remains accessible and protected throughout its life cycle.
- Apply appropriate permissions to maintain privacy and security by ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data.
- Store digital information in an organized, searchable format for efficient retrieval and easy access.
- Regularly review and update access controls to mitigate risks and ensure compliance with privacy and security standards.
- Apply digital tools and software to process and analyze data, turning complex information into understandable charts, tables, or infographics.
- Make sure that digital data is easily accessible to stakeholders while maintaining compliance with guidelines for access and sharing.
- Be mindful of the environmental impact of data storage and usage. Reducing unnecessary data hoarding, deleting obsolete emails, and avoiding large attachments can help minimize digital waste.
- Follow established procedures for data disposal or archiving, ensuring sensitive information is securely protected.
- Educate yourself and your colleagues on best practices for managing information and data.
Turning data into meaningful information
The third component of information and data stewardship is about transforming data into usable information. We all work with data daily, whether we're making decisions, preparing summaries, or explaining results. This skill helps turn raw data into clear insights others can understand and use. It calls for curiosity, critical thinking, and strong communication.
To build this skill, look for introductory training on tools like Excel or Power BI, or take a short course on data storytelling or analysis basics.
Practical tips
To grow your skills in this area, explore learning resources on interpreting data and presenting it effectively. The resources at the end of this article, plus training available through your department, can help you get started. Below are tips to help you understand how data storytelling and analysis skills can support your day-to-day work:
- Use a variety of sources and data types to ensure well-rounded and informed decision-making.
- Ask your manager to get you data analysis tools that can help extract insights to inform decisions, ensuring decisions are based on evidence and accurate information.
- Encourage a culture where data is used regularly to improve processes, policies, and services, fostering innovation and efficiency.
- Convert complex data into accessible visuals, reports, or summaries to facilitate data analysis and synthesis.
- Present data in clear, actionable formats such as dashboards, reports, and infographics to guide informed decision-making.
- Use clear, concise reporting and storytelling to present data insights, helping others understand and apply the information to decisions and strategies.
- Keep building your skills—explore, reflect, and stay curious about how data can help shape better outcomes.
Related digital competencies
Information and data stewardship involves more than just managing data. It includes understanding governance frameworks, turning data into meaningful information, and communicating it clearly and responsibly.
To do this well, public servants need a combination of skills. For example, cyber security vigilance provides the necessary protections to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of data by safeguarding it against unauthorized access, breaches, and cyber threats. Digital responsibility ensures that data is managed transparently, ethically, and with accountability. Inclusive interactions ensure that communication about data is accessible, understandable, and respectful of diverse needs.
What makes information and data stewardship unique is that it's inherently dynamic and interconnected. It cannot be separated from other digital competencies. If you removed any of them, stewardship would be incomplete. That's because stewardship means managing data responsibly and securely, and this requires more than just creating, storing, or retrieving data—it's about applying sound judgment across systems, people, and policies for the public good.
Resources
