When this is the right conversation
Everyone uses the data, but nobody can approve a definition, own a quality issue or decide who should receive access.
What the work involves
- Choose a pilot domain and establish the decisions it needs to make regularly.
- Define the responsibilities of the business owner, steward, technical custodian and supporting specialists.
- Create an issue-to-decision workflow with escalation criteria, response expectations and an exception route.
- Run a working session using a real, suitably redacted disagreement; revise the model based on what happens.
What we need from your team
An executive sponsor and named representatives from the pilot domain. The organisation must retain the authority to appoint owners and accept risk.
What useful completion looks like
A new issue can move from intake to a documented decision without relying on an informal personal network.
We support management; we do not take over directors’ duties, statutory privacy accountability or corporate decision authority.
Before we begin
We agree the business objective, named delivery roles, access arrangements, fee, timetable and acceptance criteria in a written scope. Dependencies and out-of-scope work stay visible. We do not assume permission to change production systems or transfer sensitive information.
See the engagement processRelated field notes
Owner, steward or custodian: who decides?
Who can change the meaning of “active customer”?
In this worked example, sales wants a broader definition while finance needs a stable reporting cutoff. A steward assembles the competing definitions and downstream uses. The accountable business owner decides within an agreed mandate. The technical custodian changes the implementation only after approval; report users receive the effective date and explanation.
Illustrative scenario, not a client case study or a claim of past results.
The working evidence
- Decision-rights mapWhich role proposes, approves, implements and receives a decision.
- Domain glossaryThe definition, inclusion rules, accountable owner and effective version.
- Escalation pathThe point at which a steward must refer a disagreement or exception.
- Decision logThe selected option, rationale, evidence and review trigger.
Who does what
A person can hold more than one role in a small organisation, but the responsibilities should remain distinguishable. Authority to change a reporting definition is not automatically authority to approve a new personal-information use or accept security risk.
Rehearse one disagreement without the consultant leading it. The team should find the correct approver, record the decision, communicate the change and name the person who checks implementation.
A responsibility matrix cannot appoint a statutory official, transfer legal accountability or create authority that management has not actually delegated.
Make the first workshop useful.
Bring roles, questions and approved examples—not an unrestricted data export.
- Which recurring disagreement needs a clear decision authority?
- What can the business owner approve, and what requires escalation?
- Which real decision will be used to test the proposed role model?