DataSteward documentation

1. What DataSteward does

DataSteward is data governance software for small teams. It keeps one register of the data your business holds, makes sure every item has a confirmed owner, automatically finds gaps, turns them into actions, and records everything for auditors.

• Register — list every data asset (customer lists, payroll, finance files, systems).
• Own — assign a business owner and technical custodian, and get the owner to confirm.
• Check — gap rules run automatically and flag what is missing.
• Fix — remediation actions track who fixes each gap and by when.
• Prove — PDF reports and a full audit history show who did what, and when.

2. Create your account

1. Click Get started in the top menu.
2. Sign up with your email and a password, or use Continue with Google.
3. If you used email, open the confirmation email and click the link.
4. Sign in. Use the eye icon in the password box to show or hide your password.
5. Forgot your password? Use Forgot password on the sign-in screen to get a reset link.

3. Set up your workspace

A workspace is your organisation. Each workspace is completely separate — people only see the workspaces they belong to.

1. After your first sign-in you are asked to create a workspace: enter your organisation name.
2. You automatically become the Admin of that workspace.
3. If someone invited you, their workspace appears automatically when you sign in with the invited email.

4. Roles and permissions

• Admin — everything: settings, members, gap rules, data removal, admin activity.
• IT manager — manage assets, run gap assessments, generate AI summaries, reports.
• Data owner — view the register and confirm ownership of assets assigned to them.
• Viewer — read-only access.
• Every workspace always keeps at least one Admin.

5. The dashboard (Overview)

1. Open Overview from the left menu (or the ☰ menu on mobile).
2. The getting-started checklist shows your next steps and ticks them off as you go.
3. Tiles show total assets, confirmed owners, open gaps and actions.
4. The AI governance summary gives a plain-English status. Click any recommendation to jump to the related gap or asset.
5. AI summaries are limited to 2 per day per workspace and reset at midnight UTC. They are advice only and never change your records.

6. Add data assets

You can add assets one by one or import many at once from a spreadsheet.

1. Go to Data Assets.
2. To add one: click New asset, fill in name, type, department, system, description, sensitivity, owner and custodian, then save.
3. To import: click Import, choose a CSV file, then Validate rows. Each row shows as ready or rejected with the reason.
4. Fix rejected rows in your file if needed, then Confirm import. All valid rows go in together, and the import is recorded.
5. Not sure of the format? Click Demo data CSV to download a sample file with 8 example assets.
6. Every asset gets an automatic reference number (for example DA-0001).

7. Confirm data owners

1. When an owner is assigned, their status is Proposed.
2. Use the checklist step Confirm data owners (or filter assets by Proposed) to see what needs confirming.
3. Open an asset and click Confirm owner. Status becomes Confirmed and the date is recorded.
4. If the owner is changed later, status goes back to Proposed — a new owner must confirm again.

8. Ownership gaps (gap rules)

Gaps are found automatically every time an asset is saved. They close by themselves once the problem is actually fixed — completing an action alone does not close a gap.

• Missing business owner
• Owner not confirmed
• Missing technical custodian (only for asset types you choose)
• Sensitivity not assessed
• Missing review date (if review dates are required)
• Review overdue
• Incomplete record (department, system or description missing)

1. Open Ownership Gaps to see every open gap with its severity.
2. Click a gap to go to the asset and fix the missing information.
3. Admins and IT managers can click Run gap assessment to re-check all assets.
4. Archived assets are never checked.

9. Configure gap rules

1. Go to Settings → Gap rules (Admins only).
2. Tick or untick each of the 7 rules to switch it on or off for your workspace.
3. Choose which asset types need a technical custodian (e.g. Customer, Employee, Financial).
4. Choose whether active assets must have a review date.
5. Set severity per rule: Low, Medium, High, or Default (auto-escalates for critical/sensitive assets).
6. Click Save. The assessment re-runs instantly; gaps from switched-off rules are cleared and the reason is recorded.

10. Remediation actions

1. From a gap, create an action describing the fix.
2. Assign a person and a due date.
3. Track progress in Actions: open, in progress, done.
4. When the underlying data is fixed, the gap closes automatically.

11. Reports

1. Go to Reports.
2. Choose a report (asset register, ownership status, open gaps, actions).
3. Click Download to get a PDF for management or auditors.
4. Each download is recorded in the audit history.

12. Audit history

1. Go to Audit History to see every change: who, what, and when.
2. Open an entry to see exactly which fields changed (before and after).
3. Records are never silently deleted — assets are archived instead, so history is preserved.

13. Invite your team

1. Go to Settings → Members (Admins only).
2. Enter the person's email and choose a role, then send the invite.
3. They sign up or sign in with that email and join automatically.
4. Admins can change roles or remove members at any time (the last Admin cannot be removed).

14. Admin activity and data removal

1. Admin Activity (Admins only) shows each member's sign-ins and actions, with an Export CSV button.
2. Settings → Remove all data deletes all assets, gaps, actions, imports and AI summaries in the workspace. Type the workspace name to confirm. Members, settings and the activity log are kept.

15. Personalise and mobile

• Switch light/dark mode with the sun/moon button.
• Pick a color theme: Indigo, Ocean, Emerald, Rose or Amber.
• On phones, tap the ☰ button to open the menu.
• Home Page in the left menu takes you back to the public site.

16. Privacy and security

• Each workspace's data is isolated — other organisations can never see it.
• Permissions are enforced on the server, not just hidden in the screen.
• Gaps come only from rules applied to your real data.
• Questions? Email hello@arventra.tech.