In a local government context, how are data governance and data management differentiated?

• A. Data management handles data quality, storage, access, and lifecycle
• B. Data governance sets policy, ownership, and accountability; data management handles data quality, storage, access, and lifecycle
• C. Data governance is about IT security; data management is about data backup
• D. Data governance and data management are identical

Answer: (B)

Data governance is about policy, ownership, and accountability for data assets, while data management is about the hands‑on handling of the data. In a local government, governance defines who is responsible for data stewardship, what standards and privacy rules apply, and how data can be shared or protected. Management then implements those policies by ensuring data quality, organizing storage and access, and overseeing the data’s life cycle from creation to retirement. So the best choice captures governance as policy and accountability and management as the operational handling of quality, storage, access, and lifecycle. The other descriptions either mix in IT security or backups, or claim they’re the same, which misses the distinct roles of policy/ownership versus execution.