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MAKING SENSE OF THE DATA
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I spoke with an agency that is admired by its peers for their data collection process. They’ve actually received awards for this process which was developed in-house at the agency several years ago to cross departmental boundaries and glean key information for the state.
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“We’ve been collecting this data for over five years,” the deputy director said. “Still haven’t figured out how to make it truly useful..."
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In the last newsletter, we discussed how to begin the process of collecting the data necessary to oversee a group of projects. The immediate issue to face upon achieving any set of data such as this is – what do you do with it?
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“We need better reports.”
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“If I could just get the right information…”
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“If we could only get people to report accurately…”
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All of these statements are indicative of a problem that goes much deeper than reporting. To bring it down to a personal level, getting an accurate report out of your home financial planning software can be difficult, but using that report to affect change in your personal spending habits can be downright painful.
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Such is the case with business reports. There is value in reporting things clearly and accurately, but the quantum leap in value occurs when those reports can be used to steer the organization in the right direction. After all, the comments above show that the issue isn’t reporting at all, it’s a business process issue.
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Our discussion last time gave some useful tips on how to ensure that the right data is being collected. In our exploration of making that data useful, lets assume you’ve already talked with management about key data points they need to manage their business and you’re actively collecting those. As you’re creating your system to use this data, here are some key points to consider.
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1. Go Beyond Reporting. Providing simulations of “what-if scenarios,” creating ad-hoc views of the data, and using the data “live” to decide things like prioritization, go or no-go decisions and budgeting bring tremendous value to management. This must be done with clear parameters and notifications on what is changeable and what does get changed. But it can be powerful in helping management understand the full impact of decisions.
2. Build it Simple. If it takes two DBAs three days to do any new report, it’s usefulness is extremely limited. If a Senior Executive not known for his technical wizardry can build a quick query and develop his own report in minutes, you will not only save a great deal of resource time and effort, but you will empower the executives.
3.Remove the static from reporting. Executive Joe gets the monthly report of project status from his assistant. Looking through the list of projects and their stoplighted status, Joe realizes that there are significant problems with three key projects that have come up in the last month and so immediately begins calling or setting up meetings to gain a deeper understanding.
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While having a breakdown of current projects on paper is useful, having that breakdown online (where the data is current) and being able to select an individual project and drill down to its nitty-gritty details can avoid some of the emergency meetings and clarification calls in Executive Joe’s day. A living report such as this can generate so much more than a static report (whether online or not).
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The bottom line here is to have a plan that maximizes the use of any data before you even begin to collect it. That plan will necessarily change throughout its existence as it flexes with new business requirements and processes, but if it does include the way that data will be used at the management level, it will provide significant value to both collectors and users alike.
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