Government Data Analytics Quality
Helping Government to improve the quality of the data to target funds for better community benefits.
Project
THE PROBLEM
A large state government agency wanted to establish a program to monitor and improve the quality of the data used to measure performance of services across the state and determine funding allocations. Data was sourced from a number of systems, with variability in configuration, integration and local business processes. Methods of monitoring data quality and resolving issues that were identified were highly manual, and there was no way of making the reliability of data visible to users to inform decision making. The department needed an assessment of their current processes and a strategy and plan to implement more effective data quality controls.
Results
OUR APPROACH
The project involved an assessment of the strategic priorities for the agency and an assessment of the organisation’s information assets to identify the highest risk data to be the initial focus of the program. This involved the development of a methodology for the agency to review and update the quality program priorities in subsequent years. A data profiling tool was developed to support the risk assessment process. Existing processes to manage data quality were reviewed, a consolidated view of the current state documented and gaps identified to inform the forward program.
THE OUTCOME
We developed a data quality plan that focused on transitioning from the current labour intensive methods to an analytics approach. An operational model was also developed to identify the governance and processes needed to maintain the program and monitor the outcomes that were being achieved. A methodology for scoring the reliability of individual data and performance indictors so that a quality scorecard could be linked to dashboards was also developed.