How do I get the right data, with the right level of quality?

Getting the right data, with the right level of quality, is one of the most time consuming parts of measuring business performance!

Here's some food for thought on how you can improve your capture and management of performance data, with the limited resources you have:

TIP: You won't get data integrity without staff buy-in

Let's start where you'll probably have the biggest impact on data quality: with your staff that collect the data. They simply must have a clear appreciation of why the data is being collected, they must beleive that the data is going to be used, and use in a way that supports them to do their work (not threatens them with judgement). Build more buy-in to measurement before you try and fix the technical issues of data integrity.

ARTICLE: So you don't trust your data...

The management team sit around the monthly performance report, debating. But they’re not debating the interpretation of the trends or signals in the data. They’re not debating the causes that sit beneath those trends or signals. And they’re not debating the pros and cons of various performance improvement ideas. No, they’re debating whether or not the data has enough integrity to even consider using it. Not again!

ARTICLE: Five time-saving tips to manage performance data

If you knew in advance how much effort you'd have to put into collecting, collating and managing the data that provides the foundation for your performance measures, you may be put off entirely. Particularly for smaller businesses, departments or teams, you don't have big corporate business intelligence systems offering you the data you need at the press of a button. No, you're often forced to collect and organise the data you need, all by yourself, and on top of your real job! But don't give up on measuring performance just for this reason. If you're still a firm believer that meaningful performance measures make your day job better, then these 5 tips for saving time in managing your performance data may just make the difference.

ARTICLE: The social life of performance data

Data quality worries most users of performance measures. There are an obscene number of reported measures that only generate dialogue about how unreliable the underlying data is. But what can you do about the quality of performance data? I've heard some performance measure experts proclaim that performance data must have 100% integrity. Hogwash! It never will, and here are some of the reasons why.

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If you'd like more information about improving the integrity of your performance data, contact me.

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