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I was chatting with a client last week about an article in Housing Technology magazine, about how socialhousing providers feel about their data, based on a recent survey. It certainly resonated with the two of us, as we both felt the ultimate importance of data quality, but lamented how much priority is actually applied to that.
Regular visitors to this blog will be familiar with many posts around data, keeping it clean, reconciling it, reporting and visualising it properly, then acting on it.
So many of us talk a good ‘Golden Thread’ or a ‘Golden Asset Record’, which often falls down when significant resourcing is required. The question, “Who will be acting on these insights then”, often pops up, with the (incorrect) assumption that ICT will be fixing it. As we know, ICT are the mechanics, not the drivers of our teams and processes.
It can be very controversial when data errors are sent back to the originators. I have had push back from teams where they have been used to things being fixed for so long downstream, they no longer feel its their job. Of course its their job and supervisors/managers should always be doubling down on it. Correcting data errors/inconsistencies early, saves 5-10 times the effort and cost later.
Its often historic as I think was touched on in the article. Previous processes and staff often set up data formats and processing, which make little sense in the current context. The things cause duplication, often in spreadsheets or distorted data. I do sympathise with staff/teams reaching for Excel and they love it don’t they? Although many I see, can be well out of their depth with a VLOOKUP or Pivot Table. Not exotic concepts, but essential for any minor data analysis.
The biggest misnomer is of course that Excel is a database, or a database solution, which it clearly isn’t. Proper industry strength solutions are the real go-to’s as (proper) database or data discovery /analysis tool. Unstructured documents and file storage objects with content/property info, are clearly another problem needing bringing together. How much of this information is useful, referenced your data subjects legally or not under GDPR?
With all this stuff going on, its not surprising that in terms of most organisations, (not just Social Housing OBVs), rather than achieving a ‘Golden Data Thread’, its more of a ‘Social Housing data Golden Void’. Now that ‘V’ word I know does irritate many people, including several local councillors as well as a good colleague of mine. Barry you know who you are mate! So apologies there, but I think regular readers of this blog will be able to identify with the reference.
The Golden (data) Void represents our 40%+ gap, from the article, in getting on top of our data, which would reassure us that we had ‘a single trusted source for important data’. Just because its hard, shouldn’t mean we keep brushing the problem under the organisation carpet. Certainly if you are changing key systems of record, procuring, you should be tackling the issue now. In fact I would say if you are looking to take a non-productised path, perhaps with Microsoft D365/Salesforce as a blank sheet etc, its even more crucial.
Is your organisation ignoring the issues or grabbing it and running with it?
I will bring plenty of Hobnobs ☕😉
Related Post: What photo skills does your organisation need?
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Hawkwind – The Golden Void.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009
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