Effective Dashboard Reporting: What is the Data Strategy?
Effective Dashboard Reporting: What is the Data Strategy?
IT Data Solutions
The world has embarked upon a new era where the convergence of data and analytics is more important than ever. To best understand the COVID-19 virus and to glean what happens from here, a strong Data Strategy is essential. The data must be fit for purpose and trusted by the decisioning community, so confident decisions can be made and executed.
It Starts with the Data
Data is a foundational element to any analytical, reporting, and decisioning function, and this is especially true during a crisis (like the Covid-19 pandemic). We are all familiar with the various data dashboards showing the current state of the pandemic. The data sources feeding these dashboards come from reporting agencies around the globe. These reports are being used to make judgments that impact the daily lives of the citizens living in their countries and the businesses operating in them.
A data professional reviewing any data reports needs to question the accuracy and reliability of the data feeding the dashboards: What type of vetting has the data gone through to ensure that the data is accurate, consistent, complete, and free of duplicates? Do we have all the data, or are we only getting some of the information? What type of Data Governance practices are in place to ensure that the results being reported can be trusted for decision-making? What is the level of transparency for the type of data being used?
A Data Strategy is the best mechanism to ensure that the data being used will produce accurate analytics and reports, so the correct decisions can be made. The goal of a Data Strategy is to make sure that the data resources are positioned so they can be used, shared, and moved easily and efficiently while ensuring accurate, transparent, and reliable data for analytics and decisioning. The following foundational Data Strategy components can help build trust in a dashboard, whether for a crisis or not.
