From spreadsheet to dashboard

Chanzo’s approach to data management is to coach the organisation to think about the purpose of their data. Central to this approach is to clarify what question or questions need to be answered based on these data. By making these questions concrete, the organisation learns what it really needs in order to perform its tasks as an organisation. This is a necessary condition for obtaining and maintaining quality data.

In many of the organisations that Chanzo has supported over the years, there is a desire and the need for better quality data. Often this desire stems from the idea that ‘once we have a dashboard (or once we have a Management Information System) we will be able to make evidence based decisions using our data’.

The thinking mistake lies in the fact that the ‘dashboard’ or ‘MIS’ will still be relying on the same set of incomplete/out of date/incorrect/inconsistent data they had been using before – without addressing the cause for the lack of reliable data. Management and staff alike are often not very experienced in the collection, use and analysis of data. The data management procedures are often ad hoc and not sufficiently embedded in the working procedures. And last but not least, the purpose of the data is often not entirely clear. This results in ‘data soup’ – there is something of everything in it, but it is not very solid.

In all of Chanzo’s assignments there is a continuous interaction with the client during the development of applications and a strong focus on tailor-made, on-job trainings. This ensures that the client gets an information system that does what they need it to do and they are capable of managing the system without further support from Chanzo.

Any process involving the improvement of data management is likely to contain one or more of the following building blocks:

More details about our experience with these themes can be found in their respective sections.