What is data maturity?

Data maturity is about how well an organisation collects, manages, and uses its information to make decisions and improve services. It’s a journey that helps organisations move from basic data handling to using information in smarter, more strategic ways. Whether it’s about tracking performance, understanding the needs of the people we serve, or planning for the future, improving data maturity helps us work more effectively and make better decisions.

Data is part of almost everyone’s job in one way or another. It has become one of the most important resources for delivering effective services. Yet getting the right data, in the right way, to the right people, and at the right time is a challenge.

We know that to make the best of data we need to work together. We’re working on a Data strategy and want to listen to everyone’s views so we can focus on what’s important.

We’re going to assess our data maturity and focus on improvement. Data maturity is an organisation’s journey towards improvement and increased capability in using data. We’ll be using a data maturity assessment tool (developed by Data Orchard) which has previously been used to benchmark hundreds of not-for-profit sector organisations: including local, regional, national and public sector.

What’s involved?

We will be asking you to give around 20 minutes of your time to complete the assessment online. It involves answering a set of questions around seven key themes: Uses, Data, Analysis, Leadership, Culture, Tools and Skills. At the end, you’ll receive your own report on how you assessed Orkney Islands Council, including where we sit on the five-stage journey (Unaware, Emerging, Learning, Developing, Mastering).

In addition, everyone’s results will be combined into a whole-organisation report. We’ll use this to work out where our strengths are and what we need to focus on to improve.

After the online assessment there will also be some workshops and planning sessions to flesh out the strategy.

When will it be happening?

We’re planning for everyone across the organisation to take part in the assessment from Wednesday 4th December 2024. You’ll receive an email with a link to complete the assessment.

We look forward to updating you with news on our progress and sharing the findings from the assessment in January 2025.

What if I don’t know much about data?

Don’t worry if you’re not that confident or knowledgeable about data. The assessment has been especially designed for non-technical people and there are hover-over explainers to help with any unfamiliar terms. Also, it’s absolutely fine to answer ‘don’t know’. We’re not expecting everyone to know everything about our data, but we hope by bringing together everyone’s view we’ll get the big picture between us.

Where can I find out more?

For more information, contact William Moore, Improvement and Performance Service Manager, on 01856 873535, Ext. 2104 or at william.moore@orkney.gov.uk.

To find out more about data maturity visit dataorchard.org.uk/what-is-data-maturity