The 7 Steps of Using Data for Better Decision-Making Within Your Organisation

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Introduction

Data-driven decision making is an approach to making decisions based on data. It’s about looking at the numbers and making informed, evidence-based choices. It’s important because it helps you make better decisions - ones that benefit your organisation in the long run.

Making decisions based on the information you have can be dangerous, especially if that information isn’t accurate or reliable. Your best bet is to start with the data assets you already have, and then improve them, so that you’re always making decisions based on a good understanding of what’s going on in your business.

The first step in this process is to audit your data so you can identify where you are now, what progress has been made so far, and where there are gaps that need to be filled before starting your data-driven journey.

Step 1 - Auditing your data

The first step in data driven decision making is to audit your data quality. Data quality is not just about accuracy, but it’s also about completeness and consistency, timeliness and accessibility, as well as the context in which the data is used. The goal of an organisation should be to establish a culture where everyone involved in making decisions has access to high quality information. By auditing your current processes and identifying gaps in existing systems a Data Quality Management (DQM) team can identify opportunities for improvement, develop plans to address them and then put those plans into action.

Step 2 - Ensuring your data is complete and correct, and in the right format.

Ensuring your data is complete and correct, and in the right format.

Data quality is a key component of data-driven decision making - it's about ensuring that the data you have is accurate, reliable, and meets your business needs. Data quality can be improved by implementing a data governance policy, which includes processes like version control, change management and audit trails.

Step 3 - Give employees the tools they need to use their data effectively.

When it comes to data, whether you're an individual or an organisation, it's crucial that everyone is able to access the information they need and make decisions based on this. In other words: the more accessible your data is, the better.

In order for employees to make effective use of their data, you'll need to consider how they're using it. This means making sure that:

• The data is accessible (i.e., provided in a format that can easily be accessed)
• The employee has permission to access the relevant information; if not, then this should be changed before releasing anything else
• Any IT restrictions are removed so staff members don't have any barriers preventing them from accessing specific content

Step 4 - Make sure that you know where all of your data is coming from and going to.

Before you can begin to use your data for better decision-making, it is imperative that you understand where all of your data is coming from and going to. To this end, a data inventory should be created which will help to identify:

• The source of each piece of information that has been collected;
• What the purpose of each piece of information was;
• Who within your organisation is using (and potentially misusing) this information;
• Whether or not anyone outside of the company has access to this data; and
• Who can change any part(s) thereof

Step 5 - Ensure that you have a clear understanding of what each piece of data means.

It's important to ensure that you have a clear understanding of what each piece of data means. To do so, you need to know what data is available and what data you need.

You also need to have a clear understanding of your business goals and how data can help you achieve them. This will help ensure that the team is using their time and resources effectively by focusing on the most important questions within their organisation

Step 6 - Put processes in place to protect your confidential data at every stage.

The next step is to put processes in place to protect your confidential data at every stage.

You'll need to decide what types of data you want to protect, and how you can best do this. You may also want to think about how much effort it will take you and whether or not it's worth it.

If you're making money off your product or service, then protecting your customers' information is going to be well worth the cost. But if you're just trying to stay afloat, creating a security system might be outside your budgeting abilities . The benefits here are numerous; from choosing between different brands at the store because they have more secure products (or just less incidents), understanding which one will give me better value for money when considering quality vs price...the list goes on!

Step 7 - Encourage openness and a collaborative approach when working with data.

Encourage openness and a collaborative approach when working with data.

Data can be intimidating, especially for people who are more used to working with paper reports and spreadsheets. It can be hard to know where to start, or even what you should be looking for. Encouraging an open discussion about the value of data within your team will help everyone feel more comfortable approaching it, which makes it easier for them to get involved in the process of gathering and analysing information. They’ll also have a better understanding of why certain decisions are made based on what they see in their analytics dashboards - which means they’re more likely to trust that those decisions have been made carefully!

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Good decision-making is a vital part of any business. But it can be difficult to know when your data is accurate and reliable, especially if that information isn’t coming from a reliable source.

To make the most of your data assets, you need to start with a good understanding of what’s going on in your business by looking at the data you have and improving it, so that you can always make decisions based on an accurate picture of what's happening. Engaging a data consultancy can speed up this process.

That will help ensure better outcomes for everyone involved—not just for customers but also for employees too!

Conclusion

If you’re looking to make more informed decisions, then data-driven decision making can be a great way to do this. The 7 steps outlined here will help you get started on ensuring that all of your decisions are based on good data and solid analysis. However, just remember that this process takes time, so don’t expect it to happen overnight!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Leon Gordon?

Leon Gordon, is a leader in data analytics. A current Microsoft Data Platform MVP based in the UK and partner at Pomerol Partners. During the last decade, he has helped organizations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data.?

Leon is a Thought Leader at the Forbes Tech Council and also an Executive Contributor to Brainz Magazine, a Thought Leader in Data Science for the Global AI Hub, chair for the Microsoft Power BI – UK community group and the DataDNA data visualization community as well as an international speaker and advisor.