Assess
Key output: Analysis of gathered data sources
Once we have every data source pulled together, it’s time to assess its value. We look at which data sources you could be making better use of, what you’re paying to hold onto but aren’t using, searchability, extent of data completeness, and strength of security policy.
We can also introduce something called a logic model, which we’ve adapted from program evaluation to tech company contexts. We use logic modeling as a framework to help visualize the data sources you are using, and how they contribute to the outputs and outcomes your team is responsible for delivering.
In Action
By assessing the gathered data sources for a digital agency, we were able to clearly point out that they were paying quite a lot to store extensive, yet incomplete, client records in a customer relationship management system. On top of paying for dormant data, the assessment also uncovered that they didn’t have any of the meaningful data they actually needed, about the clients’ projects, for a new sales strategy. We helped them stand up a rudimentary project database geared toward the sales and marketing team, with handoff to the operations team to flesh out.