Leading data strategist Monica Jones shares insights into how she implemented a strategy that educated and challenged barriers around data to facilitate a culture where data is an asset, not a burden.
My mission was to create and implement a data strategy that aligned and complemented our wider 10 year university strategy and fosters a positive data culture ensuring collaboration across departments and clear lines of ownership.
Here are my top tips to help position your strategy, set and test the foundations and get engagement:
- View your organisation’s wider strategy through a data lens. Make the data strategy relevant to those it affects and keep it clear, succinct and achievable.
- Adopt the approach that business change management should be established first.
- Consult with the wider business and internal networks. Engage individuals to establish what that one thing is that they cannot do that would provide genuine benefit. Deliver on this.
- Recruit and implement a central Data Service department before the implementation of the transformation strategy, to take ownership of the data strategy and support adoption of end users.
- View data as an asset and a core function to enable transformation from burden to asset. Recognise the potential in primary data collections (e.g. statutory) to release secondary uses (e.g. curriculum, improving student services, etc). Organise these data sets to enable secondary uses with an emphasis on the ‘as is’ to the ‘to be’.
- Create and promote a set of data principles. Convene a Data Design Authority (DDA) to act as a mechanism for advising and benchmarking projects and initiatives against the data principles to ensure governance, assurance and standardisation.
- Emphasise the benefits and added value through developing a benefits dependency network. Showcase these through internal workshops and network events. Start with the strategic driver (e.g. Data being an asset, not a burden) and drill down via the objectives to realise the benefits. If the project/activity does not deliver on the benefit, question the validity to the objective and subsequently the strategic driver. All activities should have a purpose.
- Document and be transparent around commitments and future plans.
- Finally, simply talk to people and listen to their concerns and ideas.
Assessing Impact
- A fully implemented Central Data Service department removed the burden from end users and turned defensive behaviours into positive collaborations, instilling a ‘data as an asset’ culture.
- A trusted data repository, metadata and cataloguing capabilities provides the infrastructure to build on.
- Reusable and reliable data adds value and improves data quality.
- Increased data-driven decision making.
- Benefits realisation work has proven to be a positive way of sense checking suitability of projects across the business. Stakeholders have really identified and engaged with this initiative.
Creating a data culture was critical to delivering Leeds University’s interdisciplinary approach which fosters collaboration across departments, driving breakthroughs in areas like artificial intelligence, cyber security, and digital health. Students benefit from hands-on learning experiences, industry partnerships, and access to cutting-edge resources, preparing them for impactful careers in the rapidly evolving landscape of technology and data. Our data strategy is crucial to delivering these student outcomes.
We’re excited to continue our data maturity journey with our colleagues and learners, and we welcome Jisc’s Data Maturity Framework that brings best practice from across the sector together and makes it more accessible and easier to learn from each other, as education and technology evolves.
Monica will be presenting her data strategy and transformation programme, highlighting the challenges, successes and learning from failure at Data Matters at the Lowry in Salford on 23 January 2025. Register for the event.
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About the author
Monica Jones is Chief Data Officer (CDO) for the University of Leeds and Associate Director for HDR U.K. North.
The University of Leeds is a pioneering institution in technology and data-driven research and education. Situated in Yorkshire, England, it boasts state-of-the-art facilities and a vibrant academic community. It is a Russell Group University with approximately 40,000 students, supported by leading experts in fields, such as computer science, engineering, and data analytics, the University is at the forefront of innovation.