10 things to do next after taking a Data Maturity Assessment
We built our free Data Maturity Assessment tool because we are passionate about helping organisations to use data for better decisions and greater impact. But taking an assessment is only one step in a journey to improving data maturity. Wherever you are on your data improvement journey, here are some ideas for how to use your assessment report to take another step forward.
1. Reflect on your results
Whether you’ve taken an assessment on your own, in a group, or as an organisation, you now have a snapshot of where you are. Take time to reflect on what this means for your organisation. Read the detail of your report and understand where you sit on the data maturity journey (from ‘unaware’ through to ‘mastering’) across each of our seven key themes: Uses, Data, Analysis, Leadership, Culture, Tools and Skills. Your report will also show you how this compares with other organisations in the not-for-profit sector. How do you compare with this benchmark?
2. Talk about it
One of the easiest, yet most impactful things you can do with the results of your Data Maturity Assessment is to talk about them with colleagues. We often hear that people have been finding it difficult to engage colleagues in conversations about data, but that the assessment acted as a useful talking point to kick things off.
When we last surveyed users of the assessment tool, 74% said that they had done at least one of ‘discussing changes with colleagues’, ‘using the results to guide plans’ or ‘sharing results with others in the organisation’. This is a great start – by beginning these conversations, you are already on your way to improved data maturity.
3. Compare results with colleagues
If colleagues have already completed an assessment too, then now’s the time to compare your results. There are very likely differences between how different people or departments within the organisation think you’re doing. Our last survey of users found that over 50% said the tool moderately or extensively highlighted different perceptions about data across the organisation.
One of our key aims in developing the tool was to ensure it helps educate people on data and data maturity. Pleasingly, people often say that the tool helped them share a better understanding and language for talking about data with colleagues.
If colleagues haven’t already done an assessment, then you could use the link in your report to invite them to do it, and then arrange a time to get together and discuss your results.
“This was a great tool for giving us a shared language to assess and discuss the issues and where we needed to improve. We are struggling to find the right resources to take it forward fully but have implemented key gaps - thank you.” Anonymous user
4. Take an organisational assessment
Since there can be such different perceptions and uses for data, having a good spread of involvement from across the organisation is a key aspect of building engagement, learning and collective thinking about data. The organisational version of our tool makes this easy. You can invite all staff in your organisation to take an assessment and be provided with a collated report and central dashboard to review your combined results (plus everyone gets their own individual report showing how they personally assess the organisation). You’ll also have the option to add customised questions to explore specific issues. Silver and Gold packages get even more exciting, with more advanced analysis, a huge treasure trove of charts, workshops and more.
5. Be inspired by how other organisations have used their assessment data
As a nonprofit community, we are stronger when we learn from each other. We have a bank of case studies and videos on organisations like Citizens Advice Manchester, Prostate Cancer UK and Scottish Government, who all used data maturity assessments as a springboard for improving their use of data. Take a look to help inspire you into action.
“The assessment has been really useful to gain an understanding of the organisation’s view on data and what would make things better for people. But another thing that’s been really important, has been its role as a communications tool. Now that I have this data set, it’s a really useful conversation starter” Clare Shanklyn - former Data Strategy Lead, Prostate Cancer UK.
You can also join our Nonprofit Datafolk Club gatherings to meet other data people working in or with nonprofits, and share challenges, solutions and inspiration.
6. Use the results to make a case for data improvement
You don’t know what you don’t know… Your leadership team may think the organisation is doing better than it is with data. Your Data Maturity Assessment can be the start of a more objective, analytical look at the situation. Importantly, the sector benchmarking indicates how you are doing compared to others in your sector. Use this information to start a conversation with senior leaders about how your organisation could improve its use of data. With an objective measurement of how you actually fare vs others in your sector, your leadership team should be encouraged to take data more seriously.
“We shared the results with our leadership team to benchmark transparently where we were at, build a plan to improve based on the results, and advocated for resources to implement our improvement plan. The results pushed our leadership to make progress on our data maturity. We set a target for increasing our data maturity from a 2.1 to a 3.0 in one year, using the assessment as a tool to measure progress, and were able to meet our goal.” Anonymous user
7. Start small
Your Data Maturity Assessment report helps you prioritise the most urgent areas to address. Pick one area from your assessment (probably in one of your lowest scoring themes) and think of a few distinct, manageable projects you could do first to improve. It will be most impactful if these are also things that you know will help make people’s jobs easier on a day to day basis. Once you’ve had a few ‘quick wins’, you should find that enthusiasm and confidence builds within the organisation, as people start to see the power of data to make their lives easier, and improve your service(s).
8. Think big
42% of users say they implemented a data strategy/improvement plan following their Data Maturity Assessment.. That might sound like a bit of a daunting task, but remember, your Assessment report has already set you on the right track, with the themes to consider, priority areas and measurable metrics that give you a starting point for a plan for improvement.
Don’t be afraid to seek advice. Did you know we offer a free 30-minute call to all users of our Data Maturity Assessment tool to discuss your report and how you could use the results to take action and improve? This isn’t a sales call (although there may be ways we can help you) – it’s genuinely because we want to help. That’s why we built the tool in the first place. Request a call.
We also provide a list of support organisations who can help not-for-profits to build their knowledge of data maturity, provide support and training for staff, and develop data strategies to help you improve your impact.
9. Invest to reap rewards
The results of your assessment can give you the evidence base you need to argue for investment in data. 12% of users of our free Data Maturity Assessment tool say they’ve gone on to seek funding or resources, either internally or externally. What is really interesting though, is that almost all of them are successful!
Investment in data also doesn’t necessarily have to mean committing cash to increase headcount or buy in new technology. Sometimes it can mean shifting roles and responsibilities between existing staff, or committing time to improvement projects. One of the things we hear from small-to-medium sized organisations is that, with no budget to create a ‘data’ role or team, there is little recognition of the importance of data within the organisation. Sometimes just adjusting an existing person’s job title or role can be an important step towards letting everyone in the organisation know you are serious about data.
10. Repeat the assessment
The Data Maturity Assessment is designed to give you a clear picture of where you are now, so you can objectively measure progress as you (hopefully) improve the organisation’s data maturity. This is why we encourage you to repeat the assessment at regular intervals to track how well you are doing on your data maturity journey, and to identify which areas need the most effort and attention.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss the best way to do this.
This guide was first published in March 2021 and updated in June 2024 with our latest advice and feedback from users of our Data Maturity Assessment Tool.