Assessing data maturity in Kent County Council

Client: Kent County Council
Date: May-July 2021
Work: Organisational Data Maturity Assessment

Between May and July 2021 we worked with Kent County Council to help them undertake an Organisational Data Maturity Assessment.

As one of the largest local authorities in the UK and with over 10,000 staff, we considered a range of possible approaches.

Since engaging leadership was a key priority, they decided to start by running a live data maturity assessment workshop with the senior leadership team. This enabled them to introduce the concept of data maturity to the group, invite leaders to complete the assessment individually and from their own perspectives, and then present and discuss their data maturity report (which combined all the individual scores).

Following this, leaders invited staff in targeted services and departments to complete the online assessment. In total, 66 staff participated and, together with research and consultation, contributed to the development of their data strategy.

“We really liked the look and feel of the data maturity assessment tool. It was pitched at just the right level, especially for the public sector. The definitions were really helpful so people were learning and understanding as they went through.

By having the report and the data at our hands we could evidence where our weak areas were and show there was a collective recognition and understanding of this.

It set the conversation going for us to embark on a data journey, and gave us a starting point to work from. More than anything it meant that people got to have their say and be a part of it.”

Programme Manager, Strategic Restart Team, Kent County Council.