Requirements

Key drivers included improving timeliness and accuracy in executive reporting, with Ordnance Survey’s reporting pack including Performance KPIs, Risk Logs, Issues Logs, Critical Project Progress and Governance Board status. Prior to the deployment of Datalytyx Execview, bringing together all data required was labour intensive, time-consuming and open to human error; information presented could be 4-6 weeks out of date. The wider opportunity was to move to an environment in which directors and managers could access more accurate and up to date insights that, in turn, enabled faster and more informed planning and decision-making. “We wanted to become even more efficient, and we knew changing systems and approaches requires time and investment: invest now so that, tomorrow, you can make sustained efficiency gains and cost savings,” says Lee Bullen, Planning and Performance.

Why Datalytyx?

“Having reviewed the marketplace for an online tool to help us structure our performance reporting, Execview was the clear choice, presenting a cost-effective solution with a straightforward user interface,” says David Jones, adding that Datalytyx helped Ordnance Survey “to implement Execview iteratively to minimise project risk; change of this type can be emotive as it breaks down inter-departmental barriers, but this is also where much of the benefit is derived.”

Solution: a single online governance & reporting portal

Working with Ordnance Survey, Datalytyx configured Execview to integrate and be fed by existing spreadsheets and systems, limiting any impact on existing working practices while aggregating all disconnected data into a single online governance and reporting portal. In addition to monthly assistance with scorecards and data, Datalytyx met Ordnance Survey each quarter to examine new areas to incorporate, with functionality expanding to include wider project portfolio management, issue management and departmental KPIs.

Execview and Datalytyx services now support activities including KPI Performance Management, Portfolio Reporting, Issue Management, Actions Management, and Internal and Stakeholder Scorecards and Performance Reporting. Datalytyx continued to provide data management and other services covering KPIs, scorecard design and build, ‘How do I?’ support and quarterly workshops.

Lee Bullen says, “We quickly saw the opportunities the system presented for project portfolio reporting, so we accelerated that area of development.” Previously, there was no corporate solution for portfolio reporting: instead, Portfolio Manager Gary Brand pulled together reports on large projects manually from multiple sources, gaining input from project managers via spreadsheets, Word documents and other formats. “With Execview, such reports are all automatically created each fortnight – so we can report with confidence,” Bullen adds, explaining this is another example of “embedding Execview into the day-to-day running of Ordnance Survey.”

Benefits: creating ‘a definitive source of knowledge’

“We filled a gap in terms of non-financial business information reporting,” Bullen continues. “We’ve always been good at the numbers – we have a great Finance team – but needed more ‘textual’ reporting so a director can, for example, have more detailed insights into how we’ve met our objectives in a particular area. We’ve now been able to introduce a process for the business to report on progress versus goals, with quarterly updates for different audiences – from Finance Director to reporting into government. We can track delivery against objectives and look at delivery in terms of our wider investment portfolio with the confidence that we have ‘a single source of the truth’. “We’re on the way to making Execview a definitive source of knowledge across Ordnance Survey.” Various business areas use the solution: for example, Sales and Market Development use it for all KPI reporting, issues, progress on achievement of goals, and more.

David Jones says the organisation will continue working with Datalytyx “to develop the use of Execview, working across the business to deliver greater value for Ordnance Survey – and its customers.”