Internal dashboards: Promoting the importance of governance and performance data visibility
Data is integral to the running of our organisation. As part of our focus on Data Matters, I want to share how dashboards are enabling my team to ensure we stay on track with business objectives, maintain stringent auditable processes and present findings, lessons learned and key performance indicators to our colleagues in an engaging and meaningful way.
One common obstacle governance professionals often struggle with is ‘the villain complex’. We are sometimes seen as the bad guys looking to catch out colleagues. But in honesty the reverse is actually true. Our role within the team is as a safeguard for colleagues, security and more generally effective use of time and resources.
Governance, auditing, and performance monitoring are cornerstones of any business that wants to operate efficiently and legally. Last month we celebrated #PracticeMatters which looked at how, as a team we are striving to improve efficiency through sharing of best practice and an ethos of practice makes perfect.
The Governance, Performance and Sustainability (GPS) team was set up to bring together the centralised function away from our KPI’s, although these are important to the organisation, there is a lot of other important work going on that needs more visibility. The mission of the GPS is around centralised, standardised reporting and to put together a centralised platform of all our other commitments and objectives.
We are human, mistakes are made, but the importance of the role of governance is spotting these mistakes, learning from them, and putting things in place to prevent them from happening again. As this month focuses on how #DataMatters, I wanted to share some developments we are introducing, to support this meaningful presentation of governance and performance metrics to the wider team.
Utilising technology supports us as an organisation to measure the effectiveness of our strategies. Whether that’s business objectives or social value, having that quality and quantifiable data is essential.
As a governance team we have been working with our internal data team to develop dashboards. These will help us to measure things such as our teams mandatory training compliance and well-being assessments, as well as supplier progress and maturity towards assessments such as modern slavery, or Evergreen.
These dashboards are a positive tool, enabling us to create accountability, ensuring that key performance indicators are met, and business objectives such as social value are being adhered to. Presenting a holistic view of what we are doing as a team, to drive work around those objectives, and where we have potential to improve, build-upon and innovate.
The purpose of the dashboard is to respond to that ever-present challenge; that we as a governance team, are here to catch people out. We want to make this crucial data more visible to the wider organisation, showcasing how we can use it in a meaningful way that supports us all.
We are also utilising dashboard technology such as PowerBI to provide a pathway for staff to find resources or opportunities such as networks and shared experience groups to add value to and contribute to the existing body of knowledge within the team. Especially for essential areas surrounding the health and wellbeing of our team, for example information around our mental health first aiders, access to our menopause support. This offers a self-serve platform for those individuals who may not feel comfortable speaking openly.
As part of our partnership with NHS Supply Chain we also use this data visibility to showcase important contractual information, such as our performance in relation to social value commitments. Having this visibility allows us as a governance team to ensure our people are held to account, not just when lessons need to be learnt, but when successes are identified. Allowing us to share our approach with our colleagues throughout the partnership to support wider learning and improved visibility.
I’ve always seen the role of governance to be the ‘little cog’ that keeps the ‘big cogs’ turning. Having access to tools which can help us continue to drive home this point is something I am eager and excited to develop further.
The ongoing journey we are on with internal dashboards is about more than merely tracking governance and performance data; it symbolises our ever-present commitments to building a culture of transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. By harnessing the power of data, we are not only safeguarding our organisation's integrity, but are also paving the way for innovation, efficiency, and a deeper sense of community.
As we look forward, our commitment to utilising these tools reflects our dedication to and belief in the potential of every member of our team to contribute meaningfully to our collective success, ensuring that the role of governance is seen not as a hurdle, but as a vital support system that empowers us all to reach our potential.