Ensuring strategic partners are able to access data and get a better understanding of local need

Background

The Havering Data Intelligence Hub provides data, information and research about the London Borough of Havering. The Hub was set up to benefit the local authority, its partners and the public by helping them understand key information about the borough through data, analysis, surveys and reports.

Getting started

Rebecca Booker is Area Intelligence Business Analyst at the council. She says one of the key drivers for the hub was the need for all the partners to have access to the same data.“You often find that people obtain data from different places and this can be confusing as there is little consistency. We wanted to make sure all the data was in one place where everyone can access it,” says Rebecca.

Rebecca has been responsible for developing the Data Intelligence Hub project and in November 2010 started to bring together analysts and representatives from partner organisations. They decided that the most efficient and effective way to get up and running was to purchase Instant Atlas software and OCSI Data and Report Packs. OCSI data are consistent, nationally published sets of themed indicator data compiled at the lowest geography available, including time series to the most recently available data.

Meeting the need

The Data Intelligence Hub has been live since July and provides information by eight themes. These are: education, health, crime, inequalities, housing, economy, environment and population. The website also provides a ‘Data View’ tab that allows users to create maps by theme or geography. “Users can pick and choose between the themes to find the data that meets their needs,” says Rebecca.

Rebecca says the team has been promoting the Data Intelligence Hub. It is proving popular with the Equality and Diversity Team and the Communications Team has been using it to ensure the council’s messages reach the appropriate target groups. “Feedback has been very positive and we have even had comments from other councils who have said that it is comprehensive and impressive,” says Rebecca.

Future developments

The council is hoping to add its own datasets to the Data Intelligence Hub and conversation with the public health team has just started. “We are also testing a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) page using data which is specifically related to the assessment. This will allow users to drill right down,” says Rebecca.

Staffordshire Observatory is also investigating how it could minimise the resource needed to upload the data and is considering the using of a streaming data application from InstantAtlas. This would mean it could move away from handling spreadsheets and instead upload data overnight automatically.

Key benefits

• All the strategic partners are now able to access the same data which was one of the key objectives of the project
• There are fewer ad hoc requests for data and when queries do come in, individuals can be pointed to the Data Intelligence Hub where they can find the answer
• A wide range of users can now find the data they need through customisable reports

Other InstantAtlas LIS stories and reports that will interest you

InformSomerset - How Somerset Intelligence Network is using data presentation to explain community profiles to a wide user audience

Coventry Partnership - Developing a centralised information hub that gives LSP partners the intelligence they need

Devon County Council  - Using a shared online resource to ensure Devon’s strategic partners make evidence-based decisions using the same data

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