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How Seer Data’s Data & Maturity Model Can Help You Measure Outcomes and Evidence Impact
For many organisations, measuring impact is a crucial but challenging task. While there is often a clear vision for using data and evidence to inform decision-making, turning that vision into actionable insights to measure and evidence impact can be overwhelming. Seer Data & Analytics has developed a Data & Evidence Maturity Model to guide organisations through this journey, providing a structured framework to help you progress from ambition to data-informed learning, evaluation and impact reporting.
Understanding Seer’s Data & Evidence Maturity Model
Seer Data’s Data & Evidence Maturity Model helps organisations assess where they are in their data journey and identify steps to advance. The model outlines five key stages:
- Lacking – Beginning to see the data and evidence gaps and realising a need to build a data and evidence culture, processes and systems
- Visioning – Recognising the importance of data and forming a vision for impact measurement
- Emerging – Establishing capabilities for collecting and managing data to measure impact, building people capabilities and starting to tell an outcomes data and impact story
- Maturing – Embedding data into decision-making processes and organisational culture with data governance and systems in place
- Optimising – Using data for growth and scaling, advanced analytics and modelling, and continuous learning to drive impact.
Most Organisations Are at the Visioning Stage
Many organisations we speak with today find themselves in the visioning stage, where they understand the value of data but struggle with where to begin to measure outcomes, not outputs and tell the story of impact. At this stage, key characteristics include:
- A strong desire to use data to measure outcomes
- No outcomes or impact measurement framework
- Gaps in outcomes data collection, but lots of operational data to draw on
- No dedicated data strategy or tools in place
- Leadership buy-in for data-driven decision-making and impact measurement, but uncertainty on next steps.
If your organisation is in this phase, it’s essential to focus on defining your objectives and identifying what success looks like in terms of impact measurement.
Moving from Visioning to Emerging
Transitioning from the visioning stage to the emerging or building stage involves laying the groundwork for data governance, collection, management, safe storage and usage. Some key actions include:
- Identifying Outcomes Metrics: Determine the most relevant data points to measure impact within your organisation’s outcomes framework.
- Developing a Data Strategy: Establish guidelines for data collection, storage, governance and capability building.
- Investing in Tools and Skills: Ensure your organisation understands how all the systems and technology connects and support the team with training to ensure data quality and collection.
- Reporting: Build a plan for reporting for internal and external purposes.
- Forming Partnerships: Collaborate with data experts such as Seer Data and learn from other organisation’s about how they have built their data capabilities.
Maturing and Optimising for Impact and Growth
As organisations mature in their data journey, they operationalise and optimise where data becomes a core part of decision-making, learning and evaluation, and support growth from multiple funding source. In these stages:
- Insights are integrated into operational and programmatic decisions
- Insights drive strategic initiatives and policy development for executives and boards
- Organisational impact is understood by all stakeholders
- Continuous learning supports the opportunity for growing outcomes and impact.
Getting Started with the Seer Data Maturity Model
If you’re at the visioning stage, you’re not alone! Most organisations let us know that’s where they are at now. Some are investing in data and evidence because they have missed out on significant grants or funding opportunities because they lack the maturity to measure impact.
We can help you build your roadmap toward effective and meaningful impact measurement no matter where you are in your journey. It’s your data, your story.
