Data and Analysis

Use data and information to make decisions—your “gut instinct” will only take you so far.

Decide on a few measures
Start making decisions
Make data and information available
Share best practices
Protect your data and systems
Data and Analysis - Interactive Module
Your Turn - Answer Your Organizations Key Questions

Decide on a few to measure that allow you to gauge how well your organization is doing overall.

Select a few important measures, with a good balance of financial, operational, customer-related, and workforce-related measures. Make sure these measures fit your organization’s overall objectives.
 

Track these measures regularly and look for trends in the data.

 

Start making decisions based on this information.

• Make sure the data and information are timely, reliable, and accurate.
• Develop regular, repeatable mechanisms (a process) for reviewing performance against these measures and for checking the appropriateness of the measures.
• The decisions you make might be about strategy, resource use, processes needing revision for greater efficiency or effectiveness, customer services you should provide, or workforce training that is beneficial.
   

 Make data and information readily available to those who need it.

• Give your workforce, customers, suppliers, and partners easy access to the information they need.
• Give your workforce the authority and responsibility to make decisions and act based on data and information. Since workforce members are closest to daily operations, they will know best how to improve the operations.
   

 Share best practices across your organization.

Collect and share best practices from all areas of your organization, as well as from outside your organization. Read industry and local business publications and online sources to find the information. Consider visiting best-practice organizations.
 

Protect your electronic and other data and information systems.

• Protect sensitive information about your workforce, customers, and organization in all its forms.
• Ensure that hardware and software are reliable, secure, and user-friendly. Make sure hardware, software, and critical data are available during an emergency.
   

Interactive Module

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Role-Model Best Practices

Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE)
Baldrige Award Recipient

CORE continuously monitors its performance on key measures through corporate and department-level dashboards, with measures cascading from dashboards and scorecards to action plans. Measures are tracked daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually using resources such as the “data mall,” which was built in-house by CORE’s IT staff. To improve efficiency and effectiveness, CORE uses methods such as analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; a leadership-initiated “catch-ball” process that spreads best practices through workforce communication and consensus as part of the annual strategic planning process; and a program fostering employee-submitted “Great Ideas.”
 

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Role-model best practice are from award application at time of award.
Learn more role-model best practices from Baldrige Award recipients in all sectors.