Data.NSW team from the NSW Data Analytics Centre successfully concluded the second Data Champions Network of the year on 30 June 2023. Three exceptional presenters showcased their innovative projects aimed at improving government services. The meeting brought together over 140 attendees from various government agencies, with approximately 50% of them coming from data-focused backgrounds. The presentations highlighted important initiatives that fostered a better understanding of legislation frameworks, enhanced procurement practices and simplified access to valuable data.
Recap of the latest meeting
The first presentation was from Matthew Roberts – Director, Data Science, Data Analytics Centre, and Jordan Finch – Data Scientist, Data Analytics Centre, who spoke about the Legislation Twin. Providing public services requires an understanding of the interconnectedness between legislation and legal instruments to assess potential impacts and ensure comprehensive consideration of relevant legislation in policy development and implementation, including cross-referencing of definitions across different Acts. The Legislation Twin is intended for government employees interested in NSW law. The tool provides insights into the NSW legal system, and it offers an intuitive interface for visualisations which users can easily navigate. The Legislation Twin Tool is available for access here.
Martin Elesgaray - Associate Director Analytics at the Treasury, presented the Trusted Accurate Data Program and revealed the cutting-edge improvements of "Spend Cube Online," an advanced solution for analysing supplier expenditure. By utilising agency buyer invoice data, this tool significantly improves decision-making in procurement around commercial, social and sustainability outcomes. Notably, the Trusted Accurate Data Program led to an impressive 50% validation rate for high priority spending categories, effectively increasing participation in training modules and tripling user growth in just two years. Additionally, the program played a crucial role in substantial improvements on policy reporting accuracy by identifying and correcting incorrect Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) vendors and also reducing downstream data quality issues by 70%.
The final speaker, Jasmin Aitken - Principal Policy Officer from the Better Outcomes Lab (BOL), presented the Better Outcomes Lab (BOL), a cross-agency initiative with the aim of making human services data and insights more accessible. The BOL’s mission is to improve the impact of government services by connecting decision-makers to customer-centred evidence on customer journeys and outcomes. Policy and Program officers can apply for a Data Passport to access either aggregated insights on customer journeys through a visualisation tool called the Journey Lab or unit record level data for project specific purposes. The Data Passport, built on the Five Safes Framework, makes it faster, easier, safer and cheaper to access human services data and insights.
The online application streamlines the process, enables tracking of data usage, and offers three-year data passport accreditations. The Journey Lab tools are great for non-technical users. With four different Journey Labs tools available for use, including an Early Childhood, Expected Costs, Homelessness Pathways and Human Services Journey Labs, users can access interactive data visualisation tools that provide valuable insights on aggregated data that can be used to inform decision-making. New products such as the NSW Metadata Registry, the Linked Data Capability Hub and the Indicator Selection Tool are currently under development, so watch this space! Get in touch if you have any questions betteroutcomeslab@customerservice.nsw.gov.au
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If you are from an NSW Government organisation and would like to participate in the DCN, register here.
If you would like to showcase your team or agency’s data-related initiatives, please contact us via email.