Federal managers who are early adopters of analytics understand how gathering data and finding meaningful connections provides powerful tools for improving performance—and they are trying to make the case that all agencies should be using data analysis to achieve their  missions. Unfortunately, it can be a tough sell.  

Enter a new report from the Partnership for Public Service (PPS) and the IBM Center for The Business of Government: "From Data to Decisions II: Building an Analytics Culture." This second report on using information to measure and improve performance examines what it really takes to build analytics into an agency's decision-making processes and culture. The report includes concrete steps for building a discipline approached to analytics and profiles of seven agencies using analytics to achieve better results.  

PPS and IBM set out to understand the extent to which agencies were using analytics and how analytics helped them achieve program results. Specifically, they wanted to learning from agencies:  

• how they are using analytics

• how they got started

• what conditions helped to grow their approaches

• what challenges arose and why

• what success looks like.  

They found many parallels in approach across agencies and programs. Driven by budget realities and the push for more data-driven actions, agency managers were examining their programs in a disciplined, comprehensive way to determine how they conduct their business. They found that agencies’ use of analytics varied across a wide spectrum, with some agencies having sophisticated analytics programs and others just beginning to build capabilities. Nearly all agencies, however, recognized the value of using data to inform decision making and wanted to learn how to do it better.  

Research for the report finds that organizations that are successful at launching or expanding analytics programs employ certain strategies. They systematically examine their processes and activities to ensure that everything they do clearly connects to what they set out to achieve, and they use that examination to pinpoint weaknesses or areas for improvement. They incorporate analytics into their day-to-day business, and they bring in people whose backgrounds and experience can boost an analytics program or approach. 

Here are the four common practices that others could replicate:

1. Leaders focused on transparency, accountability, and results.

2. Staff was given a clear line of sight to desired goals or outcomes.

3. Agencies invested in technology, tools and talent.

4. Agencies cultivated and leveraged partnerships within and outside the agency. 

Download the full report for more details on each of the four practices or to read about the seven agencies using analytics to drive mission results.