Having access to the right data at the correct time is at the core of good project portfolio management. When decision-makers do not have access to the right data, you can only expect mediocre results.
Portfolio management involves the selection of the right projects and portfolio optimization to deliver the highest benefits. It also involves safeguarding portfolio value by ensuring that you deliver value, and improving the value of your portfolio by streamlining organizational processes. Right data is necessary at every step. The quality of data, as well as its quantity, are directly related to portfolio maturity.
Understanding the kind of data needed is one of the crucial factors for portfolio management. Portfolio data can be divided into several categories, including:
- Strategic data
- Resource data
- Schedule data
- Performance data
- Finance data
- Request data
- Time tracking, and more
How to ensure data reliability?
Data reliability means that the data you have at hand is complete and accurate. Data reliability is critical for data integrity initiatives, which is necessary for regulatory compliance, data quality, and maintaining data security. When reliable data is available, business leaders can make more informed decisions as it eliminates the guesswork. Reliable data fuels insights and delivers trusted analytics.
These 5 steps will help ensure data reliability:
Use a variety of data sources
For any business, it is important not to rely on a single source for data. By looking at multiple data sources, you can gain new insights, and therefore, validate the information that you already have.
All data is not created equal
Not all data is homogenous. Therefore, you must remember that you cannot apply the same set of data to all situations. Data quality can be different depending on the source. The accuracy of your data depends a lot on how it was collected, cleaned, and processed. It is critical that you assess each data source individually, and cross-reference findings from various sources.
Integrate your data
You should have multiple sources of data, but there should be only one collection platform. Storing data from different sources on different platforms could lead to inaccuracies and seriously impact data reliability. Having a central platform that integrates data and eliminates silos, it is possible to achieve more precise results.
Be clear about what you want
With access to tons of data, it is very important for organizations to be clear about the information they want. They should also be clear about what they want to get out of the data. There is more data available than anyone can handle. Without proper planning, you risk producing inaccurate insights.
Clean your data
It is critical to clean data regularly to ensure data reliability. With huge volumes of data being produced every day, stored data could easily become outdated. If you do not clean the outdated information, your results could be skewed in the wrong direction.
