2. It's not the KPI that drives the business, but the data behind it
Commercial Audit
It's not the KPI that drives the business, but the data behind it
By Tim Cosham

3. Introducing the Commercial Audit
What is it & what’s the aim?
The Audit of the SU’s commercial business was a diagnostic approach to understanding how the business measures its performance, what data supports these measures and where the data comes from.
This was achieved through a series of fact-finding meetings with stakeholders and assessed major aspects such as data storage, systems suitability, KPI’s and future expectations.
A thorough SWOT analysis helped define observations and recommendations for change aimed at refining data-related processes, improving relevant data collection and interpretation, and identify new measures to understand the business and drive activity.

4. How has it been successful?

5. How is it impacting students?
This is a hard one to measure
The Audit document, including findings and recommendations, has not been widely shared, however aspects have been discussed with relevant managers in meetings whilst some aspects are already being addressed.
These include improved customer surveys, focusing on questions for which the answers provide clear direction for action, Introduction of Net Promoter Scores as low level KPI and a new digital platform to replace existing paper work.
How is it impacting your colleagues?
How is it impacting students?
Much of this work is not student facing but is aimed at understanding students better, in particular where they are and what they are doing
Understanding students’ habits better will aid the SU in providing what students want and need, where and when they need it
The activity to date is helping understand student behaviours and motivations
The new database that is being developed for the Print Shop will allow for detailed reporting on all transactions, reduce clerical errors and reduce accounts administration without negative impact on customers or staff

6. What challenges did you experience?
How did you overcome the challenges?
Understanding the intricacies of the business, including the dependence on and co-dependence of systems and processes
Scheduling sufficient time with each of the managers to collect suitable information. This frequently required revisits to address new questions as they became apparent
It has been difficult to allocate time to fact-find, analyse, query, assess, draft, review and summarise for each department
Identifying the questions that needed asking
Initially, with each team there was a period for which the purpose of the Audit was not apparent and for some it was greeted with suspicion
With each team there was an initial disconnect as my knowledge of systems, university language and processes was limited. This further hindered knowledge of what questions to ask
Some of the terms I used around data management, systems and performance measures were equally unfamiliar to some
Actual creation of database was a skill I needed to learn in order to provide as much support in-house as possible and minimise costs
I have utilised my knowledge of commercial trading environments, performance monitoring and IT-based project management to guide me.
I have ensured that the Audit was a collaborative experience that managers would work with me to fully understand the business and help identify new approaches or validate existing ones
I tried to be very open and clear as to my purpose and questioning, along with the intent behind the Audit
I have developed strong, collaborative relationships
I undertook a lot of research and constantly asked questions to ensure I developed a suitable understanding of each team’s activities and responsibilities
Finding time to complete the Audit of the Charitable side of the business along with other workloads still proves difficult. Although some of my workload has come about as a result of initial fact-finding (postcode mapping & club/society participation tracking)
I have engaged the services of a professional database developer to ensure the new system is suitable to a busy trading environment and is commercially sound

7. Take home messages

8. The Audit process, thus far, has challenged thinking and practices to ensure they are relevant and beneficial
Recommendations have been aimed at developing better understanding of student activity in order to enhance the Union’s services and support
New ways of thinking, making better use of good data and measuring additional parameters, can enhance understanding, provide focus around service delivery and clarity on what matters most to students
The SU’s data is spread widely across multiple, disparate systems and platforms, creating complexity and dependency
Time has been a major factor in delivering the Audit thus far
There’s more still to come, but early signs are positive
TO BE CONTINUED…