Making management information (MI) more accessible with Power BI

As the theme for this Analysis in Government month is “Impact”, I would like to share about UK Government Investments (UKGI) and our work on a Corporate Governance Management Information (MI) Dashboard, which is improving how our organisation interacts with performance-related data.

UKGI is the government’s centre of excellence for corporate governance and finance. Within this sits my team, the Contingent Liability Central Capability (CLCC) team, which is an analytical and advisory unit established to strengthen contingent liability expertise across government by improving how we manage the government’s portfolio of risk. In addition to advising on contingent liabilities and sharing best practice, we produce analysis and dashboards on contingent liabilities for individual departments.

The task

Our Project Management Office (PMO) reached out for support to improve the current corporate governance MI that is provided to UK Government Investments’ Executive Committee.

The current MI captures data from shareholder teams on their portfolio of assets, which is used to determine how well the assets are performing in comparison to each other and their associated risk rating. This data is brought together in an Excel spreadsheet and then transformed into various point-in-time graphs and tables.

We decided to produce a dynamic and interactive dashboard using Power BI to:

• enable the Executive Committee to interrogate the data
• support Shareholder teams to make their own individual comparisons and encourage improvements across the portfolio

Our approach

Data Considerations

We cleansed and appropriately formatted the data after we received it to ensure it can be structured ready for use in an interactive dashboard form. We did this by categorising the data into clear data types, such as binary, discrete, and continuous data. This meant it could be used to visualise the relationships between these variables, which is something not currently captured.

Analysis

We needed to determine the main variables and performance indicators for various UKGI assets. We also needed to explore ways to interact with the data and determine what data relationship to build.

Visualisation and UI

We have been working with the PMO team to build a dashboard and determine the most appropriate ways to visualise the underlying data to generate the most valuable insights.

Next steps

Test with end users

We plan to hold a focus group with the directors in the shareholder teams to:

• gather feedback
• establish how they would like to interact with the data
• determine what data relationships would be useful

Automation

We will identify opportunities to improve the information being reported and consider how we can automate the way this information is gathered, where possible.

Error checking and Quality Assurance

We will ensure:

• we have a comprehensive process for checking errors
• all imported data are appropriately time-stamped

What I have learned

Keep it simple

As an analyst, it’s easy to get entwined into every detail. By taking a step back and speaking to a director I was able to see a different perspective. This helped me understand what directors look out for and what information is important to show. It also helped me think about the story I would like to tell through the data.

Be comfortable showing an unfinished product

I have become used to showing work in progress at my regular catch-ups with my stakeholders. I have noticed that it’s better to show an unfinished product when asking for feedback because people are more engaged as they are able to influence change – and it saves time!

It’s a learning process

I have found that doing research into how other departments, organisations and international companies produce their dashboards and use Power BI has helped me to think creatively about how to visualise the data. Some of these ideas, in combination with my formal training in Power BI, has allowed me to use these techniques within this project.

In conclusion, the organisation will be able to use the dashboard in an accessible way to identify areas of risks within each of the portfolio assets and take necessary action when and if needed.

Contact us

If you’re interested in learning more about how we used Power BI for the Corporate governance dashboard, please contact us at CLCC@ukgi.org.uk.