Free Swim: the value of extending the data captured...

Monday 30 March 2009

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Key Performance Indicators for quality sports activity time
In addition, there are certain local authority Key Performance Indicators or KPIs that need to be dealt with, such as those relating to quality sports activity time. Specifically these require that every child achieves 5 hours quality sports time a week, comprising two during school hours, and three outside. As Craig saw it, Xn could design software to collect the KPIs, and compare them with national and local targets. This adds further value to the Local Area Agreement targets.
 
Extend Free Swim to the NEETs
In addition, by extending the Free Swim initiative to the 524 NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) in the Rochdale area, even more data could be captured and that much more value could be gained out of the one original initiative.
 
So with the schools database information, Craig, Rochdale and Xn saw a relatively easy route to developing a new software system that could do so much more than deal with Free Swim statistics, and provide the borough with an immense amount of valuable data, the net result of which could be a significantly higher uptake of public facilities by those in socially deprived wards.
 
However…
But like all good ideas, there’s usually a problem and in Craig’s case, it’s the challenge of the Data Protection Act which will prevent access to the schools’ databases until various approvals can be gained. But now that they’ve understood the potential of extending the data capture capabilities needed for the Free Swim initiative, Craig and Xn are already working on an alternative strategy in pursuit of the same goals by capturing the postcodes of the Free Swim users.
 
Craig: “It’ll be considerably more laborious to record individual data and postcodes analysis would provide the ideal intelligent data. We will still be able to add 84 schools into Xn’s software, and it’ll serve our purposes for now until such time as we can get access to the schools’ databases. It’s an issue, but not an insurmountable one. It’s more a matter of having to take more time while using a less convenient route to the same information.”
 
Xn and helping Rochdale exploit IT intelligently
“The point for us is that by expanding the Free Swim data we can capture with Xn’s systems, we can for relatively little extra effort, get so much more value from the same exercise of identifying the Free Swim users. It would have been much easier and quicker if we’d had access to the schools’ databases, but with partners like Xn we’ll find other ways of achieving the same objectives.”
 
“That for me is what IT’s all about, and why I like the relationship we’ve got with Xn – exploiting technology intelligently to achieve much more value for the people living in the Rochdale region.”