Understanding the business case and scoping a data-driven project

The first step in a data-driven project is to understand the business reasons for carrying it out and defining the desired outcomes. Thoroughly scoping the project will involve both creating a suitable team and gathering their expertise. This step is about trying to ensure that the investment you are about to make provides the expected return. 

Data-driven projects are best carried out using an agile mindset to allow reflection and, where required, rescoping (or even stopping). However, to do this it is important to have a well-defined end goal and a complete understanding of what is required to get there. Only then can the project be evaluated as it progresses and necessary changes be made to achieve the end goal. 

Understanding the business case requires:

• defining the problem to be solved,

• defining the desired outcomes,

• defining how to measure success of the project.

Scoping the project requires: 

• defining what data is required and how you will get it,

• defining where data will be stored and how,

• having an understanding of what analysis could be done and what resources are needed to do it, 

• planning what will happen if either the required data or chosen analysis technique is not available,

• understanding what the security requirements are and how they will be maintained throughout the project.

Data-driven projects often fail due to an underestimation of the time, costs and resources required to obtain quality data and the best tools to process and analyse it. Our aim is to help organisations better plan such projects leading to wider success. In later stages we will look at ‘quality data’ and ‘best tools’.