The strategy for 2023 has been set, the OKRs/goals for HR have been defined, and the topic of Reporting & Analytics is on your agenda — Congrats!

Many people analytics leads find themselves in the same situation. What is the best way to start? How do I ensure that my initiative is a success? As a teaser in advance: Talking about “advanced predictive analytics” and using AI drastically reduces your chances of success.

Let's face reality: Poorly maintained data, different systems, different stakeholders with different demands and resistance from the organization are not uncommon and something you should expect.

But there's no reason to panic. We'll show you ways to ensure the long-term success of your initiative and enable data-driven HR decisions. Let's start with the basics — the data.

data

Right at the start, there is the first challenge that needs to be solved. How do I get access to the right data I need for relevant metrics and decisions?

Democratizing data is the keyword here — make sure that you have access to the raw data from the various systems and that you think directly conceptually about the dissemination and sharing of this data with the organization in your People Analytics Initiative. Therefore, consider at the beginning who the relevant stakeholders are and which data should and may be shared at which level of aggregation.

It is also important to keep an eye on the scalability of the process and to think about integrating the data from the various systems, cleansing, normalizing, transforming and defining, etc. the data.

The right database is fundamental to start people analytics. Important data sources for your initiative are usually the HCM system (number of employees, termination rates, salaries, etc.), an ATS system (applications, interview days, recruitment channels, etc.), performance & engagement systems (eNPs, feedbacks, surveys) and business systems (e.g. CRM/sales systems, productivity systems, etc.).

At the beginning, get an overview of the tech stack, the data sources, and the relevant stakeholders for your initiative.

context

For your initiative to be a success, it's important to understand who the user of your “dashboard” is—he/she ultimately determines the added value that People Analytics delivers. There are two important points to understand here:

• Context of the organization/stakeholder
• The context of the data

First, look at the total staff costs — it's not uncommon for people to account for up to 70% of a company's total costs. With your People Analytics Initiative, you enable data-driven decision-making for 70% of investments in your company. Try to understand the company's strategy and priorities early on so that you can directly add value to the organization with people analytics by making the best (data-based) decisions.

Second, give the data the right context. Figures alone do not provide interpretations and recommendations for action. It's not enough to simply send nice-looking dashboards to the various stakeholders. They are often unable to correctly interpret the data without context and derive the right decisions from it. It is therefore essential to provide target values, benchmarks and trends so that the right context is created for the data.

Story

In order to have a lasting impact on the organization, the story is decisive in addition to the context of the data and the organization. Data can tell the evolution of the organization from the past, present, and future. Your stakeholders want to understand whether certain decisions have had a positive or negative impact on the organization, what they have learned from them, and which measures have led to a positive ROI. In this way, your stakeholders can directly understand what the historical situation is, what current situation the organization is in and which indicators provide an outlook for the future. This leads to significant added value in the organization through data-based decisions — your goal as a People Analytics Leader.

We hope the article helps you get an initial overview of the important steps for your successful people analytics initiative and set the right priorities. In the future, we will take a closer look at the individual areas so that your initiative is successful.