The team behind the world’s first national roading performance reporting and data quality assurance tool was a finalist at the 2021 New Zealand Excellence in IT Awards.
The Road Efficiency Group (REG) and Company-X were one of three finalists in the Excellence in Govtech category chosen from many entries for a team or individual who achieved outstanding results through technology innovation in central or local government.
REG, a collaboration between Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and 68 road controlling authorities including Waka Kotahi, the Department of Conservation and city and district councils, commissioned a data quality benchmarking project designed to lead to evidence-led decision making in the transport sector.
Hamilton software specialist Company-X co-founder and director Jeremy Hughes led a team of software specialists in building the One Network Road Classification Performance Measures Reporting Tool (ONRC PMRT) for REG.
The reporting tool contains data for every road controlling authority in the country and road controlling authorities can run reports on their network characteristics, and compare them with their peers.
The data quality aspect of the project came out of an aeroplane conversation between Hughes and REG Data Sub Group chair Dawn Inglis when they imagined a future where users of the tool could interrogate the quality of the data behind performance measures reports and discover how reliable the data is.
Company-X was commissioned to research best practices in how to measure data quality and recommend to the REG Data Sub Group of industry subject matter experts how to proceed.
The Company-X team researched worldwide best practices for data quality assurance from world leaders. Hughes built a team, including an information science masters graduate, to research the best direction to take the data quality project. The team chose four dimensions, accuracy, completeness, consistency and timelines, and developed 63 metrics to measure and report on the roading data to ensure a successful data quality improvement program.
Since its launch in 2019, every road controlling authority has used the tool to view the quality of data which has changed the culture and the attitude towards data quality in the sector.
“If you want to make objective decisions repeatably and deliver good outcomes for road users and communities, good quality, assessable data is essential,” REG programme manager Andrew McKillop says.
Meanwhile, Hughes says the collaboration with REG is a “prime example of how far you can go when you work in true partnership”.
Inglis says the work between REG and Company-X “is absolutely fantastic … There’s a real appetite in the sector to do this stuff”.
Local Government New Zealand deputy chief executive Scott Necklen says the roading data project helps address high variability in service and costs across New Zealand.
“This project is creating savings through better asset management and procurement practice, making the dollar go further,” he says.
The Excellence in Govtech Award was won by the Ministry of Health’s Data and Digital Directorate for the NZ Covid Tracing mobile app. An awards dinner was held at Te Papa, Wellington, on July 16. Click here for a full list of winners.
*Read more about the Road Efficiency Group (REG) and Company-X partnership in the February edition of TransportTalk.
