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P-193 Seeking a single source of truth: excel to power BI

bmjspcare · 2025-11-21 · canonical JSON source

2 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Background A single source of truth is a prerequisite capability to excel at person and business intelligence (Magno Queiroz. Data value and the search for a single source of truth: What is it and why. In: Proc 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. 2024 Jan; Hawaii). Hospice clinical data is used to monitor activity, provide evidence to the Care Quality Commission, to the Integrated Care Board and for fundraising bids. In 2020, data sources were Excel, Word, paper documents and manual downloads from the clinical system. Processing data was time consuming, limited in scope as each request was unique and independently created. The monthly clinical report took two weeks to produce and ad hoc data requests were an additional burden.Aim To develop and produce accurate dynamic reportable data in a single source.Method Collaborative engagement with IT providers to set up Strategic Reporting from SystmOne. A working group supported the integration of the system and implementation of Power BI. The Data Analyst attended Power BI training and learnt to write SQL reports. The team progressively built a data model through a continuous improvement approach (Langley, Moen, Nolan, et al. The Improvement Guide: a practical approach to enhancing organizational performance. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons; 2009), integrating processes in the clinical system to reduce the need for multiple data sources and checking the reporting accuracy against historical approaches.Results Initial trials have demonstrated success. Dependency on manual downloads has reduced to nil, and manipulation and reports in Excel are almost extinct. From two weeks’ work to produce the clinical report, the data reported is not limited to single periods but is continuous, updates automatically and lends itself better to statistical process control charts (NHS Futures. Making Data Count [internet]). Ad hoc reports are connected to the single data source and requests are managed through a bespoke request system enabling improved tracking of data requests.Conclusion Working as a team and collaboratively with IT services has enabled progression to step closer to a single source of truth. Work capacity has been released within the team to allow for further streamlining and improvement.