Are you disciplined enough with your data?

Making Defence life like community life hinges on information that is organised – something JLL knows quite a bit about, as this chat shows.

We’re all heading towards digital-centric management of commercial real estate. Ultimately it will help level up Defence’s estate services. But systems are disaggregated and it can be a struggle to find the information you’re looking for.

You wouldn’t be the first person to say that. Here’s what else we hear often: “I don’t trust the data in our system”, “these reports are not holistic”, “why can’t we just have one version of the truth?”, “I’m pretty sure we spent more last year than this report shows”. Sound familiar? Just about all corporate Australia is feeling your pain. It sounds like you need to get your data in order. 

That’s the goal. With 70 major bases, more than 100 training ranges, and 1000-plus leased or owned properties, we’re certainly not short on data. And I recognise how getting a handle on it can support us in enhancing the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of our estate. 

And your balance sheet. Did you know that real estate operations typically account for the second largest corporate spend in non-manufacturing companies right after payroll? That makes them much more sensitive and accountable to the quality of their data. Plus, bad or overlooked data can be costly. Renewing leases at the last minute because information couldn’t be found well ahead of time could see you paying 20% to 30% more in rent – that’s potentially millions of dollars. 

That’s a lot of money.

Sure is, especially in these inflationary times. JLL’s working seriously to spare our clients those costly surprises. Last year, we ran an audit using JLL technology on 114 lease contracts for one of our government clients. What we found is because of previously poorly managed data, the client had overlooked $480,000 in financial obligations. To get its records back into shape, our specialists gathered the client’s data streams into a single central repository where everything could be cross-referenced, followed by monthly audits and frequent checks.

Love your work. I like to think we’ve got sophisticated information processing systems in place though. How is it that data can still go awry?

Sophisticated systems can make difference, for sure. But the reality is that the accuracy, completeness, relevance, and timeliness of the information coming out of your systems cannot be better than the quality of the information that goes in. Poorly entered data is likely down to a combination of processes, people and governance. It helps to tackle one at a time. 

Go on then, where do I start?

The best place to start is to understand how your data is being used by your organisation. What reports, dashboards, spreadsheets, and charts do you have? Are they being used? Are they considered accurate and timely?

It is also important to understand the processes and procedures that generate your data, as well as knowing how that data is stored

Understanding the factors that drive the lifecycle of data within your organisation is key to making accurate data-driven decisions.

Another point to keep in mind: with Defence on an ongoing journey of modernisation, the integration of systems – with the Defence Garrison Estate Management System, for example – is very common, yet can be full of complexity and challenges. Because of the data mapping between systems, it’s critical to standardise how data is defined.

Noted, thank you. Are there any other areas where data processes typically fall down?

Yep. It could be in the processes used to gather data. The best way to eliminate this is to get a few of your subject matter experts around and map the way things are currently done. You’ll pretty quickly identify gaps in process and coordination, ineffective procedures, bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Also look out for manual steps, such as tasks that require re-keying of data, which can lead to data entry errors.

Another question to ask yourself is whether your teams are adequately skilled to manage data. For example, accounts payable clerks in a central accounting pool who enter property expenses may not have the appropriate context to interpret invoices or detect inconsistencies that someone in operations would. 

And on the topic of people, appointing a ‘data steward’ is recommended. There should be one steward for each of the key functional areas of real estate, and they should be responsible for the processes around entering, reviewing and managing data and ensuring that standards for quality are met or exceeded with consistency. The leading practice is for them to be part of a data governance body which should enforce rigorous processes around data gathering and processing, and they should run data audits periodically.

Wow. That’s a crazy amount of rigour.

Of course. But the outcomes you can achieve when it’s all running smoothly are worth every effort. For example, we have one client with a real estate portfolio of more than 4,000 properties. Once upon a time it could make neither head nor tail of its data. There were no processes or standards in place, there were errors, inconsistencies and duplications, and the data was useless for reporting, decision-making, and setting key performance indicators.

We implemented new compliance measures, set up a data stewardship program, and introduced new technology and automation solutions so our client could easily track and monitor its new governance program. The result? A 60% increase in the client’s data quality score, and information that’s primed for strong decision-making. You can’t argue with that.