Project KIWI: Part 2

We’ve come a long way since the last blog, as you can see manifested by the state of our KIWI mascot (now 7 months old). 

More than anything we’ve been growing, developing and flourishing, so the decaying metaphor isn’t the strongest one.

Here is a brief run-down of some things we’ve achieved…

Data data everywhere

Mapping our data was a lengthy process. With so many activity streams and each staff member’s multiple lists, it took a little longer than expected. We now know (hopefully!) where all our data sets live, what they consist of and how valuable each of them are as an asset to us.

B2B takes the lead (for a lowdown on B2B vs B2C read our previous blog here)

The whole project team met to talk through the people and processes behind the data. From this a conceptual model was born. Collaboratively with Golant Media Ventures we created a mega spreadsheet with the requirements for the design, build and integration of the system. And from THIS a logic model was born. Working in an agile way means that these models have gone through several iterations and are continuing to evolve even now.

Conceptual to logical to…

The conceptual data model gives us a more ideal view of our existing data. From this the logical data model is constructed, paying more heed to real-life database design and data but also detailing relationships between data sets, and naming these sets.

Playing the (data) field

Then comes the ‘what do we want to capture, exactly?’ which was a thorough process of naming every field, defining its type (e.g. text, date, numerical) and the kind of field information it will store. Where we have reporting requirements from funders, we need to make sure we’re not only capturing what we need, but that the process of reporting is easy (or easier).

Wait, what happened to B2C?

The same work with all our B2C data is in process. Having fallen back a little at the start (which helped with workloads and headspace) it is now catching up, and we have a fully described model on the horizon.

The house that Suite built

All this data needs to live somewhere. And this blog takes us up to where we are presently, which is prototyping our B2B logical data model on a system called Suite CRM (a developed open source project forked from Sugar CRM’s community edition). It does a lot of what we want, and is developable (but supported!) for the bits it doesn’t. Still a lot of playing and building to be done, but the potential is great…

Fab day listening to @artsadm #ACEsupported project examining data as an asset & the value of data modelling 4 business strategy.

Sara Jo Harrison (@sarajoarts) November 17, 2016

V interesting & useful talk fr @artsadm tonight on #kiwidata proj.Always love a good tube map/wooly scarf analogy (+ wine & samosas a bonus)

Rich M (@RhetoricalRix) October 27, 2016

Sharing is caring

We managed to tear ourselves away from the thrills of data cleansing and field-mapping for a few hours to share our learnings with some arts, digital and data colleagues from across the sector.

If you’d like to come to our next one, let me know on selma@artsadmin.co.uk. Likewise if you have any questions about our KIWI project, drop me a line.

Next time 

Looking forward – if all goes to plan – there’ll be more on the above, plus developments around data protection, wifi capture and studio bookings systems.