Missing/Inconsistent Data
One of the things I'm learning in this tool is how messy our data is. Inconsistent use of fields across program cycles is making it really difficult to synthesize information. I thought I'd try filtering to just one process and isolating a field that I know has data entered . . . but I'm still getting inaccurate results: the amount awarded from our Follow Up form in our active cycle has dollar values in less than 1/3 of the rows. Is anyone else noticing that information just isn't where you expect it to be?
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Agreed, our data is messy after 15 years of processes. Changing the fields according to our funders and reporting requirements has left many duplicate funding sources and amount awarded/grant amount awarded fields. Some fields are not populating any data. If I filter our processes to the last 4 years, I get better results. I am also struggling to get correct data from the process budget field. It seems to add the process budget for each application making it difficult to compare program budget totals for each year.
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@melissamarudas it helps to know we aren't the only ones that have this challenge. We've used the system for 7 years (I think, adopted before my time here) so I can only image doubling that. I thought I could get better results by filtering for a more recent process (so I didn't have data across multiple fields) but still couldn't get all rows populated. Are you exploring data clean up? I'm tempted to just move forward with better practices from here, but it's a loss to no be able to use the full tool and access our data. I also think something is wonky because I can get complete results (at least for a single process) in the reporting tool. . . so it could be that I just haven't identified the correct field to pull in the data viz site. I'm curious if Foundant's clean up of available fields in the data viz area will make it easier to identify the "correct" fields.
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@DebVaughn Yes, I am considering contacting support for some clean up assistance. I'm hoping we can just focus on the last 5 years. We are able to use the reporting tool by combining and renaming grouped fields, It might take 2 or three exports to make sure we have them all but luckily we only need to report on a year at a time and that makes it easier.
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Yes, I am so excited about everything I am building but am absolutely not confident about the accuracy of the data across the full history of the organization. I feel slightly more confident when I filter for the years since I started with the organization (two years). I'd love tips on how data cleanup to maximize the use the dashboards. I can integrate institutional knowledge from team members with longer history but haven't begun to think of a workplan to fully integrate all of it, but seems doable.
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