Data , indicators and metrics – The core of any monitoring system
Today is World Statistics Day, so “Happy Stats Day”! Now let’s talk about data a bit and its relation to indicators and stats.
When I talk to people about stats and numbers, I see that the terms indicators, data and metrics are very often used interchangeably.
Let’s see what the Oxford Dictionary says.
Data: Facts and statistics collected together for reference and analysis
Indicator: A thing that indicates the state or level of something
Metrics: A set of figures or statistics that measure results
Monitoring framework
Data, metrics and indicators are related but separated entities: they represent different levels of information within a monitoring framework. I created the below diagram to illustrate how these entities relate and how indicators are built.
At the beginning, there is the world, meaning anything which is not digital. The real stuff like humans, buildings, nature etc.
Digitizing parts of the world results in data. For people for example that can be their name, age, place of birth, profession etc.
Out of this data, one can extract metrics, meaning numbers. The data may already contain metrics (e.g. the height or weight of a person), or it may contain elements to count or sum. One can also use metrics to calculate other metrics. For example, the number of people living in a city is a metric. The size of the city is another metric. The population density, the ratio between those metrics, is yet another one.
The core of any good monitoring framework is a strong metrics catalogue, meaning a list of available metrics with name, scope, calculation method, data source and update frequency.
Indicators and goals
Indicators are all metrics, but not all metrics are indicators.
Before selecting an indicator, you have to be sure and clear about the goal you want to achieve. As it is said in the definition, an indicator measures the level or state of something and in most cases that something is a system. What you want to achieve with that system is your goal. You may have targets or objectives defined which go with the goal, but not necessarly.
The example below shows an extract of the United Nations Millenium Goals framework. It clearly relates goals and targets and indicators.
Building your indicators
To conclude, here a few suggestions for anybody wanting to create indicators for its system.
- List the data you have.
- List the different elements which are the most important parts of the system you want to monitor
- Build a metrics catalogue, providing stats and numbers for those elements
- Define the goals you want to achieve
- Select 2–3 indicators per goal out of your metrics catalogue. Don’t define indicators for which you do not have the data!
Most importantly, building a monitoring framework is not a one person exercise. You have to build a multidisciplinary team, including upper management, especially when defining your goals.
