MXA was engaged by the Department of the Environment and Energy (the Department) to undertake an independent assessment and advise on an uplift strategy for the data generation, management and analytic (DGM&A) capability across the Energy and Emissions divisions of the organisation. This included a current state assessment highlighting key findings and detailed issues, identifying the target state for the Departments unique context, and developing strategic options to address challenges and provide a path forward to improve the Department’s future data capability.

The data and analytic landscape for the Department is continuously evolving due to a large number of external macro forces such as climate change and changing energy markets. As a heavily data driven organisation, the Department required a strategy to uplift its data and analytics capability to quickly and accurately respond to a range of increasingly complex policy questions. This uplifted capability needed to span across the Department’s strategy, people, process, information and technology.

To develop strategic options that addressed the key needs of the Department, MXA first defined the key policy questions the Department needs to answer, before designing a target state and options for implementation. This two-phase approach included:

1. A current state assessment to review, document and understand the current data and analytic landscape and engage key stakeholders to identify user needs and pain points. This included understanding and evaluating the efficiency of policy development and evaluation within the Department.
2. Strategic options to address current challenges and recommend a path forward to improve the DGM&A capability. This included identifying the target DGM&A state for theDepartment’s unique context to understand where to prioritise investment. This recommendation incorporated an implementation roadmap with benefits realisation and costing models to provide clear direction forward for the Department.

MXA engaged with a wide range of stakeholders in the Department through workshops and interviews to ensure that the solutions developed address user needs. This included holding workshops with the Department’s senior executive to understand high level business needs and drivers, as well as specific teams in the Energy and Emissions divisions to grasp daily user challenges and feasibility of solutions.  

MXA delivered a clear understanding of the current DGM&A landscape of the Department, highlighting areas of high capability and opportunities for improvement. Our policy driven approach contributed to a high understanding of the Department’s daily challenges and needs moving forward for improved capability. Our Strategic Options Report provided a clear vision for the Department’s target DGM&A capability, and a detailed roadmap to realistically achieve the desired target state in the Department’s current landscape and context.