Accessible and shareable export enquiry data
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE
The Department for International Trade’s (DIT) is a UK government department responsible for helping UK businesses export and grow into global markets. In 2021, the DIT created the Export Support Service (ESS) as a free helpline and online advice service for all UK businesses exporting their products and services to customers in Europe. It was set up to assist businesses following the EU referendum (also known as Brexit) and answers questions relating to trading in Europe, with plans to expand to cover more global markets in the future.
The Export Support Service has also been identified as one of the top 75 priority services in the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO)’s 2022 to 2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data.
The challenge
The ESS was created to offer support to exporters through a variety of methods including an online form, email, call back service and other online sources. This meant that users could seek advice via whichever avenue is best for them; however, this approach also presented the challenge of how best to manage the data gathered via these multiple channels.
The DIT needed to develop the data architecture required for storing and sharing the data from the different enquiries being received. They needed a way to accurately analyse, monitor and evaluate the ESS service and to create a single source of truth for all ESS enquiries that all teams could use.
This meant that the different teams working on different parts of the ESS service needed a standardised approach to handling the data. Data also needed to be easy to access and shareable across a wide range of regions and administrations. Future proofing so that changes to the service could be easily integrated into the system was also important.
What we did
One of the first challenges was to ensure that all the different teams involved in managing incoming ESS data from its various sources had a standard approach when it came to deciding what data would be collected, processed and assessed. In order to achieve this, we liaised with all key stakeholders and set up an ESS Data Working Group to ensure consistent data collection and provide a forum to discuss their data needs. This included exploring any changes required to the ESS data model, taking into account how these would affect existing processes. The result of having all ESS stakeholders working more closely together was a much smoother and more integrated process all-round. It also avoided areas of potential confusion such as having dashboards or reports that were out of date.
We then tackled the challenge of creating a single source of truth for ESS enquiries. Data being brought into the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT)’s internal data warehouse system was coming in through various channels and was often in different formats as well as having many inconsistencies such as in the fields, field names and titles. We cleaned, formatted and processed all of the data and then combined it all into a single ‘master’ dataset. This offered all stakeholders a comprehensive dataset of consistent, clean data that is auto-updated daily. We removed duplicate data and avoided the need for users to replicate any cleaning or quality control processes.
We also wanted to maximise the benefit to exporters by being able to share data with the devolved administrations (i.e. the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments). Giving them access to data relating to their country would enable them to offer better support to businesses, and so we did this by using the postcodes within the ESS data to match enquiries with regional datasets. This meant we could identify enquiries by nation, English region and local authority. We then extracted data that could be shared with the devolved administrations and have the possibility of sharing data with regional DIT offices, which offers further sharing opportunities for the future.
The result
The DIT now has a comprehensive and flexible database of ESS enquiry data. All of the key stakeholders have access to this reliable and up-to-date dataset for easy analysis, reporting and evaluation.
A single source of truth for ESS enquiries has been established via a master dataset and the data can be easily shared. We therefore now have a much better understanding of which companies are enquiring, what they need and the characteristics of these companies seeking help. This information helps us to keep improving the service.
Given that the Export Support Service is one of the top 75 priority services in the CDDO’s 2022 to 2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data, it will continue to be an important part of the government’s plans to transform digital public services.
We will continue to work hard to make the most out of the ESS enquiry data, including incorporating and making the most of data from more complex queries and to ensure on-going optimal data integration across the service. We will also continue to work closely with all key stakeholders and support their collaborative efforts in getting the most from their data.
An article about our work has also been published on the government’s Digital Trade website: Helping exporters through joined up data.