Gb Water Companies Develop Open Data Strategy

Water companies have developed an open data strategy for the GB water sector, which regulator Ofwat has welcomed.

The strategy, developed within the Ofwat supported Stream initiative under the oversight of the Open Data Institute, sets out the vision “to build an open and trustworthy data ecosystem that supports achieving our strategic outcomes for our customers, communities, industry and the environment”.

The basis for the strategy is the ‘FAIROE’ principles, incorporating the widely agreed ‘FAIR’ set of principles for scientific data management on Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability, with the addition of ensuring the data is both Open and Ethical.

Recognising that the sector is at an early stage in its open data journey, the strategy prioritises five areas, which in turn are embodied in a set of commitments for signatory companies.

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1. Publishing data to support use cases that are high value to customers.Through engagement with customers and other key stakeholders the companies intend to learn what they need the most from their open data activities and to prioritise publishing the data to deliver that, starting with reviewing the underlying data supporting existing public information. These will be supported with individual release schedules or roadmaps, recognising that the companies are of different sizes and at different open data maturity levels.

2. Supporting collaborative data initiatives.To properly leverage open data the companies intend to collaborate to build and maintain the right data infrastructure. Such collaborations envisaged include publishing data together where it is more impactful to do so and on open data standards, including quality standards such as accuracy and completeness.

3. Aligning strategic approaches to open data and data sharing.The establishment of common metrics for monitoring and evaluation of published datasets is proposed and all companies are called on to support the Stream initiative around open data publishing and standardisation, either as a full member or as a supportive stakeholder.

4. Embedding, defining and sharing best practices within and across industries.The companies intend to collaborate openly beyond data with information, insights and best practices. They also intend to collaborate with other sectors undertaking open data, especially energy, and other physical infrastructure providers through initiatives such as the National Digital Twin Programme.

5. Improving data literacy within individual organisations.Data literacy in the water sector is still developing and by working with each other and partners, the companies intend to create organisational training plans to build their internal expertise.

Commenting and describing the strategy as an industry-first, Louise Burke, CEO of the Open Data Institute, said it sets out an important path for water companies to take a more open approach to the valuable data that they collect and hold.

“We support these steps to drive innovation and transparency through publishing open data, and believe that done properly, this will help build trust in the sector, and deliver value to customers, communities and the environment.”

Responding in an open letter, Helen Campbell, Senior Director, Sector Performance in Ofwat, welcomed the development and publication of the strategy, stating that it responds to Ofwat’s calls for a sector wide and collaborative approach to open data, as well as acknowledging the ownership that companies individually have for making progress.

“We welcome the framing of open data as a means of improving engagement, collaboration, innovation and trust in the sector and that the focus will be on finding valuable use cases to drive business performance and environmental stewardship,” she wrote.

“We also agree that open data is a business-as-usual activity, and that it should become a routine part of the way the sector operates.”

However, she expressed concern that it had taken longer to get to this point than had been envisaged and that accelerated progress on all open data activities is expected.

In the letter, a call is issued to all water companies, whether current signatories to the strategy or not, to act on the delivery of its vision, principles, priorities and commitments.

The companies also are expected to develop their individual open data approaches and be clear in how they support and deliver the sector’s open data vision.

To ensure that open data progress continues at pace, Ofwat intends to take a proactive engagement and monitoring approach and to directly engage with companies and ask them for specific information and data around their open data strategies.

“We want to see progress, both in terms of the continued valuable collaboration through Stream and companies taking forward their own individual accountability for publishing open data.”