QUESTION-TO-INSIGHTS

End-to-End Process Map and Measures

There are several departments and teams in any organization focused on solving problems and providing insights to support decision making (e.g.,
market research, competitive intelligence, customer insights, analytics.) However, to ensure that these disparate teams’ efforts can be combined or
integrated an organization needs a single high-level process for these efforts. Hence the Question-to-Insights, end-to-end process is the coordinated
approach to conducting (primary, secondary, qualitative, and quantitative) research and analysis to answer business questions.

Question-to-Insight: High-Level, End-to-End Process

Collect Data/ Conduct

Plan Research Report Insights
Information Analysis

Figure 1

A common struggle for any end-to-end process management is identifying the right measures that encapsulate the value or high-level impact of the
process. These key performance indicators (KPIs) allow the organization to focus all participants in the end-to-end Question-to-Insight process on a
shared goal that aligns with the strategic purpose of the process.

Common End-to-End Process KPIs

» Stakeholder confidence or satisfaction

» Utilization or consumption of results
» Number of service requests
» Project-specific KPIs
» Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

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 Phase Definitions and Measures
This section of the article dives into each phase of the Question-to-Insight process and includes definitions, phase-specific KPIs, and available measures.

PLAN RESEARCH
Definition—Refers to the process of understanding stakeholder needs, the codification of the project idea into a scope, the creation of the
project research plan, and development on the instrument used to collect data and insights.

Plan Research Process

Figure 2

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 Phase-Specific KPIs:
» Stakeholder satisfaction
» Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

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 COLLECT DATA/INFORMATION
Definition—Is at the core of most projects and refers to the process for the activities to gather data and insights to answer the research questions or
prove/disprove the hypotheses in the project scope and develop useful insights and content.

Collect Data/Information Process

Figure 3

Phase-Specific KPIs:
» Data accuracy and timeliness
» Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

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 CONDUCT ANALYSIS
Definition—At this phase the information and data collected are collated, prepared, and analyzed to identify insights and trends to answer stakeholder
questions, test hypotheses, or support decision making. This process is typically iterative where analysis and insights are shared with stakeholders are
refined as needed.

Conduct Analysis Process

Figure 4

Phase-Specific KPIs:
» Stakeholder satisfaction
» Accuracy of results, predictions, or models (e.g., mean absolute error, root mean square error, or Brier score)
» Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

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 REPORT INSIGHTS
Definition—This is the development and communication of the insights for consumption by stakeholders. This can include an array of formats such as
reports, dashboards, models, and presentations. The key here is to ensure that the vehicle provides the information that the stakeholders need to make
decisions and implementation the findings.

Report Insights Process

Figure 5

Phase-Specific KPIs:
» Utilization or consumption of results
» Accuracy and timeliness of reports and recommendations
» Stakeholder satisfaction or confidence
» Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

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 Common Variations
This section of the article dives into three variants of the Question-to-Insights process and includes variant-specific KPIs and available measures for the
relevant KPIs.

DATA AND ANALYTICS

This looks explicitly and the issue-to-resolution for quantitative analysis projects and can include the development of algorithms and models.

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 Data and Analytics Variation: Question-to-Insight

Start Plan Research Collect Data (20961) Conduct Analysis Report Insights End

Identify needs from

Prepare data Report on analysis
stakeholders
(21461) (20963)
(21459)

Scope analytics Analyze data

project (21460) (20962)

Develop and
Create data models
manage hypotheses
(21462)
(20960)

Review data models

with stakeholders
(21463)

Refine data models

(21464)

Figure 6

Variant-Specific KPIs:
» Stakeholder confidence or satisfaction
» Utilization or consumption of results
» Number of service requests
» Project-specific KPIs
» Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

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 WORKFORCE ANALYTICS
This looks explicitly at workforce-related quantitative based question-to-insight processes.

Workforce Analytics Variation: Question-to-Insights

Start Plan research Collect Data Conduct Analysis Report Insights End

Determine
Identify workforce Transform Communicate
stakeholder
data sources workforce analysis workforce analysis
requirements
(21445) data (21448) outcomes (21450)
(21442)

Develop insights
Identify research Gather workforce into workforce
questions (21443) data (21446) analytics outcomes
(21449)

Select workforce
analysis
methodology
(21444)

Figure 7

Variant-Specific KPIs:
» Stakeholder confidence or satisfaction
» Utilization or consumption of results
» Number of service requests
» Employee retention
» Employee satisfaction

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 » Productivity measures: cycle time, costs, number of FTEs

Workforce Analytics Variation Benchmarks: Select KPIs

METRIC ID MEASURE MEDIAN N

Number of FTEs that perform the process group "manage employee information and analytics" 4.0 1,979
106364
per $1 billion revenue

Total cost to perform the process group "manage employee information and analytics" per $1,000 $0.26 511
106380
revenue

Figure 8, Source: Open Standards Benchmarking Portal

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