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A NSW Government website

Data Skills

Improving data skills will enable government agencies to deliver better services.These learning resources are intended to support the development of data skills of NSW Government employees. 

Please note that the courses linked below are examples only. The providers and courses mentioned are not endorsed by the NSW Government. 

Using data to improve decisions and service delivery 

Data enables informed decision making. Using data to inform policy and service design can help deliver better services and increase community participation, government transparency and economic opportunity.  

  • The Open Data Institute has published research on how data is being used to innovate and transform a range of industries. 
  • The Open Data Institute has also conducted research into public services and the role open data plays in making them better and more cost effective. 
  • There are many online training courses such as provider Coursera which has an introductory online course on data driven decision making.   

Finding data to help me in my work

Creating and using data visualisations

Data visualisations present insights from data analysis in engaging and visual ways to help anyone to understand key insights generated from data. 

Understanding data governance

  • Data.NSW provides an overview of legislation that outlines key, high level data governance requirements across the whole sector. 
  • The Data Governance Toolkit provides NSW Government agencies with practical and consistent guidance on the key components of an effective data governance program, as well as to create a shared understanding of what good data governance looks like. 
  • Agency staff should talk to internal colleagues about the business specific rules and requirements that apply to datasets in their organisation. 
  • The Open Data Institute (ODI) has developed a Data Maturity Web App to help assess how well your organisation understands and implements its data governance responsibilities, as well as its maturity in other areas of data management. Supporting documentation is also available for download.  
  • ODI’s Open Data Essentials short online course, also provides a brief overview of key data governance considerations. 

Data privacy and security

It is critical to manage privacy and security throughout the process of making, using and managing data. 

Releasing open data

  • The NSW Open Data Policy explains what open data is, why it’s valuable to the NSW government and community, and outlines NSW agency responsibilities in relation to open data. 
  • The NSW Information and Privacy Commission has an open data e-learn that explains the value of open data in NSW. 
  • Safeguarding your open data to ensure personal and sensitive information is protected is an important element of open data release. 

 


Last updated 24 Jul 2023