Date: 2025-05-01 Page is: DBtxt003.php n8-Data-1
Definitions for TrueValueMetrics
Data
TVM is data centric. Data are at the center of everything that is reported by the TVM system.
I thought this was a joke ...
“My mind's made up ... don't confuse me with facts”... but first in corporate management and then in politics and in society at large, this is no joke. It is an everyday normal reality. Worse, there is an expectation on the part of too many people with power that their staff will 'fudge' the numbers so that they have the data ... the facts ... they need.
The purpose of the accountancy profession was, among others, to ensure that data about financial numbers was reliable ... and in this regard, I consider the profession to have failed. More on this elsewhere. ( See Data Validation )
Data Focus. TVM is a system that is based on data ... just like good accountancy. It is the analysis of data that provides the information needed for decision making and to hold people accountable.
The ideas of TVM are not complex ... in fact, part of the strength of TVM is the simplicity of the data and the simplicity of the analysis.
The general theme about information needed for decision making is that it should make it possible to calculate cost efficiency and cost effectiveness. This translates into a need to collect data that will make it possible to produce reports showing these matters.
What data are needed? TVM is a system that has community ... a place ... as the core of data collection and analysis. All the data are linked to time and place. Every fact that is going to be important in decision making about the community is needed. Broadly this breaks down in the following sections:
- Information about the area;
- Information about issues to be addressed;
- Information about interventions; and
- Information about the results ... the impact on the issues being addressed.