Developing Human Capital: Using Analytics to Plan and Optimize Your Learning and Development Investments

Appendix FGetting Your Feet Wet in Data: Preparing and Cleaning the Data Set^a

The purpose of this book is to provide a road map for pursuing and executing an analytic approach to human capital investment. It is written at the 10,000-foot level so as to cover a broad range of scenarios. However, if you are looking for practical tips and specific techniques for analyzing the data, this appendix is for you.

You will never be able to find out whether your intervention is having the desired effect if your data isn’t fully cleaned and prepped prior to statistical analysis. Depending on the complexity of your data and your project, this can be one of the more time- and resource-consuming aspects of the project. Engaging the data analyst who will be working on your project when the study is designed can be a big time saver. He or she can help you work with your data owners to develop the data requirements for the project, ensuring that all needed columns are included and determining the most efficient format for the exported data. Having to go back to a data owner to ask for additional data can have a huge impact on the project time line.

DATA PRIVACY AND ENCRYPTION

Data privacy is increasingly becoming an important concern for many organizations. With more connectivity and electronic access, it is critical to protect personal information. One very useful technique is the removal of personally identifying information. This involves stripping the employee records down to a record ID ...