It’s obvious to the data team, but can be perplexing to school executives, that the Head does not need “administrator” role in the School Information System.

While we do try to make their work as fluid as possible, executives need to understand:

• The data is very incomplete. When you look at it you are missing significant meaning that comes from our detailed practices and undocumented understandings that are the responsibility of dozens of other workers in the school. You need their eyes and experience, not just your own, to make sense of it.
• The application is very noisy. It holds millions of records – more than any person can grasp. Even gaps are significant, but not obvious. You need everything irrelevant stripped away.
• The data is fragile. Minor changes or corrections can have unintended effects on the real-world treatment of students and staff. As far as possible, we delegate that responsibility to staff who understand the significance of corrections; we wrap changes in procedures to ensure consistency between systems; and we expect the editing staff to devote time to learning minute detail of how the school handles data changes.
• The data is sensitive. Real people need effort to switch mindset as they shift from pattern-scanning in large lists to individual pastoral considerations for children or staff with confidential financial, medical, legal or pastoral notes. Inconvenience in the application works to assist appropriate caution.

This is not a flaw: it is inherent in the complexity of an organisation with hundreds of clients and accountability for millions of items of data.

The key survival strategy for executives is to deeply understand “dashboard” reports that focus on their strategic issues, and to make use of staff who have deeper awareness of the implications of the data.

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