Often referred as “oil of 21st century”, the data have become important in connecting all the dots of complex relations and interactions, when collected in adequate formats and analyzed with modern IT tools.
The Anti-Corruption Agency is collecting, processing and analyzing vast amounts of data in its work. From the income and asset disclosures of public officials to financing of the political parties to citizens’ complaints – the Agency is a data mine of itself. When combined with the data coming from other public registries, it is necessary to introduce the IT tools that would make possible to analyze the data in efficient and effective ways.
From 14-22 September 2020, three groups of participants received a two-day on-job training on data processing and analyzing. The participants were divided into groups based on their experience in use of pieces of IT tools.
The beginners started from the data types and data recognition, machine-readable formats. This segwayed into practical work with data sources, resolving of limitations, and cleaning of raw data, in order to produce reports and analyses. The advanced users had more hands-on experience in more complex analytical process and data visualization software.
It is crucial to expose as many of the Agency staff as possible to these concepts. As proved during the trainings, the participants had many of the “Aha!” moments – when learning about more efficient ways in their everyday tasks and from realizing that they need to be disciplined in maintaining their own data sets in order to benefit from them.
The participants expressed interest and need to continue with this type of trainings, in order to solidify knowledge and turn it into a routine.
