Sagacity have been engaged by MOSL, the market operator for the non-household water market in England, to support the definition of a central data cleanse and enrichment service for the market.
Why Project 'Transformation in Data Enrichment' (TIDE)?
Poor data quality is consistently highlighted as a significant market friction and has been regularly emphasised by Ofwat in the Review of Incumbent Company Support for Effective Markets and the State of the Market Report 2019-20, as well as the UK Water Retailer Council (UKWRC) in the Economic Insight Non-household Water Retail Market Study.
As a result, MOSL committed to delivering a data cleanse plan for core market items, and published a Request for Information (RFI) in October 2020. Feedback from trading parties (water wholesalers and retailers) highlighted that poor data quality impacted their ability to perform core market activities such as verification of premises details, locating and identifying customers, and finding and reading meters.
Launching Project TIDE
Initial engagement from MOSL is for Sagacity to support the detailed definition of a central data cleanse and enrichment service. Potential use cases for the service need establishing as well as a case for change that MOSL will share with the market later this year, as part of their 2023-24 Business Plan.
The project team has already begun work on understanding current market data, with planned engagement and input from trading parties and other stakeholders to follow. This will ensure Sagacity define the best and most practical solution with required use cases addressed and strong benefits established.
In parallel, initial exploration has also begun with processing in place to establish the volume of premises and address data. Engagement with a small group of trading parties is in progress to test a proof of concept solution and validate the initial findings.
Fixing this data at source will significantly increase its useability within trading party organisations as well as MOSL’s Central Market Operating System (CMOS) platform (the core IT system for the market), allowing all stakeholders to benefit from accurate and complete premises and customer data across the industry and affording further enrichment opportunities.
Why Sagacity?
MOSL selected Sagacity based on their proven experience in delivering substantial business value to water companies providing water and waste for consumers, SME’s, and corporate customers, including wholesale and retail suppliers. Sagacity’s demonstrable knowledge of the various challenges and issues with the market data and the potential solutions to drive improvement were key factors of selection.
Sagacity’s solutions move away from traditional match rates and towards a shared benefits goal with full transparency on how this will be achieved, which is vital for MOSL as they look to increase data quality industry-wide, impacting over 70 organisations and over two million data records.
John Davies, CIO of MOSL, said: “Data and information are essential for realising the intended benefits of the non-household water market and key to driving operational efficiency and evidence-based improvement. Almost five years into the market, we have an opportunity to materially improve the quality of market data. Adopting a ‘fix from centre’ approach will deliver improvement more efficiently and consistently, and at a greater pace.”
Anita Dougall, CEO of Sagacity, said: “We’re very excited to be partnering with MOSL to help transform data quality across the non-household water sector. We’ve witnessed through numerous data projects in the water industry and in other industries like Energy and Telecoms, how poor data quality impacts businesses and their customers. The opportunities and benefits afforded to organisations that have complete and accurate data are transformational, and it enables usable insights for stakeholders to take forward for further and continuous improvements.”