Data inventory pack: Getting your not-for-profit’s data in order

What is a data inventory?

At its simplest, a data inventory is a list.

Depending on your organisation’s data maturity, the list can be as brief or as comprehensive as you like. As a rule of thumb, start small and build out your inventory as your data capability grows.

A data inventory is also your metadata. Metadata is ‘data about data’ and is critical for many reasons. You will need it if you ever want to use AI with your data and plays a key role in your data management, retrieval, and how your data is organised. We will go into metadata in more detail in the more advanced versions of this resource.

Our Basic Data Inventory Template is designed to help you create a basic data inventory that will help people from across your organisation trust and use data with confidence.

Why use a data inventory?

A data inventory is best practice for understanding and keeping your data safe.

Without a data inventory, you won’t know what data you have, where sensitive data resides, whether your data is compliant with regulations or funder requirements and who to go to if you have questions about the trustworthiness of that data.

Without this knowledge you will open yourself up to immense risk if you get hacked, may inadvertently share sensitive information with the wrong people, want to understand issues and trends in your service provision, and prepare your organisation to use AI to achieve efficiencies.

Protecting your data

Having an accurate understanding of the type and location of the data that your organisation holds is a key enabler to protecting it. This information can inform decision making on access permissions, backup and recovery planning, as well as incident response planning.

Indigenous data considerations (CARE principles)

We have added information about Indigenous data to help organisations improve their understanding and reporting and move towards CARE principles because how you classify data as sensitive can be different for Indigenous communities. The CARE principles are a vital structure for ensuring that your data supports Indigenous data sovereignty.

Read more about Indigenous Data Governance at the Indigenous Data Network (External)

Further reading: A Guide to First Nations Data Sovereignty (ID-SOV) | Digital Transformation Hub

The key to this is making your inventory a living document. Start with this simpler format, and build according to your capacity. You can help your colleagues understand what a vital organisational tool this is by using the email text below when asking for their help to complete it for their team.

How to use the Basic Data Inventory Template

Download the Data Inventory Pack

Download the pack below

Included in the pack you will find:

• Basic Data Inventory Template (Excel Spreadsheet)
• Data Inventory Guide and Glossary (PDF)
• Staff Email Template (Word Doc)

Fill out the spreadsheet

Start by filling out the template for your own team to get a feel for the tool.

Refer to the glossary below for definitions

If you, or your colleagues, are unsure about the definitions or how to answer for any of the columns you can use the included glossary for more information.

Reach out to teams across your organisation

Next, you’ll want to capture the data from across the organisation. To help you capture this information, we have included a template email within the Data Inventory Pack that you can use with suggested text to share with the data champion from each team.

Analyse your inventory

Once you have collated your completed spreadsheet, you will want to analyse your results for the following.

Address any discrepancies and gaps

Try to identify any gaps in information. Are there any data being overlooked? Engage the relevant team members as necessary.

Identify and limit access to sensitive data

Ensure the right team members have the right levels of clearance to access data. Some more sensitive data may be locked to certain team members per your own internal policies. Put appropriate barriers in place to remove access to sensitive data as required. Start here (A Guide to Data Sharing Agreements and Data Privacy Resources – Digital Transformation Hub) to help you understand your responsibilities under the Privacy Act and take practical actions.

Identify and support your data custodians

Ensure that all data custodians have the understanding and support to be responsible for the ongoing care and management of the dataset, and that they have the decision-making authority should questions about said dataset arise.

Understand data locations and use

Identify and clearly note where data is held and if any can be used for research or AI projects.

Understand your metadata needs

Do you collect data that could be reused or combined to generate new insights, or meet reporting requirements?

Consider a data policy

Now that you have oversight of all of your data, do you have a data policy in place that’s sufficient to support and protect your organisation’s data?

Keep the list up to date

Ensure that the list is kept updated and relevant leaders are aware of where the inventory is held in the event of data decisions, AI or research projects, cyber security or IT requirements. Set up an annual calendar entry for reviewing the inventory.

Simplify the challenge of understanding your data

Keeping on top of your data doesn’t need to be an arduous task. By setting up your organisation’s data inventory, you’re already putting in place the best practice foundations for a data resilient and confident not-for-profit.

By following these steps, and making minor updates at a regular cadence, you’ll be able to protect your data, your clients data and discover new and exciting ways to utilise your data in the future.