Data technician

Knowledge

K1: Types of data, for example, structured, unstructured, qualitative, quantitative, numeric, strings, compound data types. Back to Duty

K2: Common sources of data, for example, internal, external, open data sets, public and private. Back to Duty

K3: Data storage formats and their importance for analysis, for example, relational database tables, spreadsheets, bespoke digital applications, comma separated value lists, text documents, voice and video. Back to Duty

K4: Data element formats and how their selection can impact precision, analysis and communication, for example, integers, floating point numbers and their precision, scientific notation, date formatting as strings. Back to Duty

K5: How to access and extract data from already identified sources. Back to Duty

K6: How to collate and format data in line with organisational standards. Back to Duty

K7: Why it may be important to anonymise data, for example for privacy, security and regulatory compliance, or to eliminate potential for bias. Back to Duty

K8: How to anonymise data, for example one-for-one replacement of names, addresses or telephone numbers with distinct new values, without changing data structure or relationships. Back to Duty

K9: Management and presentation tools to visualise and review the characteristics of data. Examples include spreadsheets with tables and charts, dashboarding tools, custom tools for particular data types, systems or contexts. Back to Duty

K10: Communication tools and technologies for collaborative working, including the ability to share data and findings of data reviews. Examples include dashboards, shared whiteboards, or presentation tools for video conferencing for face-to-face contexts or digital presentation displays. Back to Duty

K11: Communication methods, formats and techniques to help audiences understand data findings and their implications, for example written, verbal, non-verbal, presentation, email, conversation, storytelling and active listening. Back to Duty

K12: Roles within an organisation needing access to data or to understand data findings, and how these roles impact the amount of detail needed in data communications, for example, customer, manager, peer; technical and non-technical. Back to Duty

K13: How to combine data from multiple sources. For example using look ups, copy and paste and visualisation tools or data blending tools on bespoke systems. Back to Duty

K14: Understand the capabilities within data analysis, visualisation, and querying tools, for example, spreadsheets or database viewers or digital display screens on bespoke systems for use in answering questions, solving problems, and the potential to use automation for repeated data manipulation. Back to Duty

K15: How to filter details, focusing on information relevant to the data tasks and purpose. Back to Duty

K16: Basic statistical methods to extract relevant information from structured and unstructured data, for example, counting rows, calculating the mean and standard deviation of numeric fields, counting words in a document, listing the most common values, calculating percentage contributions or percentage differences between data items. Back to Duty

K17: Common data quality issues that can arise for example misclassification, duplicate entries, spelling errors, obsolete data, compliance issues and misinterpretation or translation of meaning. Back to Duty

K18: Methods of validating data and the importance of taking corrective action, for example checking the source of information, identification and standardisation of outliers, adjusting item counts or totals of values. Back to Duty

K19: Legal and regulatory requirements surrounding the use of data for example GDPR, Data Protection Act, data security, intellectual property rights, data sharing, marketing consent, personal data definition, and sector specific standards. Back to Duty

K20: The ethical use of data, including in relation to its use with Artificial Intelligence and other automated systems, and the potential impacts of unethical use of data on the organisation. Back to Duty

K21: The value of data to an organisation, for example to understand behaviours, to assess stakeholder sentiment, to interpret inputs received, to identify trends, to improve decision making and efficiency, or to build strategic or tactical plans to address a current situation. Back to Duty

K22: The significance of understanding cultural awareness, diversity and accessibility with respect to data sets. Back to Duty

K23: The relationships between data, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI. For example, the impact of data and any biases within it on training AI models, and the impact of AI on data volume, quality, security, privacy and ethical considerations. Back to Duty

K24: Sustainable data practices for example organisational policies and procedures relating to environmental impact and sustainability, green data centres, and responsible data storage. Back to Duty

K25: Principles and policies of equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and their impact on the organisation. Back to Duty

K26: Understand when and how to apply the principles of prompt engineering to identify and research effective data transformation techniques to ensure data quality and integrity. Back to Duty

Skills

S1: Select and migrate data from already identified sources. Back to Duty

S2: Format and save datasets. Back to Duty

S3: Summarise, analyse and explain gathered data. Back to Duty

S4: Combine data sets from multiple sources and present in format appropriate to the task. Back to Duty

S5: Use tools and/or apply basic statistical methods to identify trends and patterns in data. Back to Duty

S6: Identify faults and cleanse data to improve data quality, for example identifying gaps, duplicate entries, outliers and unusual variances, including cross-checking across data elements or between data sources. Back to Duty

S7: Audit data results for maintenance of data quality, reviewing a data set once all sources are combined, to ensure accuracy, completeness, consistency and traceability from original data. Back to Duty

S8: Demonstrate the different ways of communicating meaning from data in line with audience requirements. Back to Duty

S9: Produce clear and consistent documentation of the data provided to others and of actions completed. Where appropriate or mandated by the working context, this documentation should use standard organisational templates. Back to Duty

S10: Store, manage and distribute data in compliance with organisational, national, sector specific standards and or legislation. Back to Duty

S11: Considers sustainability and ways to reduce impact. For example, using cloud storage, sharing links to files, avoid storing multiple versions of files, and reducing the use of physical handouts of documentation. Back to Duty

S12: Parse data against standard formats, and test and assess confidence in the data and its integrity. Back to Duty

S13: Operate collaboratively in a working context that accounts for, and takes advantage of, the roles, skills and activities of others, especially those interacting with the same data sets or working towards a common goal. Back to Duty

S14: Prioritise own activities within the context of the duties to be performed, taking account of any known or expected impact on others. Back to Duty

S15: Follows equity, diversity and inclusion policies in the organisation for a common goal. Back to Duty

S16: Demonstrate the ability to use different tools and methods to formulate and utilise effective prompts to research, apply, and evaluate data transformation techniques. Back to Duty

Behaviours

B1: Manage own time to meet deadlines and manage stakeholder expectations whether working independently or in a multidisciplinary team. Back to Duty

B2: Work independently and methodically. Back to Duty

B3: Support social inclusion in the workplace. For example consider the needs of the audience. Back to Duty

B4: Takes responsibility for acting sustainably in their role for example switching off lights and systems when not in use, reducing file size and attachments on emails, and recycling. Back to Duty