13 Conclusion

Good decision-making requires effective data analysis when making challenging decisions such as the allocation and timing of capacity. When you look at your own data you will start to see some clear patterns in demand for the services you provide, but sometimes it can be difficult to find enough data. In these situations it is perfectly acceptable to use simple visual tools that give some insight into how demand behaves.

The course should have given you a better insight into some operational problems such as response delays or queues in services. When data is collected you can bust the myth that queues only form when systems are under-capacity. The data analysis provides a better insight into why these delays occur.

Our final concept we looked at was that of unnecessary or ‘failure’ demand. This can be a really useful idea to challenge what demand is coming into a service and what workload it should give you. You are encouraged to try to apply this idea further in your own work.

This course was produced by The Open University in association with the Police Service of Northern Ireland. You can find out more on courses from this series on the Community engagement and policing [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] page.