Help and Support

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) on Data Quality results

Q. Are State Highway data quality metric results included in the National, Region and Peer Group summaries on the Data Quality Dashboard in Transport Insights?

A. Consolidated State Highway metric results are included in the National and Region summaries but not in the Peer Group summaries.

 

Q. Why do we provide the Data Quality Dashboard as well as publishing the Data Quality reports, and can the results be different between the two?

A. The published reports show the results as they were calculated at the end of each year. The Dashboard in Transport Insights always shows the results for the metrics using the latest calculations. The published results may be different from the Dashboard results when metric calculations have changed since the reports were published.

 

Q. Why are some of the summaries in the published 2017/18 Data Quality reports different to the Last Year summaries showing in the 2018/19 published reports and the Dashboard?

A. The published reports for a year show the results as they calculated at the end of that year. The summaries for 2017/18 were produced from the calculations that applied for 2017/18. However, during each year there are changes and corrections to the calculations for some of the data quality metrics. The This Year and Last Year summaries showing in the 2018/19 reports are calculated using the metric calculations as at the end of 2018/19.

 

Q. Why do some metrics in the Metrics List page in Transport Insights show the message “No result displayed until data for this metric has been finalised for the financial year”? Is this an error or a warning?

A. The message is neither a warning nor an error. The message indicates metrics whose results can only be calculated once we reach the end of the financial year. These metrics tend to have a description that refers to the end of the financial year, for example CRASH2: “The proportion of the total number of crash records…, for the five-year period up to the end of the reported financial year”. For these sorts of metrics, a valid result cannot be calculated for a financial year until all data for that year is finalised.

 

Q. Why do some metrics in the Metrics List page in Transport Insights show an exclamation mark (!) in the Trend column? Is this an error or a warning?

A. The exclamation mark in the Trend column is neither a warning nor an error. The exclamation just indicates the metric’s result should not be compared to last year’s result yet. Some metrics can have a result calculated during the year, but that result should not be compared to the previous year’s result until we reach the end of the year. A common reason for not comparing is the previous year’s result encompasses an entire year but the current result does not, so it may be misleading to compare them.

 

Q. Why do some metrics in the Metrics List page in Transport Insights show "NEW" in the Trend column when the metrics were there last year?

A. The Trend compares the This Year and Last Year result for each metric. "NEW" will show when the metric has no result for Last Year. This could be due to the metric having a result of "NA" or "No Data" for Last Year, as well as when the metric is reported for the first time this year. 

 

Q. I loaded my final import for the year. Why did my metric results not change immediately?

A. While your import is running, Transport Insights is extracting your Road Controlling Authority (RCA) data from RAMM and storing it in Transport Insights. Once your data has been extracted from RAMM, your import is complete. Transport Insights then recalculates your Performance Measure and Data Quality results using your latest RAMM data. Transport Insights also recalculates the Region, Peer Group and National results as well as your RCA results. Your results will show in the Transport Insights screens once they have been recalculated. The recalculations are processed in a queue to allow for several RCAs to import at the same time. You will receive an email from Transport Insights once your results have been recalculated.

 

Q. Why do I need to import my data from RAMM into Transport Insights?

A.  Transport Insights uses RAMM data for all RCAs in New Zealand to calculate results for a range of Performance Measure reports, per RCA, per Region, per Peer Group, and Nationally. Transport Insights also calculates RCA, Region, Peer Group and National results for the Data Quality metrics. Every RCA’s data is equally important in these calculations.

 

Q. Why do I need to run an import between 15 July and 31 July each year?

A. Transport Insights needs to know the data that is in RAMM for each RCA at the end of each financial year, so Transport Insights can generate results for the complete financial year. Transport Insights takes a ‘snapshot-in-time’ of the data that every RCA imports at the end of each year so that Transport Insights knows the state of the RCA’s network at that time. This means when an RCA subsequently makes changes to their network, their previous year’s results are not affected. RCAs are given until the end of July each year to ensure their RAMM data is up to date for the financial year just completed. Once the RCA has finished updating RAMM for the year, they run an import so that Transport Insights can report on the up to date data for the completed year. On 31 July once all RCAs have loaded their final import for the year just gone, the old year is closed off and any imports are treated as being for the new year.

 

Q. I loaded my final import for the year. Why were some of the metric results still showing as “No result displayed until data for this metric has been finalised for the financial year”?

A. Transport Insights treats a year as incomplete until all RCAs have loaded their final import and the year is closed off in Transport Insights for all RCAs.

 

Q. I marked my last import as being the final for the year in Transport Insights but have updated RAMM and want to run another import for the year. Can I?

A. Yes, if the year has not been closed off in Transport Insights. Once the year is closed off, any new import will be recorded as the new year.

 

Q. I have made some corrections to my data in RAMM and want to import these corrections into RAMM for a year that has been closed off. Can I?

A. No. Transport Insights extracts a full set of the RCA’s data from RAMM when an RCA runs an import and applies all the data to the current year. There is no option to run a back-dated import.

 

Q. How do I find out which records in RAMM are adversely affecting my data quality results?

A. Each data quality metric has a full description section in the Metric Library. You can get to the description section by clicking the ‘Metric Library’ menu option in Transport Insights and choosing the metric. You can also click the code of any metric in the Results Table tab of the Dashboard, and you will be taken to the full description for that metric. Once in the description, click the ‘Exceptions SQL’ button. This will show you the RAMM SQL that you can run in RAMM to see the exception records for the metric.

 

Q. I think there is a problem with the calculation of a data quality metric. How do I report this?

A. Registered users can report all issues to the Transport Insights Support Desk via Contact Us, the support email, or the support phone number.

 

Q. How are my Data Quality results affected by road sections marked with an ONRC category of 'Not Required'?

A. Data Quality metrics that report on specific ONRC categories will exclude ONRC 'Not Required' road sections from their calculations, for example CWAY5 and ESTIM2a/b/c.

Most metrics report on your entire network (i.e. include road sections with no ONRC assigned). These metrics will continue to include ONRC Not Required road sections in their calculations.

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