“In my role as executive chair of the XNLeisure User Group, I’d taken part in benchmarking discussions around the potential of comparing data nationwide. But every system reports differently; while an adult swim is an adult swim, most operators call it something different.

The task of establishing a common way of analysing reports across the whole user base, rather than within a single facility seemed insurmountable.

The first step
We knew National Governing Bodies collated and held data, but extracting and analysing it was hard work.

The DataHub began when we met Badminton England, who were keen to measure initiatives they had running nationwide. Each centre called its badminton offer something different, making it difficult to get a global picture of how sites performed comparatively, and data analysis was very manual.

The Amateur Swimming Association also become involved with a drive to standardise swimming data and get accurate facts at the fingertips of regional staff. We realised then that we needed a virtual hub for all leisure data.

4 Global were instrumental in taking this vision and developing an independent system designed to act as the industry’s go-to place for activity data.

It was a long process. No one in the industry was making decisions about standardisation and it took time to get momentum behind the idea that accurate data is critical for success. What started as a small project has become a repository of data from 157 operators, who between them run 1,200 sites.

There are one million transactions coming into the system daily. All the data is anonymised and standardised, so now, whatever an adult swim or badminton sesson is called locally, it’s matched to data standards and reported accordingly.

Achieving momentum
For the first time, operators are actively sharing data so that everyone can make better decisions and each pound invested goes that little bit further. From that initial idea, The DataHub has gone from strength to strength and the possibilities are endless, now it has momentum.

Our aim is to be tracking 750 million active visits from 15-20 million individuals by mid 2018. With The DataHub now open to non-facility-based activity providers our intelligence is becoming even more representative, giving a layered view of active lives in the UK and ensuring operators know who their next member is likely to be, what their ‘active journey’ into the facility is and what offer best suits them and keeps them engaged.

Phil White has been involved with the DataHub since its inception, working to help bring the initial idea to fruition

As a sector we’ve got access to prolific amounts of data collected from things like leisure management software, fitness equipment and online platforms. But we don’t always do a great job of channelling insights from that data back into our businesses and using it to help us move forwards.

Insight
The DataHub allows us to take that data and get insight across the whole activity sector for the first time; something we’ve talked about, but until now have been unable to do.

ukactive has a role as the DataHub’s research insight and evaluation partner and we’ll be working together to ensure that activity providers can make data-driven decisions, which will help the industry as a whole make faster progress in the right direction. We want to move from simply collecting data to actually connecting people across the sectors.

As an activity provider you want to know what works, what’s on trend and where the industry’s heading. Working with the DataHub we can now start finding this out; learning which programmes and initiatives are happening where and what’s working to attract and keep members.

With access to such a vast amount of information we can develop predictive models relating to what our sector should be doing, so we can position ourselves ahead of the curve and start working together to get people active, rather than simply reacting to threats.

The general manager of your local Waitrose or Tesco will know within 30 minutes of shutting up shop for the day how they’ve traded compared to other stores; until now we’ve had nowhere near that level of insight.

The more we learn as a collective, rather than existing in individual groups, the more we grow as a whole.

Inspired by other sectors
It was announced in May that we’ll also be integrating the ukactive benchmarking service onto The DataHub platform and so that business performance benchmarking underpins everything we do. We hope the partnership will take that to a new level.

Our role now is to get as many operators as possible involved, both public and private sector, so we’re getting the clearest picture we can. For too long we’ve only been able to show our impact, and how wide our reach is, through anecdotes. Now we’re able to prove what an asset we are and what we’ve got to offer. The DataHub makes it fact.

Steve Mann is research director at the ukactive Research Institute, focusing on the delivery, feasibility and effectiveness of physical activity-promoting interventions delivered within community environments.

Leisure has relied on basic, out of date tools to make investment decisions and, as a result, those decisions haven’t always been as informed as they might have been. Founded in 2013, The DataHub is the result of the sector coming together with a straightforward solution to a clear challenge – creating a virtual repository for all leisure industry data.

Operators can now access relevant intelligence on what’s working best and through The DataHub modules it’s possible for them to apply this understanding to any context.

This means informed decisions can be made in relation to growing customer demand and providing an offer that reflects the needs of local catchments. This helps every organisation to achieve their objectives, whether that’s growing commercial returns or getting communities more active.

Since its inception, that’s been the crux of The DataHub as a co-operative platform – to get the nation healthier by sharing live, business-critical intelligence.

What’s the deal?
To make things simple, The DataHub has partnered with leisure system providers covering 95 per cent of the sector, to automatically extract data from software systems and securely push it to the central repository.

Because data feeds are automatic, every operator joining can immediately get a true reflection of what ‘good’ looks like, enabling staff to be accountable and proactive in applying solutions.

The DataHub offers various modules, delivered by DataHub partners who are each specialists in their own field.

Access to core modules, data cleansing and standards alignment module, data integrity, and NGB Benchmarking modules are free for all operators, with other modules on subscription.

Accumulated data has power. We can use it to tell how people are getting active, where and when, then operators can accurately reflect this in optimally planned programming that is based on what people really want, rather than guesswork.

Alex Burrows has been a sports consultant for 12 years and as part of 4 global’s team was a founding partner of the Sport Intelligence Practice and DataHub project

The DataHub is governed by an industry Steering Group, which consists of ukactive, CLOA, Sporta, Sport Wales, CSPN, 4 global, the main NGBs, national operators and leisure management system providers.

Its role is to lead discussions on data standards and grow The DataHub, so the entire sector is using it to drive operational improvement and as the go-to place for sector research and analysis.

It’s a first; never before have so many sector organisations been united under one umbrella with such a fundamental mandate, and with accurate data at their fingertips to deliver this step change.

Industry breakthrough
The Group is working to educate the sector so everyone understands the inherent value of knowing what ‘good’ really looks like for the first time.

Because The DataHub standardises data, it gives us the ability to accurately benchmark. That’s huge. Whether you’re a single site or GLL you can finally compare like with like and make decisions with a higher degree of reliability.

As a charitable social enterprise, GLL uses the Social Value Calculator (SVC), delivered in partnership with Experian and Sheffield Hallam University, to measure the social value of interventions. If we put on a specific activity, for example, No Strings Badminton, we can now demonstrate its social impact by demographic group and map it to see where social value has been generated.

Crucially the Social Value generated can be monetised, by creating information we can use to bid for funding.

We’ve worked at the front end with 4 global in creating the SVC, helping to ensure the module is fit for purpose and meets real operators’ needs.

If every operator came on board, The DataHub has the potential to become the national standard. The industry spends lots on research to help establish national aims and agendas. But if we’re honest, a lot of it is questionable and not benchmarkable. We now have the intelligence to ensure decisions are data-driven, based on what we know about users, uptake, growth and utilisation.

As well as sitting on The DataHub Steering Group, Will Barr heads up the business intelligence team at GLL and has implemented the use of DataHub’s Social Value Calculator (SVC) module at its 250 sites to drive GLL’s funding bids.