UKOM

UKOM’s technical approval process involves two stages before publication of data, and ongoing verification of published data thereafter:-

STAGE 1: METHODOLOGICAL APPROVAL

The supplier presents the methodology in detail to the UKOM Technical Group (TG) and our Technical Expert (Richard Somerville). The Technical Group’s role is to challenge the methodology where necessary and advise the Technical Expert on its strengths and weaknesses.

The Technical Expert uses this advice to identify whether the methodology should be recommended to the Board as-is, or whether the Board should only approve the methodology subject to modifications.

The Board then decides on approval of the proposed methodology, and the supplier will start to produce test data for validation. At this stage, the system is not yet approved for publication.

STAGE 2: DATA VALIDATION

The TG and Technical Expert agree a process whereby test data can be validated. This may involve simply assessing how well the methodology works in practice, or comparison with third party data sources such as publishers’ analytics data. 

To avoid the risk of commercial influence, data validation is carried out between the supplier and UKOM team, led by the Technical Expert.

Once appropriate data validation tests have been carried out, the Technical Expert will present a summary of findings back to the TG, who will make their recommendation to the Board on approval of the data for publication.

The Board then decides on approval for publication under the UKOM brand.

ONGOING VERIFICATION

The supplier is responsible for quality assurance before publication. Data sense checks are carried out monthly by the UKOM team and any concerns raised with the supplier for investigation. Data users may raise concerns in a similar way.

The supplier also provides a system performance dashboard to the UKOM team and Board every six weeks. Any data or processing issues are signalled, along with the supplier’s plan to remedy them. In the case of data quality or publication being affected, the UKOM Board may require the supplier to withhold publication or issue clarifications or caveats on the reporting system.

If you have any questions about UKOM's technical approval processes, please contact Scott Fleming, UKOM Research Manager.