Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 1
Leveraging Data in Improving the Total Quality
Management of the National Defense College of the
Philippines
This written analysis of a case (WAC) integrates the key learning from Operations Management in
Development and Data Strategy. It situates quality management in the context where
information and big data are transforming businesses and the world we live and work in at
an unprecedented rate. It tries to capture the value of developing a data strategy in
achieving an integrated total quality management system for the National Defense College
of the Philippines.
Key Concepts: Total Quality Management, Data Strategy, Leadership
Introduction
The National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) was founded in 1963 to
“prepare potential defense leaders to assume and discharge the responsibilities of high
command, staff, and policy-formulating functions within the National Government and
the national and international security structure.” In 1974, President Ferdinand Marcos
signed Presidential Decree No. 190, which became the policy bedrock of the College, that
mandated the NDCP to “prepare and develop potential national defense leaders, civilian
officials of the different branches of the government, and selected executives from the
private sector.” In effect, the College started catering to the civilian bureaucracy and the
private sector, departing from its previous exclusivity for the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP).
At present, the College has two Major Final Outputs (MFO); first, the National
Defense and Security Education Program, and second, the National Defense and Security
Policy Studies Program. The first MFO pertains to the Master in National Security
Administration (MNSA) while the second refers to the research and special studies
conducted and published by the College. Although the College caters to civilian
government officials and private sector leaders, the MNSA is dominated by students from
the AFP following the policy that requires all military officers to take the MNSA program
as part of their requirements for promotion to O-7 rank (one-star general). On the other
hand, the Department of National Defense (DND) remains the primary client of the
College in terms of its research and publication. The reach is continuously expanding to
other agencies that are part of the National Security Organization, however, most of the
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 2
researches it has produced in recent years has been directed or requested by the DND.
With the nature of its functions, that is, it has elements of a government bureau and an
academic institution, as well as considering its strategic positioning within the
government bureaucracy lends certain advantages in terms of leveraging data for
improving its products and services.
Total Quality Management
Changes in management thought have also led to the evolution of the total quality
management (TQM) concept. (See fig. 1). While quality has traditionally been associated
with achieving a certain standard or measurement, more often the “concept of quality
hinges on the product’s ‘fitness of use’ and the ‘degree of customer satisfaction’ derived
from using that product.”1 Moving forward in the evolution, TQM pertains to the
“company-wide quality assurance from internal and external suppliers and customers
using systems approach of documented sets of procedures and control of process
variability in a team spirit with top management commitment.”2 As a system, the TQM
“integrates various aspects of an organization’s activities whereby human resources are
driven by the same commitment, shared beliefs and objectives in mind.” 3 The TQM system
is established to ensure that integrated technical and managerial procedures guide the
coordinated actions of people, machines, and information to most effectively and
efficiently assure customer quality-satisfaction and economical costs of quality. (See fig.
2). Integrating technical and managerial procedures is a function of leadership, which
when effectively executed leads to better mobilization and coordination of people,
machines, and information. This then contributes to satisfying its customers and providing
quality products and services.
Quality → Quality Control → Statistical Quality Control → Total Quality Control
→ Quality Assurance → Total Quality Management
Figure 1. Evolution of TQM
(Source: Sharma, 2017)
1
Sunil Sharma, “TQM: Evolution, Models and Frameworks,” in Total Quality Management: Concepts, Strategy
and Implementation for Operational Excellence (New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, 2017), pp.
1-33.
2
Ibid, p. 5
3
Ibid, p. 12
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 3
Quality
Assurance
Process
Production
Control
Technology Facility
Adoption Management
Customer Operations
Relations Systems Planning
Integration
Through
TQM
Suppliers Product
Relations Design
Forecasting Marketing
Training Financing
Figure 2. TQM: An Integrated Organizational System's View
(Source: Sharma, 2017)
Data Strategy: Managing Data as an Asset
In an era where information and big data are transforming businesses and the
world we live and work in at an unprecedented rate, organizations are compelled to seize
the opportunity to make use of data to improve their operations, decision-making, and
as a source of revenue. As Fleckenstein and Fellows argued, “information technology
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 4
management has evolved to a realization that data, not just systems and software
applications, must be managed.”4 A clear data strategy becomes critical to effectively and
efficiently use the data available to an organization to achieve its goals. Put simply, data
strategy is the one that links key initiatives and data to achieve the organization’s goals,
objectives, and mission.5 A key consideration for this comprehensive strategy should be
that it is “solid, but also flexible enough to adapt when business needs or operations
change.”6
Recognizing the importance of data for an organization is the first step in building
and maintaining a solid but flexible data strategy. The use of data should be strategically
evaluated against the business objectives of the organization. This requires a clear
understanding of the organization’s objectives and key performance indicators in which
data can influence and support. Related to this is finding the leaders with authority within
the organization that can advocate for leveraging data. Any endeavor towards a data
strategy will require the support of senior management and the IT department. They will
be the champions for pursuing this while leading the execution of critical changes to scale
the framework across the organization.
Developing a data strategy also begins with a full understanding of an
organization’s strategy. Since the objective of a data strategy is to leverage data to achieve
the objectives and goals of an organization, it is but logical to review its existing strategy
and build on from there. This is also particularly helpful in order to determine whether it
requires the organization to take the defensive or offensive approach to its data strategy.
The objective of data defense is to minimize the risk and is focused on data management
areas such as data privacy, data security, data quality, and data governance, which is often
driven by the need to comply with certain regulations. On the other hand, data offense is
geared towards enhancing the organization’s competitive advantage that leads to greater
market shares, increased revenue and profit, and improved customer satisfaction.
Choosing between defensive or offensive data strategy will greatly depend on the
organization’s strategy and objectives. Although some authors promote the idea of
balance, that is, having both elements in their data strategy, this balance is determined
4
Mike Fleckenstein and Lorraine Fellows, Modern Data Strategy (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International
Publishing, 2018).
5
“A Data Strategy Framework: How to Implement and Scale for Success,” Tableau, 2020,
https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/learn/articles/data-strategy-framework.
6
Ibid.
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 5
not by deliberate architecture but is found on the organization’s business model.7 (See
Exhibit A).
TQM and Data Strategy
Further, Bernard Marr determines three use cases of data in an organization,
namely, improving business decisions, improving business operations, and monetizing
data.8 These three use cases are useful in framing the importance of data strategy in
achieving TQM.
Table 1. Data Use Cases in the TQM Framework
DATA STRATEGY TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Use Case Technical and Managerial Procedures
Improving business decision Eliminate silos to achieve the systems integration
Data is used in operations planning, product design,
Improving operations marketing, financing, customer relations to serve the
purpose of improving these functions
Increasing the financial value of the company by
Monetizing data accumulating data that are valuable to customers or other
companies
In the case of the NDCP, it has embarked on the Quality Management System
model to capture and improve its operations. (See Exhibit B). To some extent, the QMS
Manual serves as the operational strategy of the College. The articulation on the use of
data to help the organization achieve its strategic objectives is missing in the QMS
Manual. What is found in the QMS manual is piecemeal information on data strategy,
mostly focusing on data storage, records management, and sharing. (See Exhibit C). With
this, the author identified possible use cases of data under the QMS framework of NDCP.
Table 2. Proposed Data Use Cases for NDCP
DATA STRATEGY NDCP Quality Management System
Use Case QMS Elements
Strengthening information-sharing among the different
Improving business decision management components to improve the decision-
making of the Executive and Management Committees
7
Fleckenstein and Fellows, Modern Data Strategy
8
Bernard Marr, Data Strategy: How to Profit from a World of Big Data, Analytics and the Internet of Things
(New Delhi, India: Kogan Page, Limited, 2017).
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 6
Data is used to improve its National Defense and
Improving operations Security Education Program and National Defense and
Security Policy Studies Program
Monetizing data Not applicable
Why the Need for a Data Strategy?
In an article published in 2019, there are four (4) reasons why data strategy is
important to organizations: 1) it helps unlock the power of data; 2) volume of data is
increasing; 3) it improves data management across the entire organization; 4) it helps the
management use resources efficiently.9 Likewise, Bernard Marr shared that companies
need a data strategy because data is an asset organization should pay more attention to,
similar to how it treats its products, services, and people as assets.10 With the recognition
of the potential of using data to improve operations, production, and marketing,
companies need to develop their data strategy to set out what goals are to be supported,
what data are to be collected and generated, where to source the data, how to store and
manage it, and how to analyze and share the results.
For the NDCP, it needs a data strategy that will help improve its operations and to
seize the opportunity in using proprietary data to improve the quality of its products and
services. Proprietary data are those that are unique to an organization and can be used
“to create a sustainable competitive advantage.”11 These data are internally generated but
are not yet developed and leveraged to become valuable assets to the College. Data
acquired from students, faculty, and stakeholders cannot easily be replicated by other
entities, and could therefore be considered proprietary data. Although there are other
internal data aside from the ones mentioned, what is important is the ability of the
organization, primarily through its data strategy, to acquire, develop, and leverage the
data to improve its products and services.
9
“What Is a Data Strategy? How to Build a Data Strategy,” Lotame, March 25, 2020,
https://www.lotame.com/how-to-build-a-data-strategy/.
10
Bernard Marr, “Why Every Company Needs A Data Strategy For 2019,” Forbes (Forbes Magazine, March
13, 2019), https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/03/13/why-every-company-needs-a-data-
strategy-for-2019/.
11
Thomas H Davenport and Thomas C Redman, “Your Organization Needs a Proprietary Data Strategy,”
Harvard Business Review, May 4, 2020, https://hbr.org/2020/05/your-organization-needs-a-proprietary-
data-strategy.
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 7
Conclusion
Data strategy has the potential of enhancing the TQM of an organization, especially
for the public sector. The NDCP leadership will have to re-examine how data is collected,
stored, managed, processed, and shared in line with the growing demand for its products
and services. Moving toward a more systematic approach to data management will of
course entail commitment and resources, particularly strategic and financial commitment
as well as human capital resources. Moreover, if organizational challenges persist that
might be a hindrance to developing a solid but flexible data strategy, these challenges
will have to be first addressed before embarking on this initiative. Besides, the success of
any strategy depends heavily on the organization’s current competencies and absorptive
capacities.
Nonetheless, in building a data strategy for NDCP, the following are important
questions to reflect on:
1. How can data help your agency meet its strategic goals and objectives? What kind
of data is needed to achieve these objectives?
2. How can data be transformed as an asset to improve its TQM?
3. What are the current data governance, technological capacity, and skills and
capacity of its people in relation to data collection, organizing, storage, and
analysis?
4. How can NDCP improve its current capabilities in using data to achieve these
objectives and improve its TQM?
5. What institutional changes are required to have a solid but flexible data strategy?
Limitations of this Case Report
This report was limited to open-source data on the case organization. Although the author works in the
case organization, only open-source data were used due to certain restrictions in the use of internal
information and data without proper authorization. This authorization was not obtained by the author due
to time constraints.
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 8
Bibliography
“A Data Strategy Framework: How to Implement and Scale for Success.” Tableau, 2020.
https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/learn/articles/data-strategy-framework.
Davenport, Thomas H, and Thomas C Redman. “Your Organization Needs a Proprietary
Data Strategy.” Harvard Business Review, May 4, 2020.
https://hbr.org/2020/05/your-organization-needs-a-proprietary-data-strategy.
Fleckenstein, Mike, and Lorraine Fellows. Modern Data Strategy. Cham, Switzerland:
Springer International Publishing, 2018.
Marr, Bernard. Data Strategy: How to Profit from a World of Big Data, Analytics and the
Internet of Things. New Delhi, India: Kogan Page, Limited, 2017.
Marr, Bernard. “Why Every Company Needs A Data Strategy For 2019.” Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, March 13, 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/03/13/why-every-company-
needs-a-data-strategy-for-2019/.
Sharma, Sunil. “TQM: Evolution, Models and Frameworks.” Essay. In Total Quality
Management: Concepts, Strategy and Implementation for Operational Excellence,
1–33. New Delhi, India: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, 2017.
“What Is a Data Strategy? How to Build a Data Strategy.” Lotame, March 25, 2020.
https://www.lotame.com/how-to-build-a-data-strategy/.
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 9
Definition of Terms
Data Data is referred to as information gathered for
further processing.
Data Accessibility A data management domain focused on the ability
to find and retrieve necessary, relevant data easily
and in a timely manner.
Data Asset A data store, such as a database, file, or data extract,
and its contents. A data asset and a system may not
have a one-to-one relationship. A system can
encompass multiple data assets. Similarly, a data
asset may serve multiple systems.
Data Strategy A data management domain focused on the goals,
objectives, and associated strategic actions required
to align the vision of the organization with the data-
related activities and priorities of the enterprise.
Total Quality Management The agreed company-wide and plant-wide operating
System work structure, documented-in effective, integrated,
technical, and managerial procedures for guiding the
co-ordinated actions of the people, the machines,
and the information of the company and plan in the
best and most practical ways to assure customer
quality-satisfaction and economical cost of quality.
Proprietary Data Data that is unique to a company and can be used to
create a sustainable competitive advantage. This is
not to mean trade secrets and intellectual property
(which is often proprietary but seldom really data),
but rather, data where the company is the only
organization that has it, or it has added enough value
to make it a unique business asset.
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 10
Exhibit A. Developing a Data Strategy
Source: Bernard Marr & Co. Website
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 11
Exhibit B. NDCP QMS Process Map
Source: NDCP Quality Management System (QMS) Manual as of 19 November 2018.
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 12
Exhibit C. Components of a Data Strategy found in the NDCP QMS Manual
In the QMS Core Team
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
Submitted on September 03, 2020
Updated October 08, 2020 13
Data Strategy Submitted by: Torrecampo, Rejane Concepcion C
Elective 2020 MDM 2020
