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This guide provides a practical, structured guidance to help CDIOs:
- Understand the different DDaT operating model patterns available
- Articulate these clearly to executive colleagues
- Make informed, deliberate choices based on organisational context
- Avoid common pitfalls and failure modes.
The value of this guide lies not in prescribing a single “best” model, but in helping organisations design an operating model that fits their strategic intent, capability maturity and service reality.
Three DDaT operating models
There are three distinct DDaT operating models that organisations can adopt, each offering unique approaches to integrating data and technology.
These models range from IT-centric, process-driven frameworks to more collaborative, business-aligned structures, and innovative, product-oriented strategies.
Understanding the characteristics and value of each model will help you determine which best aligns with your organisation’s needs and strategic goals.
1. Process/project model (IT-Centric)
In this model, IT operates as a service provider to the organisation. The relationship with the business is transactional and demand-led, with work flowing through defined processes, governance and gateways.
IT is accountable for stability, compliance and cost control and success depends on clarity of control, strong operational discipline and predictable delivery.
CIO leadership is operationally focused with emphasis on delivery discipline.
This table shows what must be in place for this to work well:
2. Enabling model (DDaT service-aligned)
In this model, DDaT works in partnership with services to deliver outcomes. The relationship shifts from order-taking to collaborative prioritisation, supported by portfolio governance and shared accountability.
DDaT enables services to achieve strategic objectives through coordinated capability, architecture and delivery.
This table shows what must be in place for this to work well:
3. Product/value model (DDaT strategic & outcomes-driven)
In thismodel, DDaT and the business operate as integrated teams aligned to outcomes or value streams. The relationship is one of shared ownership, where technology, data and change are inseparable from service delivery.
Funding, governance and delivery are structured to support continuous improvement and innovation.
This table shows what must be in place for this to work well:
In addition, running efficient, reliable operations while also exploring new ideas and ways of working can create significant delivery and organisational challenges, particularly where the same technical resources are expected to work across fundamentally different disciplines.
For example, infrastructure and platform teams may be structured around stability, control and often waterfall-driven change, while product teams operate in agile, DevOps-oriented ways. Expecting the same individuals or teams to operate effectively across both modes can lead to role conflict, inefficiency, increased costs and delivery friction.
In practice, organisations often require a degree of structural separation between teams focused on stability and those focused on innovation, while maintaining strong governance, architecture and platform discipline across shared services to ensure coherence and control.
The table below provides the options to address this risk:
Key insight: There is no single right model. Success depends on managing the interface between stability and innovation effectively.
What makes an operating model effective?
The responsibility, leadership and management of Data and Technology must be under one professional lead.
Irrespective of which operating model patterns are applied data and technology must be considered together as a single, integrated capability.
Data provides insight and understanding to inform decisions and improve outcomes, while technology provides the platforms, tools and workflows through which that insight is applied in practice.
Separating the two generates risks, creating insight without action, or technology without purpose; it is the combination of data and technology that enables meaningful transformation in local public services.
Conclusion
There is no single “correct” DDaT operating model for local public services. The most effective organisations are those that deliberately design their operating model to align with their strategic intent, organisational context and capability maturity, while maintaining a balance between stability and change/transformation.
