Fra data som ledelsesinformation til datainformeret ledelse: Indsigter fra det borgernære driftsniveau

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in data-informing welfare work in the public sector. While data has been used as management information for decades, the focus is now on that data must be used to support and develop the level of operations close to citizens, and that managers must exercise professional leadership with data as a focal point. On a practical level, however, the ambitions appear quite unconcrete, and despite ambitions to inform the welfare task with data, it remains unclear how data can support the professional task solution. The purpose of the article is to investigate how professionals use data in practice, and what types of data professionals demand in the meeting with the citizen. For this purpose, we examine the work with diabetes rehabilitation in a municipal health center. The case is based on interviews with managers and employees about the use and perceptions of data in contact with diabetes patients. We find in the analysis that the work with diabetes rehabilitation is based on a close relationship with the citizen, where data on results and effects are not immediately supportive of the task solution. On the other hand, employees find other ways to collect and process data to support the work at the civic level of operations. The case study contributes to concretizing the current discussion about data-informed management with insights from the work with data at the citizen-related operating level.