Stream
Amount awarded: £880,318
Led by: Northumbrian Water
Partners: AWG Group, Thames Water, Severn Trent Water, Scottish Water, SES Water, United Utilities, South West Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Southern Water, Yorkshire Water, Sia Partners, Aiimi, Open Data Institute, Costain.
Project completed: May 2023
For more information, visit Stream’s website and see updates on Stream’s LinkedIn page.
The second phase of the project is being supported by further funding from the Water Breakthrough Challenge 3: Transform Stream; read more about Stream 2 here.
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Introduction
Stream is a collaborative initiative involving 16 of the 18 major water companies in the UK. The project aims to unlock water data to deliver value to customers, society, and the environment by removing barriers to data sharing and transparency. This Executive Summary summarizes the drivers, outcomes, and impacts of the blueprint phase of the Stream project.
Drivers
The primary drivers for the Stream project include:
- Transparency and Openness: there is a growing demand for transparency and openness in the water sector.
- Innovation and Collaboration: the need to use data to work with various groups and organizations to address sector-wide challenges.
- Sector Performance: improving sector performance through data-driven innovation and collaboration.
Problem Statement
The water sector faces numerous challenges that require collaborative efforts, greater transparency, and data sharing. The Stream project seeks to address these challenges by facilitating the publication of trusted, standardized, high-quality open and shared data from the water sector.
Outcomes
During the blueprint phase, the following outcomes were achieved:
- Learnings on Barriers: identified barriers to catalysing open data.
- Collaborative Network: established an engaged network of water companies, strategic advisors, and third parties.
- Roadmap Development: created a comprehensive roadmap for the development of open & shared data in the water sector.
- Feature Backlog: developed a backlog of Open Data Platform features aligned with user needs.
- Synthesised Options: synthesised commercial/legal, governance, and operating model options for open data.
Solutions, Technologies, and Practices
The blueprint phase involved several key activities and partnerships:
- Agile Approach: activities were run using an agile approach, with outputs shared across activities to allow for continuous discovery and iteration.
- Blended Partnership Team: a blended team of internal and external resources was identified to deliver the best outcomes.
- Programme Management: Sia Partners managed weekly programme calls to align efforts and manage risks.
- Technical Architecture: Aiimi provided technical expertise to design the technical architecture.
- Operating Model and Data Trust Framework: Costain and Pinsent Masons helped design the future operating model and legal governance framework.
- Experience from Other Sectors: partners like ODI and Icebreaker One brought experience from other sectors to incorporate best practices.
Impacts
The blueprint phase achieved significant impacts, including:
- Collaborative Network: identified and established a collaborative network to co-create a comprehensive roadmap for shared data development.
- Increased Importance of Open Data: the Ofwat report highlighted the growing importance of open data in the sector and the need for the water companies to collaborate and explicitly referenced the Stream project.
- Foundation for Future Phases: laid the groundwork for the delivery phase, which will further enhance transparency, engagement, and innovation in the water sector.
Shareable Outputs and IPR
The blueprint phase produced several shareable outputs, including:
- Blueprint Documentation: Approved documentation setting the foundations for the delivery phase, including a map of the data ecosystem to engage with.
- Roadmap and Feature Backlog (updated quarterly): Comprehensive roadmap and backlog of features for the Open Data Platform.
- Governance and Operating Model Options: Synthesised options for commercial/legal, governance, and operating models.
Conclusion
The Stream blueprint phase has successfully established the foundation for a transformative project in the water sector. By unlocking and sharing water data, Stream aims to enhance transparency, drive innovation, and improve sector performance. The project has already achieved significant outcomes and impacts, setting the stage for future success in the delivery phase.
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Resources:
For more information on Stream, take a look at the following resources:
