Presentation - OECD workshop on the performance of utilities for wastewater, the global experience of the new IBNet – Monika Weber-Fahr

1. Using Data to Improve Performance
January 2023
New IBNET - "Intelligent Utilities"
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2. Impacts of
climate change
Water Service Providers: Tough Challenges
Impacts of economic
cycles and crises such as
COVID-19
Expand and improve
water service
provision
2
Extremes/Variance
and Volatility

3. Impacts of
climate change
• Utilities produce huge amounts of data in
the course of their regular work.
• Is there a way to have this data work for
for them to improve performance?
Can Data help (all?) Utilities manage Performance better?
Impacts of economic
cycles and crises such as
COVID-19
Expand and improve
water service
provision
• Data quality
• Data culture
→ Data-driven decisions
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For 24 years: Utility Data Collection via Surveys …
The International Benchmarking Network for Water Utilities
• Utility Performance: Surveyed
5,200 utilities in 151 countries
across 110+ indicators over 24
years
→ costly approach – tough to
keep at scale, little ownership
with utilities, some data quality
issues
• Tariffs: Annual survey of 2,558
utilities in 210 countries

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What if…. Utilities would find sharing data useful for them ?

6. Human centered design: Users at the forefront
I need robust data on
utilities globally
Project Manager,
Development Agency
accurate financial
report is my goal
I need
constant
data to
support
sector
reforms
i want our clients served
well... and good data helps!
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7. Base-line data on some 100+ utilities’
KPIs and Management Practices
New IBNET vision
New IBNET
Share Data Use Data
Connect &
Learn
IBNET Portal for
Members
Utility Dashboard
Country Dashboard
Tariffs Dashboard
Country Pages
Communities of Practice
Water and
Sanitation
service
providers
Development
Planners/IFIs
Members
A data service that is attractive for WSS staff to use –
and that can inform decisions on investments and management practices
by learning from one’s own past and from that of others
Partners
Utility of Future,
Equal Aqua, CWIS
(Regional) Water
Associations
7
Regulator
Groups
Academics/
ThinkTanks

8. Only 14
Performance
Indicators
IBNET Community
of Practice
Works well -> therefore not changed - Tariff Database
What's new with New IBNET?
Management
Practices
New
IBNET
Four new design components at the core of NewIBNET
User-friendly
dashboards for
KPIs, Management
Practices
.. that rest on strong platform development
Members portal
Online data input
dashboard with ex
post quality
checks/
consistency
Data
Mobilization
instead of
“survey”

9. 14CORE PerformanceINDICATORS
Sanitation
Operations
Water
Operations
Commercial
Operations
Financial
managment
Human
Resources
• Drinking water
coverage (%)
• Continuity (hr/day)
• % customers 24/7
supply
• NRW (I/Conn./hr or
%)
• Sanitation coverage
(%)
• Sewer Blockages
(blockages/100km)
• Wastewater
Collected and
Treated (%)
• % of Metered
connections
• Service complaints
resolved
• Drinking water
quality
• Operational cost
coverage (%)
• Revenue collection
rate
• Number of
employees per 1000
connections
• Percentage of
female employees
Next phase considerations:Additionaland OptionalData Services
• Off-grid sanitation
• Regional subsets of dashboards for partners such as IAWD, PWWA, ESAWAS
• Standard reports on performance improvement
• Change in KPIs over time
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Our experience with Sanitation Indicators…
Experience from “the old” IBNET work so far The “new and inclusive” indicators….
• Indicators collected in the old IBNET are all
related to piped/on-grid wastewater service
• Most urban areas in developing countries
have a minimal on-grid wastewater services
• And most utilities in these countries have to
adapt and provide on-grid and off-grid
wastewater services
• Support utilities and service providers to
include/incorporate all sanitation services in
their service area
• Continue to track on on-grid wastewater
services
• But also adapt the tool to include those that
provide off-grid services
• Management practices around the
wastewater and sanitation services
• Policies and strategies at the utility and
regulation level
• Sanitation and wastewater investment
needs
• Support utilities to look at potential market
for sanitation

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12. Preparing for inclusion of off-grid sanitation services (2)
Investments made as
indicated by data and
relevant analyses
lead
to improvements in
utility performance
Improved Water
and Sanitation
Services
Data services
Stakeholder
Partnerships
Communities of
Practice
New indicators that can be included
Ranking CWIS Indicators KPI MP
1 Policy, strategy, regulations, for sanitation developed and/or operationalized ✓
2
Independent regulator established and operationalized (structure, staffing, budget,
work plan, rules and regulations) (yes/no)
✓
3 Independent audits conducted annually (yes/no) ✓
4
Number of Sanitation Workers following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
(number; %); gender disaggregation
✓
5 Completed strategic sanitation planning exercises (yes/no; number) ✓
6 Completed feasibility studies/investment plans (yes/no; number) ✓
7 Labor legislation created for Sanitation Workers (yes/no) ✓
8 Average tariff; pit emptying fee; fecal sludge/septage tipping fee at treatment site ✓
9
Regulation of local private sector service providers (e.g., pit/tank emptier) via
contractual arrangements or other regulatory mechanisms (yes/no; number)
✓
10 Performance agreement between service providers and government (yes/no; number) ✓
11
Required functions (operating/financial powers) delegated from government to
sanitation authority/service provider (number)
✓

13. Financial
Commercial &
Customer Relations
7Categoriesfor ManagementPractices SELFASSESSMENT
• Meter Reading
• Payment Methods
• Communications channels
Operations
• Asset Management
• Infrastructure Maintenance
• Actions on Non-revenue water
• Operational cost recovery
• Financial planning and forecast
• Infrastructure life cycle
Organization &
Strategy
• Balance and timing of targets
• Performance tracking
• and Review
Human Resources
• Attracting and managing talent
• Promotion and retention
mechanisms
Climate Change
• Water Savings
• Water Sources Conservation
• Green Infrastructure
Integrity
• Transparency
• Disclosure
• Procurement Protocols
Next phase
considerations
• Change in Management Practices over time
• Standard reports on Management Practices
• Overviews of performance per practice area
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14. Recognition &
Influence
New IBNET Community of Practice
Accelerate
your utility
performance!
Peer-to-peer
learning
Capacity
Building
Support
Peer to peer learning and
knowledge exchange
opportunities!
Recognition for Managers on a
global platform
Resource and capacity
building through trainings
Connections with Peers within the
water sector
Open Social platform currently
under procurement; to be deployed
starting March 2023
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15. Insights on
Management
Practices: Can help
managers identify
business
improvement
priorities
Understanding one’s
own performance –
with easy visuals and
in the context of
others and their
challenges
Why would Data from IBNET help improve performance?
Data based-
decisions …
… on services
and investments
.. Lead to
improved service
provision
Some of the ways IBNET contributes to data culture in the WSS sector

16. Where do we go from here?
September 2022
Gamma Test
Dec 022
IBNET Beta launch
Launch - for utilities and
regulators- platform with
initial data services
March 2023
IBNET Full launch
Initial Partnerships and First
Communities of Practice
Launched
Pre-Pilot and Internal
quality assurance
icheck
Standard Operation
and Maintenance
March 2024
Updates, new releases
1st year: operation, improvements and building
partnerships
16
Data Mobilization
Drive: April – July 23

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The IBNET Partnership
• What? Partnerships are at the Center of New
IBNET’s going forward
• Who? Existing and new relationships with
national, regional and global associations and
actors.
• Why? To support data mobilization, validation,
analysis, and use - and to guide the overall
direction and growth of the platform.
• Why? To help build the IBNET family
• How?
– Data Drives, Exercises, consultations
– Access to Utilities, expansion of Network
– Co-hosting and Facilitating Communities of Practice,
training and other engagement.
Current and Potential Partners

18. Learn more about New IBNET at www.beta.ib-
net.org
Thankyou!
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19. New IBNET: Data services
FOR UTILITIES
One point
of truth
Point to
Improve
Utility reports
Dashboards
Tariffs
Insights on KPIs and
Management
Practices
IBNET Community of
Practice on common
interest topics
Match
Point
FOR
REGULATORS
Data quality
check
Country
Reports
Utility reports
Dashboards,
Data review
Country data on KPIs
and Management
Practices
Information on
regulators, tariffs
Pages for
Regulators
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20. • A comprehensive set of data on utility
performance, online for 24 years
• Benchmarking: 5,200 utilities in 151
countries
• Tariffs: 2,558 utilities in 210 countries
• Can compare the performance of different
utilities along 92 indicators
IBNET as a global common good
Achievements over time
What needs improvement
• Uneven use of data
• Sustained engagement with utilities
• Limited scalability due to the data collection
model
Investments made as
indicated by data and
relevant analyses
lead
to improvements in
utility performance
Improved Water
and Sanitation
Services
Data services
Stakeholder
Partnerships
Communciation
and Data Services
• New data tool, easy-to-use interface
• Data driven services available and
attractive
• Data mob9ilization: short indicator list,
tariffs, and management practices
• Knowledge products and
communication postion New IBNET as
the "place to join:"
• Utility leaders motivated
to explore data and
management practices
and identify
opporutnities to
improve
• Meeting point for water
services organizations
facing common
challenges
• Members
undertake
performance
improvement
measures
Business model:
Why data matters?
IBNET will promote a data-driven culture to transform water services
IBNET Usage statistics
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21. Future development
KPIs/Managmenet
Practices - Trends
over time
1
New IBNET upcoming data services planned (release 2.0)
Services for
Development
Planners
Standardized
reports for
Utilites
Dashboard subsets
for partners
• Graphs showing
multi-year time
series data that
highlights utility
performance over
time
• Inclusion of
historical archive
data on New
IBNET dashboards
• Space for
Development
Planners on the
IBNET portal and
the CRM
• Services for TTLS
to be assigned to
utilities they work
with
• Options for
utilities to
download
standard reports
from the IBNET
dashboards
• Graphs using
IBNET baseline
data for climate
change and other
indicators
• Data subset
offerings for New
IBNET
partners/regional
organizations to
share and access
their data through
dedicated sub
links

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