The role of a performance analyst

My background

Previously I worked in Higher Education in a role which involved working with a lot of student careers data. I didn’t know anything about the criminal justice system (CJS) beyond enjoying legal dramas on TV, but I’ve always worked in jobs where I’ve helped people and the CPS values and culture were very appealing.

I had strong Excel skills but only minimal experience of data analysis so it was a really steep learning curve when I started, but I have definitely found my niche now. Strong attention to detail and curiosity have been really helpful skills to have.

 My typical day

My days are really varied, but there is usually an element of running reports and updating performance dashboards.

I attend a lot of internal meetings and with police or other CJS partners and much of my time is spent preparing reports for those.

There are also lots of one-off analysis projects I will do, such as examining trends in domestic abuse data.

My favourite thing to do is play around with visualisations in PowerBI, which is quite a new tool to the CPS and something that will completely change the way we work. 

My inspiration

Everyone says the people are the best thing about the CPS, but it’s true. All the people I interact with are so friendly and supportive.

Thames & Chiltern is a great area because we have serious and varied casework like London, but we’re a small enough Area that the data isn’t overwhelming and you can get to know everyone. 

My biggest learning

Learn as much as you can about how the criminal justice system works. Once I’d been into a court and understood how a case goes from the police to the CPS and then through the courts, all the data made so much more sense.