Who they are

Someone who only wants data and will create their own datasets and customise their own geography boundaries. Data from ONS are frequently used in conjunction with data from other government departments. They may be expert at what they do with statistics, but can be less expert at looking for base data.
There is not the urgency we see from the expert analyst. They do not tend to use written publications.

Likely to say

“I need easy access to specific types of data that I can reformat, cross-reference and manipulate.”

What motivates them

They have a passion for building platforms of data from various sources. They need trusted data and confidence in accuracy of data.

What they want

Technical users want to:

• create their own datasets from merged data
• customise their own geography
• use large volumes of data
• find cross-themed data to combine
• download data to reformat, cross-reference and load into their own databank
• access data within the week of its publication, and like to see it timestamped
• see well-signposted information on geography changes

Behaviour and preferences

They have a strong idea of what they are looking for but sometimes have to search for it.
They are less likely to view written reports as they only want data.

They transform data to meet their needs. If geographic boundaries do not match what they are looking for, they will create their own.

How they find information

These users prefer to access data via a desktop computer. They will download entire datasets and prefer to use Json, XLS or CSV formats.

What they like

• Customisable data downloads, in appropriate formats.
• Easy links to a simple interface that has access to all ONS data.
• Search that will reliably take them to to the right dataset.

What they do not like

• Data being in a format that they cannot easily combine with other sources.
• Changes to geography that are not clearly signposted.
• Not being able to find particular geographical datasets through search.