Most teams want better people insights. The fastest way to get there is to choose the right next step for your current maturity.
This people analytics maturity model breaks progress into three stages: crawl, walk, and run. Each stage includes what it looks like, what to prioritize, and where People Analytics Consultants can plug in as an embedded partner.
How maturity actually changes across stages
Maturity improves along a few measurable dimensions:
- Data trust: definitions, governance, quality, and privacy
- Speed to insight: time from question to answer
- Decision adoption: how often leaders use insights in real decisions
- Business alignment: linkage to outcomes like growth, productivity, and retention
Your goal is progress that sticks, not complexity for its own sake.
Stage 1: Crawl (Ad hoc reporting)
What crawl looks like
- Reports built manually, often in spreadsheets
- Different versions of the same metric across teams
- Dashboards exist, but leaders question definitions and timing
- Analysts spend most time pulling and reconciling
Crawl priorities
- Choose your core metrics. Limit the first set to what leadership reviews regularly.
- Define each metric clearly. Include population rules, time boundaries, and system of record.
- Set basic HR data governance. Assign owners, stewards, and access rules.
- Create one executive view. A small dashboard that answers critical leadership questions that drive action.
How People Analytics Consultants helps in crawl
People Analytics Consultants can audit and clean data, confirm definitions, and build the first trusted dashboards while setting up documentation your team can maintain.
Stage 2: Walk (Repeatable reporting and diagnostic insight)
What walk looks like
- A stable monthly or quarterly reporting cadence
- A shared data dictionary and consistent definitions
- Leaders ask better questions such as “What is driving turnover?” and “Which teams need support?”
- HR partners use insights in planning conversations
Walk priorities
Focus on repeatability and explanation:
- Strengthen integrations and refresh timing across systems
- Build drill-down pathways that stay consistent across dashboards
- Introduce diagnostic methods such as segmentation, cohort analysis, and driver analysis
- Integrate listening data responsibly with privacy controls and clear interpretation guidance
- Establish a recurring forum for action planning so insights lead to decisions
Walk outputs that matter to leaders
- Turnover diagnostics by manager, job family, tenure band, and location
- Hiring pipeline health with time-to-fill bottlenecks and source performance
- Representation and progression views that support equitable workforce decisions
- Performance distribution and calibration patterns that help leaders improve processes
How People Analytics Consultants helps in walk
People Analytics Consultants often acts as an embedded partner at this stage, building dashboards and diagnostic insight packages, then facilitating action planning with cross-functional stakeholders.
Stage 3: Run (Strategic workforce analytics tied to business outcomes)
What run looks like
- People analytics is prioritized alongside business planning
- Leaders use insights in budgeting, org design, and growth plans
- Models and signals are monitored proactively (turnover risk, capacity constraints, internal mobility flow)
- Teams measure the impact of interventions
Run priorities
Run-stage work should connect directly to business outcomes:
- Workforce planning and scenario analysis tied to growth goals
- Targeted retention strategies informed by risk drivers and role criticality
- Internal mobility strategies that reduce time to productivity and improve retention
- Outcome measurement so leaders can see what changed after actions were taken
How People Analytics Consultants helps in run
People Analytics Consultants supports advanced analytics and operating cadence while keeping the work grounded in decision-making. The goal is strategic workforce analytics leaders can act on, with guardrails for privacy and clarity.
The piece many roadmaps miss: the handoff and maintenance model
Your HR analytics roadmap needs a plan for upkeep. Systems change, orgs restructure, and definitions drift unless someone owns the operating rhythm.
A practical handoff model:
1) Build
- Definitions, governance, integrations, and dashboards
- Documentation for metrics, sources, refresh schedules, and access rules
- Training for the teams who will use and maintain the assets
2) Transition
- Shared reporting cycles for a set period
- Joint review of anomalies and changes
- Formal ownership transfer for data dictionary and dashboard administration
3) Operate
- Monthly quality checks and pipeline monitoring
- Quarterly metric review and stakeholder feedback
- Ongoing support for new questions, new tools, and new business priorities
This structure protects your investment and prevents the slow return to one-off reporting.
Quick self-assessment: where are you today?
Use these signals to identify your stage.
Crawl signals
- Manual reporting is common
- Leaders question the numbers
- Definitions change depending on who built the report
- Requests are mostly reactive
Walk signals
- Dashboards are used regularly
- Definitions are documented and consistent
- You can explain drivers for key outcomes
- Action planning is becoming repeatable
Run signals
- Analytics is tied to strategic planning cycles
- You forecast, scenario plan, and measure outcomes
- Leaders allocate resources based on people insights
- You can show impact from interventions
How to use this roadmap as a CHRO or People Leader
Pick one stage-appropriate move for the next 60 to 90 days:
- If you are in crawl, prioritize definitions and one trusted executive dashboard.
- If you are in walk, prioritize diagnostics and action planning cadence.
- If you are in run, prioritize scenario planning and outcome measurement tied to business goals.
People Analytics Consultants can support any of these moves with a hands-on, embedded approach that fits your team and your tools.
FAQ
What is a people analytics maturity model?
A framework that describes how organizations progress from ad hoc reporting to strategic workforce analytics that supports business decisions.
What should be first on an HR analytics roadmap?
Start with consistent metric definitions, basic HR data governance, and one executive dashboard that leaders can trust and use regularly.
How do strategic workforce analytics connect to business outcomes?
By tying workforce measures to decisions that affect results, such as hiring capacity, retention in critical roles, internal mobility flow, and productivity ramps.
How do we prevent dashboards from becoming outdated?
Set owners for definitions and access, maintain a data dictionary, monitor refresh pipelines, and schedule monthly quality checks plus quarterly metric reviews.
