In our sense, a data audit maps how a company's numbers are made: which systems hold them, who handles them, and which steps between a system and a decision are done by hand. At 110 Analytics in Malta it takes about three hours with your team, scores the business on six dimensions at five levels each, and shows the first step that would change it. It is not a GDPR or data protection audit, which checks whether personal data is handled lawfully, and it is not an IT security audit.
Signs a data audit would help
If you have said any of these recently, the audit traces where it comes from.
- “Sales and finance brought two different figures for the same thing.”
- “We cannot close the month until one person has finished the pack.”
- “When I ask a new question, the answer comes back a week later.”
- “We are deciding on last month's numbers, because this month's are not ready.”
- “Someone spends days every month exporting, copying and pasting.”
- “We have the data somewhere. Nobody is sure where, or which version is right.”
- “If our finance manager left, I do not know who could produce the reports.”
A business data audit, not a compliance check
Our data audit is about your business and reporting data: sales, margin, stock, cash, pipeline, staff cost, and the reports your leadership team decides on. It asks whether those numbers can be trusted, how long they take to reach the people who need them, and how much of the work is done by hand.
It does not check whether you comply with GDPR or data protection law. It does not test your IT security, your backups or who can log in to what. It is not a statutory audit of your accounts.
It is also not a review of how your ERP is configured, which stays with your software supplier. The audit follows your numbers across every system, not inside one.
If you need any of those other checks, you need a specialist in that field, and we are not one. What we do is make your numbers usable, so the audit looks at the numbers.
What does a data audit cover?
A data audit covers three things: your people, your data points and your processes. Glen maps all three with your team, in the room.
Your people
Who holds and uses the numbers, from the owner to whoever builds the reports. Which processes rest on which people, and what stops when one of them is away.
Your data points
Where each figure comes from and which system it lives in: the accounting system, the ERP, the CRM, the POS or booking system, the e-commerce platform, and the spreadsheets in between.
Your processes
How a number travels from a system to a report to a decision, and which steps are done by hand. Each export, paste and reconciliation is traced and pinned to what it touches.
Your questions
The audit follows a real question through your team to its answer, so you see how long a new question takes today and where it gets stuck.
Glen runs it himself
Every audit is run by Glen Sultana, our founder, in the room with your team. He draws what your team tells and shows him as the conversation goes.
Then a quote
The audit ends with a quote for the work, because that is how we win work. Whether you accept it is your decision.
The six dimensions we score
Your business is scored on six dimensions, five levels each, with your team in the room rather than afterwards. Each card shows the question the dimension asks and what level 3 looks like.
Sources and integration
Do your systems pass information on their own, or do people carry it? At level 3, your core systems feed one place on a schedule.
Single source of truth
Is there one place the numbers come together, with history kept? At level 3, one place, run by agreed rules, holds the core numbers, with their history.
Definitions and ownership
Does every key number have a written definition, an owner and a target? At level 3, the key numbers are defined, owned and targeted on one page.
Report production
Do reports build themselves, get checked automatically and trace back to source? At level 3, the core reports refresh from the store on a schedule.
Access and decision use
Can the people who decide see current numbers themselves, and do they meet on them? At level 3, leadership opens one live view and managers see their own numbers.
People and continuity
Does reporting survive an absence, and does anyone own data overall? At level 3, reporting runs without the person, and one person owns data overall.
What happens in the three hours
The audit is about three hours with Glen, you and your team. The right people are the ones who hold and use the numbers, such as the owner or managing director, the finance lead, the operations lead, and whoever builds the reports today. You agree who should be there on a short call beforehand.
You do not need to know where all your data lives before you start. Finding that out is the audit.
Glen asks how each figure is made, who makes it and what happens to it next. He draws the answers as a map while you talk: every system, file, report and person, with each finding pinned to what it touches.
The scoring happens in the room too. Each of the six dimensions is scored with your team, never afterwards, so nobody receives a verdict they did not take part in. For each one you also agree where you want the business to be, so the scores become a plan rather than a grade.
Nothing is installed, and you do not hand over logins. If Glen needs to see how a report is built, he asks first and looks with you, on your screen.
Your systems today, and after the first step
From audit to live reporting
What an audit shows: an example
A distribution business in Malta runs three systems: an accounting system, a stock system and a CRM. Its managing director books an audit because the Monday meeting keeps arguing about margin. The audit scores it Assembled on most dimensions and Manual on people and continuity.
- Sales by customer lives in three places: the accounting system, the CRM and a spreadsheet the sales manager keeps.
- Finance and sales each define margin their own way, and neither definition is written down.
- Two people carry numbers by hand into one weekly file, and only the finance manager knows how the month-end pack is built.
- Asking which customers are buying less this quarter takes a week and two people.
- The three systems load into one warehouse overnight, in the company's own account.
- Margin has one written definition, agreed by finance and sales, with an owner by name.
- The weekly file and the month-end pack build themselves, and nobody exports anything.
- The same question about customers buying less takes minutes, from one place, instead of a week and two people.
The audit itself changed nothing in the business. Before any work began, it drew the route: which step to take first, where each dimension would stand after it, and what that step would cost. The second list is what the first step then built.
Data audit, GDPR audit or IT security audit?
Three different jobs in Malta share the word audit. This is how ours compares with a GDPR audit and an IT security audit.
| Our data audit | GDPR or data protection audit | IT security audit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The question | Can you trust your numbers, and how are they made? | Is personal data handled lawfully? | Are your systems and access protected? |
| What it looks at | Systems, data points, people and reporting processes | Consent, records, retention and data subject rights | Networks, devices, access and controls |
| Who takes part | The people who hold and use the numbers | Whoever handles personal data | Whoever runs your systems |
| What you get | A score on six dimensions, maps of today and after the first step, a quote | Compliance findings | Security findings |
| Who runs it | Glen Sultana, 110 Analytics | A data protection specialist | An IT security specialist |
| What it leads to | A quote for the first step towards level 3 | Compliance work | Security work |
What you have at the end of the audit
The audit produces a report with two parts, and a quote. All of it is built from what your team tells and shows Glen in the room.
A score on six dimensions
Where your business sits today on each dimension, five levels each, scored with your team. Next to each score, the level you agreed to aim for.
A map of the whole business
Every system, file, report and person, drawn as they run today, with each finding pinned to what it touches.
How your numbers move today
The route each number takes from a system to a decision, with every step a person does by hand marked on it.
What the first step builds
The same map after the first step: which systems load on their own, which reports build themselves, and which people stop carrying numbers.
A quote for the work
What the first step costs, quoted for your business. The figure depends on how many systems you run and what the first dashboard needs to do.
How it works, from first call to a live dashboard
- A call firstIt starts with a free data strategy call with Glen. If there is a fit, you agree the audit date and who from your team should be there.
- The data auditAbout three hours with Glen, you and your team. Nothing is installed and nothing needs preparing.
- The quoteGlen quotes for the work. Once you accept it, it is three to four weeks to a live dashboard.
- ImplementationThe first month: the definitions agreed with your team, the warehouse built in your own environment, and the first dashboard live.
- The fractional teamAfter that, an ongoing fractional team keeps the reporting live and keeps finding the next thing worth looking at.
What the audit is not
- It is not a GDPR, data protection or IT security audit, and it is not a statutory audit of your accounts.
- It is not a software sale. We are not IT, and we do not build or replace the systems you run.
- It does not install anything or take custody of your data. If Glen needs to see a report, he looks with you, on your screen.
- It is not a questionnaire you fill in alone. The scores are agreed with your team in the room.
- It is not a verdict on the people who build your reports. It shows how much of their time goes on work a system could do.
Glen Sultana founded 110 Analytics after a career built where the numbers move daily. Our people have run analytics for tier-one companies, S&P 500 firms and high-growth technology businesses. Glen is the person on the first call, and he runs every data audit himself.
- Built in your environment, under your account
- No lock-in: if we part company, it keeps running and stays yours
- Based in Malta
Straight answers
How long does a data audit take?
About three hours of your team's time, with Glen in the room. Before it there is a short call to agree the date and who from your team should be there.
Is this a GDPR or data protection audit?
No. Our data audit looks at your business and reporting data: how your numbers are made, who makes them and which steps are done by hand. For GDPR, data protection or IT security, you need a specialist in that field.
Do we need to prepare anything?
No. You do not need to know where all your data lives before you start, because finding that out is the audit. You only need the right people in the room, and you agree who they are beforehand.
Do you need access to our systems?
Only what you agree to. Nothing is installed. If Glen needs to see how a report is built, he asks first and looks with you, on your screen.
What does a data audit cost in Malta?
The standard price of our data audit is €8,000. It covers about three hours of Glen's time with your team, the report, and a quote for the work. The work after the audit is quoted at the end of it.
Who runs the audit?
Glen Sultana, the founder of 110 Analytics, runs every audit himself, in the room with your team. He maps where your figures come from and how they are made, scores the six dimensions with you, and then quotes for the work.
What happens after the audit?
Glen quotes for the work. Once you accept the quote, it is three to four weeks to a live dashboard, and implementation is the first month. After that, an ongoing fractional team keeps the reporting live.
What does the work after the audit cost?
It is quoted at the end of the audit, because the figure depends on how many systems you run and what the first dashboard needs to do. There is no price list for the work, because a price list would be wrong for your business.
Who is the data audit for?
Established Maltese companies turning over roughly €1M to €10M a year, where the numbers exist but reaching them takes people, time and spreadsheets.
Terms used in the audit
- Data audit
- In our sense, a review of how a company's business numbers are made: the systems, the people and the steps done by hand. Not a GDPR or IT security audit.
- Dimension
- One of the six areas the audit scores, such as report production or people and continuity.
- Maturity level
- Where a dimension stands on a scale of five, from Manual to Intelligent. Level 3, Connected, is where reports stop depending on a person.
- Single source of truth
- One place where the numbers come together, with history kept, so every report reads the same figure.
- Ontology
- The business's own terms, such as revenue, customer and margin, each written down once with one agreed definition that every report inherits.