Database Research - Accuracy and Integrity

The accuracy of our database is the cornerstone of the business. We invest over £350,000 per annum in our research efforts and nothing we do is more important than ensuring the posts, structures and organisations we list are correct and up to date.


Our own in-house team of 15 full time researchers liaise with public bodies and post holders online, by post, email and over the phone. Maintaining the database on a continuous 6 monthly cycle yielding a current average record age of just 3 months. Research is conducted directly with the organisations listed and updates made based on published data and information provided to us by post holders or via our central contacts.


We treat each part of our database in a unique way to reflect the nuances in each case and time our research accordingly. This includes ensuring all Councillor changes are made within one month of each May election, the same with national elections. School updates that require extra work post the Easter, Summer and Christmas breaks and we are constantly revising the structure and coverage of the database to deal with reorganisations and restructures as they happen across the board.


All our data is available free of charge to the subject organisations and post holders on our Public Sector Network platform. This is used extensively across Government and we regularly receive invaluable notifications of updates and changes from users.

 

  • Over thirty years we have developed relationships with an extensive network of people working across every significant Public body. These contacts work with us to review our data and make changes where needed.
  • Annually organisations are sent the details we hold on them for re-verification of contacts and organisational structure and to provide any requested or additional demographic information.
  • Appropriate press and web sources are monitored to alert us to changes or to prompt additional research outside the usual update cycle.
  • We encourage and benefit from many of our more regular clients feeding back information and updates, mailing returns and email hard bounces, plus details of imminent changes as a result of their own interaction with the database. This helps them, us and the greater community of users of the Oscar database.
  • We work with and have the support and co-operation of a number of Local Authorities, Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Universities clients who kindly provide us with the details of contact and organisational changes they are privy to.

LIVE DATA UPDATING

Watch our researcher work in real time with the live data counter. Refreshes every few seconds:

No contacts updated in the last 7 days,
and none in the last month.

Data Transparency

Please view our policy and procedures on research and data

Contact Us

Please contact us to dicuss any bespoke research requirements