Building
knowledge

Establishing formal mechanisms to share lessons learned, best practice, and case studies to avoid duplication and accelerate progress.

Building knowledge

Identify, evaluate and share existing practices, pilots and projects

What good looks like

Scaling up success

Encouraging adoption and collaboration

The Building Knowledge pillar is centred on developing formal mechanisms for identifying, sharing, scaling and validating digital social care projects, practices and processes in Wales and beyond so that we can recognise and share good practice; establish ‘what good looks like’; and identify opportunities that may have potential for scaling on a regional or national basis.

This will be achieved through a variety of approaches including searching out examples of good projects and good practice; providing support to develop practical case studies that highlight the elements required for success and content that showcases the ‘art of the possible’; and defining excellence in digital practice.

The goal is to create a formalised infrastructure where learning from others is effectively coordinated and resourced; and projects that have potential to be rolled out regionally or nationally are identified and supported to be scaled at pace.

We’ll know we’ve succeeded when:

DiSC Cymru is recognised and used widely across the sector as a central hub for sharing and learning.
Formal mechanisms to identify, evaluate and share projects that are already going on in Wales and beyond are established and are operating effectively.
Successful projects are identified and scaled successfully at a regional or national scale via the Big Change pillar.
Duplication is reduced and projects that have not been successful are not repeated multiple times.
Organisations know what good looks like and how to get there.

Objectives

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Identify, evaluate and share existing practices, pilots and projects

This element is about establishing formal mechanisms for identifying, evaluating and sharing existing digital in social care projects and practices in the sector in Wales and beyond. By identifying and evaluating existing initiatives, the framework can promote these as models for others to learn from and adapt. The emphasis is on practical, evidence-based sharing that supports replication and scaling.

Objective 1 – Creating a central hub

Establish formal mechanisms for DiSC to create a centralised hub for sharing details of digital projects so that all organisations automatically notify DiSC of any projects being delivered or considered.

Research and connect with other digital in social care initiatives beyond Wales, and feed relevant information into DiSC via the mechanisms established above. Leverage existing networks and stakeholder engagement to support.

Work with partners to identify the most effective mechanism for storing, sharing and updating information relating to project and practices. This includes considering if there are existing mechanisms through which this can be delivered, such as the Social Care Wales project finder.
Create effective mechanisms to support successful case study development, publishing, and sharing, including via digital and human means.

Objective 2 – Project and process evaluation

Establish mechanisms to evaluate existing practices to understand their effectiveness and scalability and identify good practice. This may include for example a panel of experts or formal external expertise.
Research the possibility of offering formal support to projects for evaluation.

Objective 3 – Technical Approval

Work with private sector partners to investigate the potential to set up a technical approval body or formal process to support businesses in Wales to deliver technology solutions to local authorities.

Objective 4 – DiSC Awards

Research the potential to establish the ‘DiSC Awards’ to highlight and celebrate successful digital in social care projects in Wales.

What good looks like

This element is about defining and promoting standards of excellence in digital social care. This involves articulating clear benchmarks and success criteria that organisations can aspire to. It will also help create a shared understanding of quality and impact across the sector.

Objective 1 – What does good look like

Carry out a discovery to establish what already exists in this space, including guidance, frameworks and benchmarks.
Using the outcomes of the above, agree a process to define “what good looks like” with clear standards and benchmarks for digital excellence in social care to promote a shared understanding of quality and impact across the sector.
Use the central hub and case study mechanisms to surface projects that demonstrate potential for “what good looks like” and use the established process to test their applicability.

Scaling up success

This element is about moving beyond isolated success stories. It supports the wider adoption of proven approaches, ensuring that effective innovations are not confined to individual organisations but are scaled across Wales. This includes providing the tools, support, and infrastructure needed to replicate success at pace and scale.

Objective 1 – Identifying opportunities

Establish a formal process to systematically identify digital social care projects, practices, and pilots with proven impact and scalability potential, drawing on evidence and insights from across all pillars.
Leverage foundational data, process mapping, and digital maturity assessments to pinpoint areas where scaling would address core service gaps or inefficiencies.

Objective 2 – Supporting scale

Establish a process to provide tools, resources, and infrastructure to enable replication at scale for opportunities identified under Objective 1. This could include support to develop a business plan, identifying funding, securing national or regional support at a political level, procurement support, encouraging collaboration and recruiting delivery partners.
Once developed, pass projects to Big Change to realise regional / national delivery.