Netball Victoria wins award for analytics-led digital overhaul

Netball Victoria has received the 2025 Qlik ANZ Digital Transformation Award for its Qlik Analytics Modernisation project, which focused on the end-to-end transformation of its data strategy, governance, and analytics delivery in collaboration with Notitia.

Centralising data

The organisation has implemented a centralised, modern platform to bring together previously fragmented reporting structures, supporting over 119,000 participants, 975 clubs, and 168 associations and leagues throughout Victoria. This unification of data management aims to enhance the delivery and evaluation of participation programs at both grassroots and elite levels.

Troy Swainston, Chief Operating Officer at Netball Victoria, highlighted the strategic significance of the transformation.

He said, "We're thrilled to have had our work with Notitia recognised, as we aim to revolutionise and evolve our systems to help the netball community."

Swainston explained the benefits of the new analytics system: "We now have a centralised, modern platform that allows us to see who is playing, where gaps exist, and how programs are performing. It means we can invest resources more effectively, deliver targeted initiatives, and support both grassroots clubs and high performance pathways."

Driving efficiency

The Qlik Analytics Modernisation project has replaced manual, fragmented reporting processes with automated workflows and dashboards, ensuring real-time insights are available across departments such as participation, finance, and operations.

Swainston described the organisational impact, stating, "Our data transformation journey has come at a time of growth and has needed to match the impact that our organisation plays in promoting the most popular team sport for women in the country. Modernising our use of data ensures that our goals are backed by evidence and real-time insights. Netball Victoria can now use data to plan strategically, measure progress, and deliver outcomes that strengthen netball's role in the community."

Alex Avery, Managing Director at Notitia, emphasised the efficiencies delivered by the partnership.

He explained, "Well done to the award-winning team at Netball Victoria, their modernisation project has strengthened governance and security, while empowering non-technical staff with self-service analytics. By automating routine processes and improving access to reliable data, the organisation can now make faster, evidence-based decisions that support participation, equity, and growth across Victorian netball. Tasks that once required hours of manual effort, such as extracting and collating reports from multiple systems, are now handled automatically, and employees have access to reliable and timely data for decision-making."

The project's main outcomes include a shift from fragmented, manual reporting to a unified data environment, real-time insights for program and resource planning, improvements in efficiency and accuracy through automation, and the empowerment of staff across all levels with user-friendly analytics tools.

Informing strategy

The deployment of the new analytics platform enables Netball Victoria to identify trends in participation and target investment to areas with the greatest impact, with a specific focus on inclusivity and accessibility.

"With clearer insights into participation patterns, Netball Victoria can better support our netball community and underrepresented groups, target investment where it will have the most impact, and ensure programs are inclusive and accessible to all communities," Swainston said. "The insights we now have help us understand participation trends and deliver more inclusive programs. We can identify where opportunities aren't reaching communities, address barriers, and better support both the grassroots and elite levels of the sport."

Avery noted that Netball Victoria has set a precedent for similar organisations. He said, "Netball Victoria's transformation demonstrates what's possible when strategy, governance, and technology come together. They have built an environment that not only improves decision-making today, but is set up to scale and evolve over time."

Sector recognition

Recognition from the data analytics sector also highlighted Netball Victoria's rapid data maturity.

Charlie Farah, Qlik Field CTO for Analytics and AI, commented, "Huge congratulations to Netball Victoria for their use of Qlik Cloud Analytics. By modernising their analytics environment, they've empowered staff across departments to make faster, more informed decisions that directly benefit participants and the community. What stands out in this project is the way governance, automation, and self-service have been combined to create a truly modern analytics environment. Netball Victoria has built a data platform that not only supports immediate decision-making but also sets a benchmark for how sport can harness analytics to drive participation and growth."

Farah added, "Netball Victoria's project is a model for other sporting bodies looking to modernise their data."