The City of Cape Town is investing in its employees through training courses that provide practical skills to better understand and use data in their everyday work. The City’s six-day Data Analytics Fundamentals for the Workplace programme is a good example of a course that has been designed to help employees analyse, interpret and communicate data more confidently, with the ultimate aim of supporting better decisions and improved service delivery. The City’s Training and Development branch launched this training programme for its staff over the past week and aims to have nearly 80 key professionals trained by mid-September 2026.
‘The first Data Analytics training programme course to be offered to our staff kicked off this month and I believe this is a great practical investment in our employees and the future of our City. Every day, the City generates and receives a significant amount of information, so the opportunity here is to make sure that our employees have the skills and confidence to use that information effectively. By combining data with the professional experience of our employees, we can make better-informed decisions, improve efficiency and ultimately strengthen the services we provide to our residents.
‘Ultimately, we want to get the most value from the wealth of information the municipality already has. When employees are better equipped to work with data, the City is better positioned to understand challenges and identify opportunities. This is most definitely becoming a priority for all organisations,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services, Alderman Theresa Uys
The training is particularly relevant because the City works with large amounts of information every day, from customer service requests and financial information to water and electricity consumption, traffic patterns and infrastructure maintenance. The key is therefore not to simply have access to this information, but being able to understand it and use it to identify problems, spot trends and make better decisions.
The City recognises that data does not replace professional experience, it strengthens it. Employees already have valuable knowledge and experience in their respective fields. This training gives them an additional set of tools to combine that experience with reliable information and evidence when making decisions. The intention is also not to make every employee a data specialist. Rather, it is about helping employees become more comfortable and confident in working with data and using it to improve how they perform their jobs.
The programme provides practical skills in areas such as Microsoft Excel and Power BI, allowing participants to work with information, identify insights and present data in a meaningful way. The expectation is that employees will be able to apply these skills directly in their respective areas of work – whether that means identifying inefficiencies, solving problems or supporting planning.
Source: City of Cape Town
