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Considerations for a Data-based Dashboard

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Barb Knittel
Barb Knittel

The document discusses important considerations for designing an effective dashboard. It emphasizes that defining the audience, purpose, and available data is critical before beginning design. The audience informs choices about the technology platform and type of dashboard. The purpose helps focus the scope and indicators included. Understanding existing data sources and how frequently data is updated is also important for informed decision-making. The document provides an example user profile specifying the intended audience and purpose of an anemia prevention dashboard for district stakeholders.

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Barbara Knittel MERL Tech Conference October 16, 2015 Washington, D.C.
Adashboardis ahandywayto discernimportantinformation quickly. Adashboardshouldleadustoa decision.
Considerations for a Data-based Dashboard
Considerations for a Data-based Dashboard
• Guides your visuals and the level of detail to include o Is this the first time they will be seeing the information? o Are they the data provider? • Informs your choice in a technology platform o How will the user interact with the dashboard? o Are the users in high or low-tech settings? Knowing your audience is a critical first step in designing an effective dashboard.
• Helps you to decide what type of dashboard to create o Management o Project/ activity tracking o Advocacy/ needs prioritization • Helps you focus on the indicators and data that are necessary for decisionmaking Defining what sort of decisions the users will make when using the dashboard will help to focus your scope and design Photo credit: Amanda Makulec
• Informs the design and use of your dashboard o Does the data already exist? o Is it coming from multiple sources o Is it qualitative data, quantitative data, or both? o How frequently is the data updated? Informed decision-making relies on good data. No matter how pretty the picture, without quality data, your dashboard will suffer.
When these three critical elements are not defined it impacts: • Workload • Timeline • Budget • Design • Final product
• Know what’s out there o Do a scoping exercise to determine user needs o Explore data sources in advance • Create a user profile to define audience and purpose • Be flexible/ adaptable AUDIENCE: This dashboard is intended for use by district level stakeholders in agriculture, WASH, and health (nutrition, family planning, malaria). PURPOSE: To raise awareness of the causes of anemia and related interventions, in order to identify enter points and support anemia prevention efforts at the district level. Dashboard User Profile
Considerations for a Data-based Dashboard
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Considerations for a Data-based Dashboard

  • 1. Barbara Knittel MERL Tech Conference October 16, 2015 Washington, D.C.
  • 5. • Guides your visuals and the level of detail to include o Is this the first time they will be seeing the information? o Are they the data provider? • Informs your choice in a technology platform o How will the user interact with the dashboard? o Are the users in high or low-tech settings? Knowing your audience is a critical first step in designing an effective dashboard.
  • 6. • Helps you to decide what type of dashboard to create o Management o Project/ activity tracking o Advocacy/ needs prioritization • Helps you focus on the indicators and data that are necessary for decisionmaking Defining what sort of decisions the users will make when using the dashboard will help to focus your scope and design Photo credit: Amanda Makulec
  • 7. • Informs the design and use of your dashboard o Does the data already exist? o Is it coming from multiple sources o Is it qualitative data, quantitative data, or both? o How frequently is the data updated? Informed decision-making relies on good data. No matter how pretty the picture, without quality data, your dashboard will suffer.
  • 8. When these three critical elements are not defined it impacts: • Workload • Timeline • Budget • Design • Final product
  • 9. • Know what’s out there o Do a scoping exercise to determine user needs o Explore data sources in advance • Create a user profile to define audience and purpose • Be flexible/ adaptable AUDIENCE: This dashboard is intended for use by district level stakeholders in agriculture, WASH, and health (nutrition, family planning, malaria). PURPOSE: To raise awareness of the causes of anemia and related interventions, in order to identify enter points and support anemia prevention efforts at the district level. Dashboard User Profile