visualizing your data through dashboards
DESCRIPTION
By Idealware—Your senior staff and board of directors can benefit from the ability to view high level metrics for your organization, but it’s not obvious how to easily pull such a thing together. We'll outline what has worked for other organizations to define the metrics that should be tracked, strategies for compiling data from different systems, and then possibilities for putting it all together into a visual dashboard.TRANSCRIPT
Creating and Building a Legal Aid Dashboard
November 2014
Laura QuinnIdealware,
Founder and
Executive Director
Introductions
www.idealware.org
What We’ll Cover Today
–What is a Dashboard?–Seven Steps to Your Own Dashboard
1. Define Who and What It’s For2. Understand What Your Users Want3. Map Metrics to Your Needs4. Choose Your Dashboard Platform5. Design Charts and Displays6. Implement and Roll Out7. Plan to Iterate
–Some Dashboard Case Studies
Dashboards consolidate information to help measure,
monitor, and manage the way you work.
What Data Does A Dashboard Track?
It depends greatly on the organization, but it could include:• Operational data• Program spend and budget• Program impact
Or all of these things!
Operational DataThey can show day-to-day data, like the number of open cases assigned to each attorney.
LSNTAP, built on Basecamp
More Specific MetricsSome provide more specific, calculated metrics like the average
time that a case is open or the time spent per program.
Atlanta Legal Aid Society, built in LegalServer
Program Impact
While it’s difficult, a few have created dashboards to track
program impact.
If you can collect the right metrics, this can be a valuable tool —the
ability to see organizational impact in one view.
Blue Ridge Legal Services, built in Excel
What Software Should You Use?
There is, unfortunately, no magical “dashboard software.”
You might use anything from Excel to your grants management system to more complex reporting tools.
Where Do I Start?Let’s look at the seven steps to dashboard success!
Define Who and What Your Dashboard is For1.
Who Will Be the Highest Priority Users?
Who are you designing the dashboard for? Will there be additional types of users?
Is Your Goal to Centralize Key Metrics?
Do you want everyone to be able to see the same set of metrics, to help keep everyone on the same page?
Maybe the board?
Or the public?
Or Will Staff Choose Their Metrics?
Customized metrics will help people with their own job…
..but don’t necessarily help get everyone on the same page.
Is Data Self-Service A Goal?
Do you want to allow staff to look up data themselves rather than requesting it from your grants team?
Define What Success Looks Like
Resist the urge to make something that’s all things to all people.
Understand What Your UsersWant From the Dashboard2 .
Find Out What They Currently Do
Convene staff members and talk about their current processes.
Pay more attention to gaps and workarounds than to what they say they’d use.
Consider The “Magical Dashboard”
Asking people to draw out the information they’d like to have can be useful—often desires are surprisingly simple.
Define What They Really Need
• Simple summary of key data?• More complex indicators?• Ability to tailor to their own needs?• To be able to drill into details?• To do scenario planning?
Map Metrics to Your Needs3 .
Find Your Sweet Spot
What Data Will Help You Make Decisions?
Defining the right metrics might take a conversation—or a two year strategic process.
Where Will The Data Come From?
• Do you have the data?• How easy will it be to pull it for your dashboard?• What kind of transformation will it need?
Don’t Underestimate This Process
For many organizations, designing the right metrics—those that are both useful and practical—is the hardest part of a dashboard process.
Choose Your Dashboard Platform4 .
What Platform Will Work Best?
What can pull together all the data you need and support the features your users want?
Your Existing Legal Case Management System
May or may not do what you want…but on the other hand, you already have it.
An Excel Spreadsheet
Also consider Google Docs/ Google Charts
You’ll likely need
to pull in data by
hand, but can be
straightforward
for static charts.
A Plug-In Reporting or Dashboard Tool…
A tool designed to pull in and display data can provide more flexibility—with more effort.
LegalServer with additional modules
…Such As Tableau
Tableau
Not incredibly
powerful, but
straightforward to
setup and
dashboards are
graphically
appealing.
…Specific Dashboard Tools
Tools like iDashboards, GoodData, Birst, and QlikView offer specific dashboard features for those willing to do more technical setup.
iDashboards
…Or An External Reporting Tool
Tools like Crystal
Reports, Jasper Reports,
SharePoint, Cognos, or
BusinessObjects can
provide a platform on
which to build.
Crystal Reports
A Custom-Built Dashboard
More flexibility, but likely requires more time and effort.Custom Kellogg Dashboard
Design Charts and Displays5 .
Match Your Metrics to VisualsLet the data itself take center stage.
Bar Charts Line Charts
Plotted Chart Pie Chart
Beware the Glitzy Graphic
How much room are you taking up with glitz rather than information?
Implement and Roll Out Your Dashboard6 .
Make the Dashboard Magic Happen
Bring the data together with your visuals and platform to let the magic happen!
Obviously, the effort and process will depend hugely on what you’re doing.
Roll it Out Thoughtfully
Don’t forget about training and the process of getting people on board—it doesn’t matter how great it is if no one uses it.
Plan to Iterate7 .
It Makes Sense to Start Small
Start with baby steps.
It’s much easier to figure out what’s needed by iterating than through a huge design process.
Plan to Refine Over Time
Features
Implement
Your dashboard is only as good as your data—but making it more visible can often inspire improvements in data quality.
Refine Your Data as Well
Some Dashboard Case Studies: Atlanta Legal Aid Society
Atlanta Legal Aid Society
Awarded a TIG in 2012 to develop an Executive Dashboard in their existing case management system, LegalServer.
Atlanta Legal Aid Society
The dynamic reports allow the executive team to both see a high-level overview
of programs and services, and drill down to see outcomes for a specific
program or individual.
Some Dashboard Case Studies: Blue Ridge Legal Services
Blue Ridge Legal Services
Static charts and graphs built in Microsoft Excel, displaying performance metrics to compare individual offices, programs, and case handlers.
Used for :• individual performance
reports for staff or offices
• displaying results in case work and client satisfaction surveys
Blue Ridge Legal Services
Long-term goal is to create a template file in Excel, allowing staff to quickly create dashboards from custom reports or queries.
Some Dashboard Case Studies: Utah Legal Services
Utah Legal Services
Awarded a TIG in 2010 to develop dashboards in Kemp’s Case Works to provide
a clearer and more user-friendly version of their quarterly performance reports.
Utah Legal ServicesReports are sent quarterly to advocates, comparing their work to other staff in similar areas focused on:
• Performance Metrics• Electronic Time Reports
• Electronic Expense/ FSA Claims
Questions?