1. An Intro to Live Data Visualization
Data Dashboards
An Intro to Live Data Visualization

2. Most of us have encountered dashboards in our work
Most of us have encountered dashboards in our work. Most internet apps have some kind of executive, analytics or performance dashboard.

4. How can we include these in projects where they might be useful?

5. Let’s get on the same page here.
Data Dashboards offer a visual presentation of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) within live data in order to provide Actionable Insights.

6. What are KPI’s?
Measurable values (metrics) that show whether or not some process or function is meeting a defined objective.
OBJECTIVE: Increase newsletter subscriptions by 50% in 6 months. METRIC: Number of website visitors that complete the signup form every month.
OBJECTIVE: Increase reach and training effectiveness of transition TA providers. METRICS: Geo-mapped training location data, on-site vs. off-site trainings, survey and questionnaire data, travel time vs. training time.

7. What is “live” data?
“Live” data is simply any data set that includes variables that change over time.
New website users per month.
Mentoring hours per teacher per month.
QRIS rated day care facility density by zip code.

8. Actionable insights
Knowledge gained from your data that allows you to make informed decisions.
Let’s put a big SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER button on the website homepage.
We need to recruit 5 more teacher mentors so that all teachers in Oregon can receive the required number of mentoring hours.
We should do more to reach out to day care providers in certain zip codes and encourage them to begin the QRIS rating process.

9. Data dashboards != Data analysis
Limited manipulation and exploration of your data.
Do not allow for ad hoc queries.
Are bound within 1 primary variable, usually time.
Data analysis should be done well before dashboard is created.
Dashboard is an artifact of data analysis, somewhere between a formal report and a static infographic.

10. Let’s see some examples!

11. Commercial dashboard products
Dashboard only products
Cyfe (cyfe.com) $170/year
Klipfolio (klipfolio.com) $600/year
Freeboard (freeboard.io) Free
Dashboard/data analysis hybrid products
Microsoft Power BI
Google Data Studio
Periscope
Tableau

12. Custom built dashboard examples
NCDB group administrator dashboard
TNF activity log
NCDB child count map

13. Does your project need a data dashboard?
Who are your potential data consumers?
Project staff
Your funders
Project “customers” - teachers, parents, students, administrators, other professionals.

14. A data dashboard might be right for you!
Are you…
Spending a lot of time routinely producing and distributing reports for your data consumers?
Responding to a lot of questions regarding data you collect or possess?
Performing the same data analysis procedure on a regular basis?
Having to write queries, run scripts, add columns of numbers, and do backflips every time you want to get interesting metrics from your data?
A data dashboard might be right for you!
Consult your physician. Results may vary.

15. Designing a dashboard
A dashboard isn’t something you just paste on top of an existing data set. You must first:
Identify your Data Consumers.
Define your KPI’s. (Hint: there may be different KPI’s for different consumer types)
Determine Level of Interaction a consumer will have with the dashboard.
Build a Data Warehouse.
Select a Dashboard Interface Tool - Build or buy?

16. What is a data warehouse?
A data warehouse is a representation of only the data needed to support your KPI’s and run the dashboard. It contains a small subset of your overall data collection. Data is flattened (non-normalized) and usually exists in a single database table.

19. Reports
Cloud
Data Analysis
Data
Warehouse
Dashboards
Ad Hoc
KPI’S
Normalized
Infographics
Files

20. Build or buy? Commercial Products Less expensive to implement
Many options available, one of which might immediately fit your needs
Learning curve - staff time required to learn the tool
Data security may be an issue
Custom Built
More expensive to implement
Virtually no learning time for staff Design and technical work is done by a developer
Much greater flexibility
Far fewer data security concerns
It would be tough to implement even a simple custom built dashboard for less than $1000

21. Recap
Determine Need: routine requests for the same data, disseminating reports that could be self-service
Identify Data Consumers: staff, funders, professionals, parents
Corral Your Data Inputs: Excel files, Access, web databases, surveys
Analyze Data and Identify KPI’s: make sure data consumers understand your KPI’s.
Create a Data Warehouse
Decide to Build or Buy
Mention TRI staff who can help with some or all of these points. Patrick, Jeff, Eric, Andrea, Cheri, Shelby, Gail