How to Build the Best Public Dashboard

Whether you're updating an existing dashboard or building one from scratch, it’s important to think about the ways of data presentation and the core principles of public engagement through digital platforms.

I, resident ClearPoint public dashboard expert, had the pleasure of sitting down with ClearPoint Strategy Co-Founder, Ted Jackson, for a webinar covering best public dashboarding practices that have been successfully implemented across our local government partners.

To explore more fully, find the recording here!

Looking for some inspiration to make your data accessible, relevant, and impactful? Look no further! Below, we delve into the elements necessary to build public-facing dashboards that empower citizens with timely and relevant information, and take a deep dive into different aspects of the BEST ones.

Core Dashboard Functionalities

We emphasize three foundational ideas essential for any public dashboard:

1. Simplicity in Design: Try to create dashboards that are intuitive and easy to understand at a high-level. A simple, clean design helps provide clarity and prevents users from becoming overwhelmed, regardless of their level of tech-savvy.

2. Relevance of Data: It's crucial that the data displayed is relevant and timely. This allows the dashboard to meet the actual needs of the public and remain a reliable resource for up-to-date information.

3. Interactive Elements: Incorporating interactive features lets users explore data in more depth. You want to make your dashboard engaging, but having your users interact enables better “information communication,” as they can view according to their own interests.

Free Download: Essential Elements of Public Dashboards

These concepts serve as the backbone for creating dashboards that not only convey information, but also engage communities. Let’s explore these principles in practice with a few of my favorite examples:

A Few of ClearPoint’s Favorite Public-Facing Dashboards

Fairfield, CA Community Dashboard

The City of Fairfield, California, has implemented an innovative public dashboard that takes a traditional three-level approach to data presentation. This structure is designed to cater to various user engagement levels, from public awareness to detailed project tracking. Fairfield's dashboard is tailored to reflect the unique needs and priorities of its residents, ensuring that the information provided is relevant. This approach not only enhances user experience, but also strengthens the connection between city officials and community members, promoting transparency and accountability.

Dashboard Overview

The landing page serves as the gateway to the dashboard, presenting six key focus areas identified as priorities for the community. Each area is represented with clickable links that lead to more detailed pages, allowing users to explore topics of particular interest or concern.

Navigating the Dashboard

Upon selecting a focus area, users are directed to a second-level page that details specific projects, initiatives, and measures relevant to the chosen topic. This page offers a more granular view, displaying current projects with intuitive red, yellow, and green status indicators, providing a quick snapshot of each initiative's progress.

For users interested in even deeper insights, clicking on specific initiatives leads to a third-level detail page. Here, Fairfield showcases comprehensive information about the selected project, including detailed descriptions, milestones, status updates, and qualitative insights. This level is particularly useful for residents who wish to understand the specifics of how city projects are progressing, what measures are being implemented, and the overall impact on the community.

The dashboard’s interactive design allows residents to easily navigate through various levels of data, depending on their interest or need for information. By enabling users to control their own journey, Fairfield effectively engages its community, ensuring that important city initiatives are accessible to everyone.

Germantown, TN Dashboard

The City of Germantown has developed a highly effective public dashboard that exemplifies both storytelling and simplicity. This dashboard combines metrics and projects to provide a clear narrative about the city's initiatives and their impact on the community. Germantown’s dashboard focuses on providing information that is most pertinent to residents, which enhances engagement and fosters a sense of involvement and transparency in city affairs.

Dashboard KPIs

Germantown's dashboard uses a focused approach by displaying only 30-40 key performance indicators (KPIs) from potentially hundreds that the city tracks. This selection is strategically designed to avoid information overload, ensuring that the data presented is relevant and digestible for citizens. Updated quarterly, the dashboard maintains current and accurate data that reflects the city's ongoing developments.

The design encourages interaction and exploration, allowing users to follow their journey through the data. Whether a citizen is interested in broad city metrics or specific project details, the dashboard facilitates an intuitive navigation path that makes complex information accessible to all.

Dashboard Details

The dashboard starts with a general overview of city services and branches into specific areas such as economic development, education, and city finances, a structure that facilitates easy understanding. Each section is accompanied by status indicators (red/yellow/green), providing a quick visual reference to the performance and status of each key area.

By drilling down into specific KPIs or initiatives, residents can access detail pages that offer deeper insights into particular projects. For example, a resident concerned about travel times on Germantown Road can easily find data related to traffic flow, road conditions, and any ongoing or planned constructions affecting the area. This level of detail is crucial for residents seeking to understand specific aspects of city management.

Bozeman, MT Climate Dashboard

The City of Bozeman, Montana, has distinguished itself by deploying a user-friendly Climate Plan dashboard, setting a standard for inclusivity and accessibility in public digital communications. Interactive features allow residents to explore data trends regarding environmental policies and their impact.

Dashboard Structure

Unlike more general strategic plans, Bozeman’s dashboard specifically addresses the city’s climate-related initiatives and goals. It tracks air quality indices, water quality stats, seasonal environmental changes, and more. This specialized focus allows the city to present targeted information on environmental strategies and actions, making it easier for residents to understand the specific impacts and progress of such initiatives.

The dashboard is structured to allow for dynamic content updates, which are essential for maintaining accurate and current information. Bozeman’s use of a content management system enables quick updates, reducing the administrative burden and ensuring that the latest data is always available to the public.

Accessible and Adaptive Design

Bozeman's dashboard is meticulously designed to ensure that all community members can easily use it, regardless of their technological proficiency or access. The city has implemented features for ADA compliance and language accessibility, incorporating tools like the Google Translate plugin to support multiple languages. This ensures that non-English speakers can navigate and understand the dashboard in their preferred language.

Also understanding the varied devices through which users might access the dashboard, a responsive design adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes. This flexibility enhances the user experience by ensuring that the dashboard is functional and visually coherent across all devices.

Bozeman has taken significant steps toward inclusivity in designing the dashboard, making it a model for other cities aiming to implement similar tools. High contrast visuals make the dashboard legible to individuals with visual impairments, while the integration of screen reader compatibility and alternative image texts ensures that the dashboard is usable for those with different accessibility needs.

Town of Davie, FL Annual Dashboard

The Town of Davie, FL, has embraced the ClearPoint platform to develop and deploy an Annual Dashboard that highlights the town's strategy achievements. This dashboard is about making complex data approachable, empowering citizens with the knowledge they need to engage more fully with their community.

One-Click Publishing

Davie's dashboard is fully integrated within the ClearPoint environment, simplifying the creation and maintenance process. This integration allows for a seamless blend of Davie's unique branding and data visualizations, providing a consistent and professional appearance that reflects the town's identity.

The efficiency of the ClearPoint platform and the collaborative efforts between Davie's technical team and our support staff allowed for rapid dashboard development. This process is crucial for towns looking to quickly adapt to changing needs and keep their residents informed in real-time.

Once deployed, the dashboard requires minimal maintenance, making it a cost-effective solution for ongoing community engagement. Its dynamic nature means that updates and changes can be made quickly and efficiently, without requiring extensive technical resources.

Leveraging AI for Dashboard Development

Davie has also leveraged ClearPoint's artificial intelligence features to aid in strategy development. These tools help the town streamline thought processes and decision-making to improve the effectiveness of their strategic initiatives. Not only does the dashboard serve as a tool for reporting, but also as a platform for transparency and community engagement.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL City Dashboard

The City of Fort Lauderdale, FL, has developed a sophisticated public dashboard to communicate progress to its community members. The dashboard excels in delivering a cohesive digital experience that aligns closely with the city's broader digital presence.

The city dashboard uses a three-level structure to organize information, starting from a high-level overview down to specific data points. This approach allows users to browse everything from general information to more detailed data, facilitating both quick insights and deeper exploration, depending on the user's needs.

Designed to automatically pull in updated data from the city’s ClearPoint account, the dashboard always has the most current information available – without manual intervention. The city also has the flexibility to select specific data fields to display, tailoring the dashboard to reflect the most relevant and timely information for residents.

The dashboard dynamically displays various measures and descriptions, incorporating qualitative fields that add depth to the quantitative data. This allows for a richer narrative that tells the story behind the numbers, giving citizens a clear view of the city’s areas of focus and progress.

Dashboard Branding

Fort Lauderdale’s dashboard mirrors that of the city's official website, ensuring a seamless user experience that extends from the digital to the physical spaces within the city. This cohesive branding strategy bolsters the dashboard's credibility and makes users feel a consistent connection across all city platforms.

The city’s dashboard showcases an exemplary use of data visualizations, including stacked bar charts and line graphs. Also integrated with the city's branding, the designs are engaging, providing an eye-catching platform for civic interaction and information.

These examples all illustrate the diverse applications of public dashboards across different focus areas. Each dashboard is tailored to meet specific local needs, enhancing transparency, engagement, and data-driven decision-making within communities.

Community Dashboards with ClearPoint

The impact of our #ClearPointCommunity dashboards is a testament to transparency, with the use of advanced technology fostering a well-informed and actively engaged public. With a way to maintain dynamic, accessible information, cities, counties, and towns are strategically aligned in municipal governance. Start simple with ClearPoint Strategy, and let your dashboard evolve with your community needs!

Allow your citizens to participate actively in your community. Schedule a free demo to talk to a public dashboard expert.