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Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................2
Dashboard tutorial......................................................................................................................3
Current award by region and year (Interactive).....................................................................3
Why have we chosen the bar chart and line chart for this data?.......................................3
How do these interactive features work? ...........................................................................4
Current award by thematic area ............................................................................................5
Why have we chosen a pie chart for this data and what does it show?............................5
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................6
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Executivesummary
This report provides a how-to guide on how to use our dashboard which has has been
produced for the use of AAM and their clients. The dashboard was produced on IBM tool,
Watson analytics, which is an advanced piece of software which helps you analyse and
display data in a presentable way. It was asked that we produce a dashboard, displaying any
information which may be useful to AAM and their clients. The dashboard will show various
means of information extracted from the data provided by the Big Lottery Fund. Throughout
this report, there will be an explanation as to why the certain graphs and charts have been
chosen to display the information to the user.
Our dashboard will simply show different bits of information to the user. Conveying
information such thematic areas, region and announcement year all by the current award
amount. The dashboard will be interactive to the user, and the user will be able to select
which information they want to know. We will be using multiple chart types such as bar chart,
pie chart and line charts.
Firstly we will display information and a bar chart on which applicant areas and regions the
award money is heading to. This is interactive and will give the user the option to select
specific applicant names and even constituencies. Also with these interactive features a line
chart will presented. This part of the dashboard will also display when applicant first began
getting funded by the big lottery fund.
Then thirdly we will display which type of charities (Thematic areas) are being funded the
most and least, we will be looking at thematic areas such as: Sport, arts, heritage,
community activity and discrimination/exploitation. As requested from AAM, this will be very
useful to them, it’ll also be explained why we have chosen a pie chart in displaying this
specific data.
Below I have displayed the completed dashboard, which will be explained throughout this
report.
Figure 1 - Dashboard
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Dashboard tutorial
Current award by region and year (Interactive).
Why have we chosen the bar chart and line chart for this data?
Firstly, tab 1 displays a bar chart showing the current award money by region. A bar chart
has been chosen as then, the different regions can be compared and we can see which
regions are getting the most award money. This would then be useful, as you can see on
average which region is receiving the most money on average. We have decided to display
the current awards by region, rather than constituency, for example, because there are less
regions than there are constituencies. Showing constituencies would completely over
popular the bar chart and it would be difficult to read for the user. The bar chart is also easy
to view and read the information you require, as the requirements suggested, the user would
want a simple and minimalistic view, so that it wouldn’t be confusing.
As there’s a considerable difference in award money between regions, there is no need to
use a line graph for example, as that would be used for smaller changes in amount. We
couldn’t use a pie chart, as there are too many regions to display on it, and it would be
difficult to differentiate between regions.
The dashboard also gives you the opportunity to search the amount of award money given
to certain areas (constituencies) within a region. So it gives the user to have more insight
and specific information on where the money is going. Then to go in to even more detail you
are able to click on the applicant name, and then you’ll be able to see the amount of money
awarded to them.
Then at the bottom of the page you’ll see a line graph displaying current award by
announcement date. This information is important the user as they are then to see in what
years the money is being awarded to charities in total. They can then see whether there are
any trends, whether there increases or decreases over time. This graph shows the amount
of money awarded in total for each announcement year. The line graph is used, as the
amount of money awarded is being compared over a period of time, so we thought the line
graph would be most relevant. Again, the graph is easy to follow, and you can see clearly
how much money is being each year.
It was decided against using a bar chart, as it more difficult to compare the changes over a
period of time, this is important to the user as mentioned previously, it’s easier for them to
follow in this format . You couldn’t use a pie chart for the same reason, but also, again there
are too many years to be represented on a small bar chart.
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How do these interactive features work?
As mentioned in the executive summary, the dashboard is interactive. The user is able to
specify which information they want to see, for example: Region, applicant name,
constituency and year. The original graph as you can see below shows the current award by
region. This displays how much money has being awarded to the relevant charity since they
began getting funded. Once you click on the bar of the region, it then brings up the sum of
the current award for the particular region. As you can see below (Figure 2), the region “UK-
Wide” is highlighted; you can then see the statistics for that region, where you will see the
average, maximum and minimum current award. This then amends the line chart which
changes to that regions announcement year by current award. To remove this selection,
simply hold ctrl and click on the highlighted bar.
Figure 2 - Interactive feature
The same instructions apply to the menus displaying year, region, constituency and
applicant name. One selected they willl change the bar chart and line chart in accordance to
the selected option. This gives the user the option to also search for specific information they
want, rather than having limiations to what use (The developer) wants them to see. But yet
its in a simplistic format which should be easy to follow. Below in figure 3 and 4 I have shown
these interactive features in action.
Figure 3 and 4 – Year and Applicant name.
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Current award by thematic area
Why have we chosen a pie chart for this data and what does it show?
This section, shown in the bottom right hand corner of the dashboard presents the thematic
areas current award. The five thematic areas I have chosen, in accordance to the user
requirements are: Sport, art, community, heritage and discrimination, as well as “other”.
These thematic areas show which area these charities specialise in, giving the user an
indication to what the award money is being spent on.
As there are only 6 fields to the thematic areas, we thought it would be better to use a pie
chart to illustrate this information. As these 6 thematic complete the funding as a whole. We
represent this on pie chart as you can see how much of the whole is being spent on each
thematic areas.
For example, you can see from the below bar chart (Figure 5) “other” and “art” represent the
majority or current award money with 1.92billion and 1.53billion accordingly. Again, this
matches the user requirements and they can now see this information on thematic areas.
We decided against using a bar chart, as explained, we wanted to see the charities as a
whole and this is best presented in a pie chart. The bar chart would only be suitable if we
simply wanted to compare the thematic, this could have been used, but as we have already
used a bar chart it would be visually more representtive of the chart on the dashboard.
And again we didn’t reperesent this data with a line or scatter graph as we are no comparing
the data over a period of time.
Figure 5 - Pie chart 1
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Conclusion
The dashboard we provided is a simple but informative interface for the user. The user is
able to see the graphics that we have provided, as well as creating their own. It is now
possible to see where the money is going and even when this money has gone. All very
important information for the user, which also matches their requirements.
The interactivity of the dashboard is user friendly, and hopefully the guide to the interactive
feature that has been provided, proves useful to the user.
Hopefully the dashboard with the graphics of pie charts, bar chart and line charts provide
useful resource to the users and AAM. Hopefully the following information we have provided
will be useful:
- Current award by thematic area
- Current award by region
- Current award by applicant name
- Current award by announcement date
- Current award by year
- Current award by constituency
