So you think you want a dashboard? Here are a few considerations before you embark on your design process on the questions you should be able to answer. From the MERL Tech "Dashboards: A Force for Good, Great, or Greater Confusion" panel.

1. Barbara Knittel
MERL Tech Conference
October 16, 2015
Washington, D.C.

2. Adashboardis ahandywayto
discernimportantinformation
quickly.
Adashboardshouldleadustoa
decision.

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

11. Follow
@jsihealth