The document outlines the creation and implementation of a legal aid dashboard, highlighting seven steps: defining user needs, mapping relevant metrics, selecting a platform, designing displays, and planning for iterative improvements. It emphasizes the importance of tracking operational data and program impact through customizable metrics and provides case studies of successful dashboards from various legal aid organizations. The document also notes that while there is no one-size-fits-all dashboard software, options range from basic tools like Excel to specialized reporting solutions.

1. Creating and Building a
Legal Aid Dashboard
November 2014

2. Laura Quinn
Idealware,
Founder and
Executive Director

3. Introductions
www.idealware.org

4. What We’ll Cover Today
–What is a Dashboard?
–Seven Steps to Your Own Dashboard
1. Define Who and What It’s For
2. Understand What Your Users Want
3. Map Metrics to Your Needs
4. Choose Your Dashboard Platform
5. Design Charts and Displays
6. Implement and Roll Out
7. Plan to Iterate
–Some Dashboard Case Studies

5. Dashboards consolidate
information to help measure,
monitor, and manage the
way you work.

6. 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!

7. Operational Data
They can show day-to-day data, like the number of open
cases assigned to each attorney.
LSNTAP, built on Basecamp

8. More Specific Metrics
Some 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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. Where Do I Start?
Let’s look at the seven steps to dashboard success!

12. Define Who and What
Your Dashboard is For 1.

13. Who Will Be the Highest Priority Users?
Who are you designing the dashboard for?
Will there be additional types of users?

14. 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?

15. 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.

16. 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?

17. Define What Success Looks Like
Resist the urge to make
something that’s all
things to all people.

18. Understand What Your Users
Want From the Dashboard 2 .

19. 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.

20. Consider The “Magical Dashboard”
Asking people to draw
out the information they’d
like to have can be
useful—often desires are
surprisingly simple.

21. 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?

22. 3 . Map Metrics to Your Needs

23. Find Your Sweet Spot

24. What Data Will Help You Make Decisions?
Defining the right metrics might
take a conversation—or a two
year strategic process.

25. 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?

26. 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.

27. 4 . Choose Your Dashboard Platform

28. What Platform Will Work Best?
What can pull together all the
data you need and support the
features your users want?

29. Your Existing Legal Case Management System

30. An Excel Spreadsheet
Also consider Google Docs/ Google Charts

31. A Plug-In Reporting or Dashboard Tool…
LegalServer with additional modules

32. …Such As Tableau
Tableau

33. …Specific Dashboard Tools
iDashboards

34. …Or An External Reporting Tool
Crystal Reports

35. A Custom-Built Dashboard
Custom Kellogg Dashboard

36. 5 . Design Charts and Displays

37. Match Your Metrics to Visuals
Let the data itself take center stage.
Bar Charts Line Charts
Plotted Chart Pie Chart

38. Beware the Glitzy Graphic
How much room are you taking up with glitz rather than information?

39. Implement and Roll
Out Your Dashboard 6 .

40. 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.

41. 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.

42. 7. Plan to Iterate

43. 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.

44. Plan to Refine Over Time
Features
Implement

45. Refine Your Data as Well
Your dashboard is only as good as
your data—but making it more
visible can often inspire
improvements in data quality.

46. Some Dashboard Case Studies:
Atlanta Legal Aid Society

47. Atlanta Legal Aid Society
Awarded a TIG in 2012 to develop an Executive Dashboard in
their existing case management system, LegalServer.

48. 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.

49. Some Dashboard Case Studies:
Blue Ridge Legal Services

50. 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

51. 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.

52. Some Dashboard Case Studies:
Utah Legal Services

53. 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.

54. Utah Legal Services
Reports 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

55. Questions?