March 18, 2024

Building a city performance dashboard for actionable insights

Using advanced analytics in the public sector

Building a city performance dashboard for actionable insights

At a glance

Challenge

Smart cities are increasingly adopting digital transformation, focusing on using data to drive decision-making. Government entities are aiming to turn multiple data sources into actionable insights to support policy-making and prioritize initiatives. The challenge lies in translating data into accessible, quickly analyzable information.

Solution

The solution involves a periodic ETL process to centralize and structure data from various sources. A cloud-based database supports cross-analysis and downstream applications. A predictive module, using machine learning, generates forecasts for key city indicators. These are displayed on a unified, interactive dashboard, maintaining aesthetic coherence with the city brand while allowing for the easy addition of new indicators and data sources.

Results

The structured dashboard, available on web and mobile, empowers decision-makers to use data for informed investments and policy decisions. It also fosters transparency and trust between city governors and citizens. An adaptation for a public website is in development to provide open access to information for the general population.

Challenge

Smart cities are increasingly adopting digital transformation, focusing on using data to drive decision-making. Government entities are aiming to turn multiple data sources into actionable insights to support policy-making and prioritize initiatives. The challenge lies in translating data into accessible, quickly analyzable information.

Approach

Solution

The solution involves a periodic ETL process to centralize and structure data from various sources. A cloud-based database supports cross-analysis and downstream applications. A predictive module, using machine learning, generates forecasts for key city indicators. These are displayed on a unified, interactive dashboard, maintaining aesthetic coherence with the city brand while allowing for the easy addition of new indicators and data sources.

Results

The structured dashboard, available on web and mobile, empowers decision-makers to use data for informed investments and policy decisions. It also fosters transparency and trust between city governors and citizens. An adaptation for a public website is in development to provide open access to information for the general population.

Our
AI-generated
summary

Our AI-generated summary

Our AI-generated summary

Smart cities are trending, as technology-enabled efficiencies leave the realm of futuristic thinking and turn into part of our present reality. With the push for the digital transformation of public entities comes an increased focus on information collection and data-based decision-making.

Following the lead of many sectors, government entities are then looking to leverage their multiple data sources (both internal and external, public and private) into knowledge, helping with policy definition and prioritization. All of this begs the question: How can data be translated into information, while guaranteeing easy access and quick analysis?

The proposed solution starts with a periodic ETL process, that centralizes and structures up-to-date information from multiple data sources. Guaranteeing a central cloud location for all data enables cross-analysis and facilitates usage for downstream applications.

This database will then feed a predictive module, which relies on machine learning models to provide forecasts of key city indicators. These can be compared to real values for the generation of deviation alerts or used to support long-term policies.

Both descriptive and predictive angles come alive on a powerful interactive dashboard, that encompasses all data to create a unified vision. Esthetic coherence with the city brand was maintained, on a modular design that can automatically present new added indicators or data sources.

Our AI-generated summary

Our AI-generated summary

The structured and easy to navigate dashboard, on its web and mobile versions, empowers decision-makers to lean into data when considering investments and policy implementations, on a pull basis, and to identify potential problems and opportunities as a trigger for new measures, by a push effect.

The resulting environment also represented one step further in the creation of a transparent relationship of trust between city governors and the citizens. An adaptation of the visualizations is currently being developed to create a public website where information is open and made available to the general population.

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