Impact

Creating Custom Dashboards for Impact Reporting

Written by Growth Writer | Oct 18, 2024 9:44:09 AM

In today’s data-driven world, being able to visualize your impact is critical. That’s where Susurate steps in, offering custom dashboards designed specifically to help organisations effectively track their initiatives and demonstrate their impact. Built from years of experience managing complex impact data, our platform goes beyond simple visualizations, offering a comprehensive suite of customizable options to suit the unique needs of each project.

Why Custom Dashboards Matter in Impact Reporting

When it comes to impact reporting, visualizations play a key role in translating raw data into actionable insights. Susurate’s dashboards are specifically designed to help you do just that—whether it’s tracking an initiative’s progress over time, comparing stakeholder contributions, or visualizing geographical data.

Each dashboard in Susurate is tailored to your initiatives groupings of indicators, stakeholders, and reported data. These groupings form the backbone of your impact reports, ensuring that the insights you gather are closely aligned with your organisation’s goals and stakeholder needs.

Building a Dashboard: A Detailed and Customizable Experience

One of the biggest benefits of using Susurate is the flexibility you have when it comes to creating dashboards. Our platform offers a variety of visualization types, all designed to give you a comprehensive look at your data. Each dashboard can host up to 25 visualizations, allowing you to explore multiple aspects of your impact in one place.

A dashboard consists of frames, which hold your visualizations. Whether you want to include text for context, charts for data comparison, or insights that summarize key findings, you have the freedom to design a dashboard that meets your specific reporting needs.

Visualization Options Built on Experience

At Susurate, we’ve created an extensive set of visualization options based on real-world experience managing impact data. These visualizations give you the flexibility to display your data in ways that make sense for your organisation’s unique reporting requirements. Here are some of the key visualization types available:

  • Indicator(s) over time: Track the progress of selected indicators across a defined time period.
  • Indicator(s) by stakeholder/category: Group indicators by stakeholders or categories to analyze performance across different groups.
  • Indicator over time/aggregated by stakeholder/category: Aggregate time-based trends by stakeholder or category, giving you deeper insights.
  • Comparable indicators: Conduct side-by-side comparisons of selected indicators for performance evaluation.
  • Period result(s): Display results for a specific time period, such as quarterly or monthly performance.
  • Indicator map: Visualize data geographically to see where impact is happening.
  • Stakeholder (footprint) map: Map stakeholders’ locations and influence within your initiatives.
  • Session attendance over time: Analyze attendance trends over time to better understand engagement.

A Variety of Chart Types

To make data visualization even more versatile, Susurate allows you to choose from a wide range of chart types. Here are some examples:

  • Line Chart: Perfect for visualizing trends over time.
  • Bar Chart: Compare different groups or categories with ease.
  • Area Chart: Highlight volume with a filled area under your trend lines.
  • Radar Chart: Compare multiple variables across different axes, ideal for multivariate analysis.
  • Gauge Chart: Monitor progress toward a target using a semicircular dial.
  • Tree Map: Display hierarchical data as nested rectangles, making it easier to explore complex relationships.
  • Heat Map: Show data intensity using color gradients, ideal for identifying high-impact areas.

Each chart type serves a specific purpose, giving you the power to tell the story of your data exactly how you envision it.

Troubleshooting: What if I Don’t Like What I See?

If the data doesn’t look right or something seems off, that’s one of the benefits of data visualization - it helps you spot inconsistencies early on. Errors could stem from data capture mistakes or programmatic issues. We recommend sticking with one chart type for consistency and adding or removing supporting charts to troubleshoot specific problems.

Need Help? We’ve Got You Covered

We know that data analytics can get complex. If you’re finding it challenging, Susurate offers a range of support packages to help you get the most out of your dashboards. From Starter plans to advanced M&E Analytics and Data Manager services, we’ve got options to suit every level of need. Whether you need help with setup or data analysis, our team is here to assist.

With Susurate, creating custom dashboards tailored to your organization’s impact reporting needs has never been easier. From versatile chart types to an array of visualization options, we’ve designed a platform that grows with your data, helping you track, measure, and communicate your impact effectively.

Unlock the full potential of your impact reporting, Request a free demo here.