After a User-Centred Design (UCD) process conducted over the last half of 2024, documented in previous blogs in this series, we are pleased to launch the first working prototype of the NCIA Civic Impact Dashboard.
The dashboard is currently a prototype; it only contains data on the cultural impact of universities. However, by interacting with and feeding back on this prototype, you can help us to further refine the design and content of the dashboard.
We will also be holding an online workshop to demo the dashboard on Tuesday 1 July between 11am – 12.30pm . You can sign up to the workshop by completing the feedback form. By trying out the dashboard yourself, and /or attending one of our summer workshops (further details below), we hope to learn from as many potential users as possible, so we can ensure the version we launch at CiviCon 2025 in October 2025 meets user needs effectively and accessibly.
Figure 2: Screenshots of the Tableau prototype
The prototype dashboard
The Civic Impact Dashboard is a data visualisation tool which will support HEI staff to understand and explore the civic contribution of their university to their local area. Whereas many HEIs will already collect internal data about the impact of their programmes, the dashboard intends to supplement this activity by:
- Improving access to publicly available data: By identifying useful, publicly available data for HEI staff and consolidating it in a single place, the Civic Impact Dashboard seeks to support university efforts in evaluating their impact and identifying priorities for their places.
- Improving ability to 'benchmark' against similar universities: The dashboard allows universities to select a 'benchmark' set of universities to compare their institutions' activity against. This allows users to better contextualise their university's activity and open opportunities for collaboration.
The Dashboard was developed using Tableau, a data visualisation tool. Users move through the dashboard by selecting their institution, their 'place' (currently selected through Local Authority Districts) and benchmark institutions. They are then invited to explore university impact through the different lenses of the Civic Impact Framework. Graphs and data identified by the dashboard can be downloaded for use offline and combined with internal and qualitative data to tell an individual university narrative of civic impact.
How the prototype was developed
When we started developing the dashboard, we identified several challenges in creating a tool to support universities with data. Firstly, without a clear purpose, the dashboard may distort (rather than clarify) information. Second, a small or non-existent user base would mean data was not maintained and could become further distorted. This could result in a dashboard that misleads users. To address these challenges, we took a User Centred Design (UCD) approach to dashboard development.
UCD is an iterative process, which seeks to centre 'users' and their 'needs' in the design process, targeting product development towards solving a clearly defined set of issues for a defined set of users. We recruited a small user testing group of HEI staff from across England with a wide range of roles, seniority, and experience in using data to understand university impact. We held three co-design workshops with the user testing group to identify the different potential 'gains' staff had for using data, and the 'pains' they encountered trying to find it. From the second workshop onwards, we produced draft versions of the dashboard (first simple wireframes, then Tableau screenshots) to test our ideas for solutions with potential users and rapidly incorporate their feedback.
Through this process, we discovered several insights for how HEI staff use data:
- First, the importance of accommodating multidisciplinary approaches to using data. HEI staff were keen to access data not just to quantify their impact, but to ensure civic work with communities was valued and valuable, using storytelling that combined narrative and numerical data.
- Secondly, the importance of having the right scope. Many different user issues were raised during our workshops. Trying to solve all issues with one product would result in a lack of focus and poor design. Instead, the NCIA collaboration has sought to map the user journey and needs to the wider programme's intended outputs, and identify the best gap to fill with the Civic Impact Dashboard and other upcoming outputs (such as NCCPE's Civic Outcomes Framework).
- Finally, a challenge we encountered was in addressing general questions of accessibility, which were often overshadowed by more technical questions of data and evaluation support. Many of the user testing group had strong expertise and interest in civic impact evaluation, making it difficult for participants to situate themselves as 'laypeople'.
Next steps for developing the dashboard
This next phase of developing the dashboard involves opening testing to a wider audience by publishing a prototype online for all to experiment with. By clicking on the link above, you will be taken to the prototype, which is fully interactive.
With your feedback, we hope to add more data and improve on the design over the coming months, with the final dashboard launch at CiviCon, 14-15 October 2025. To help us, there is a feedback form alongside the dashboard to record your experience with and thoughts on its current design.
Over the next few months, we will gather and invite feedback from respondents to May's online workshop for further user testing. We also hope to run further workshops over summer 2025. These workshops and feedback will allow us to produce new prototype iterations in June 2025 and September 2025.
Your insights will shape the next iteration of the Civic Impact Dashboard — so don't hold back. Try it out, tell us what works (and what doesn't), and help us build a tool that truly supports the civic agenda.
Adira Andlay and Jess Redmond, Senior Researchers at the Institution for Community Studies at The Young Foundation, introduce the first prototype of the Civic Impact Dashboard, reflecting on the development process so far and the road ahead.
After a User-Centred Design (UCD) process conducted over the last half of 2024, documented in previous blogs in this series, we are pleased to launch the first working prototype of the NCIA Civic Impact Dashboard.
The dashboard is currently a prototype; it only contains data on the cultural impact of universities. However, by interacting with and feeding back on this prototype, you can help us to further refine the design and content of the dashboard.
We will also be holding an online workshop to demo the dashboard on Tuesday 1 July between 11am – 12.30pm . You can sign up to the workshop by completing the feedback form. By trying out the dashboard yourself, and /or attending one of our summer workshops (further details below), we hope to learn from as many potential users as possible, so we can ensure the version we launch at CiviCon 2025 in October 2025 meets user needs effectively and accessibly.
Figure 2: Screenshots of the Tableau prototype
The prototype dashboard
The Civic Impact Dashboard is a data visualisation tool which will support HEI staff to understand and explore the civic contribution of their university to their local area. Whereas many HEIs will already collect internal data about the impact of their programmes, the dashboard intends to supplement this activity by:
- Improving access to publicly available data: By identifying useful, publicly available data for HEI staff and consolidating it in a single place, the Civic Impact Dashboard seeks to support university efforts in evaluating their impact and identifying priorities for their places.
- Improving ability to 'benchmark' against similar universities: The dashboard allows universities to select a 'benchmark' set of universities to compare their institutions' activity against. This allows users to better contextualise their university's activity and open opportunities for collaboration.
The Dashboard was developed using Tableau, a data visualisation tool. Users move through the dashboard by selecting their institution, their 'place' (currently selected through Local Authority Districts) and benchmark institutions. They are then invited to explore university impact through the different lenses of the Civic Impact Framework. Graphs and data identified by the dashboard can be downloaded for use offline and combined with internal and qualitative data to tell an individual university narrative of civic impact.
How the prototype was developed
When we started developing the dashboard, we identified several challenges in creating a tool to support universities with data. Firstly, without a clear purpose, the dashboard may distort (rather than clarify) information. Second, a small or non-existent user base would mean data was not maintained and could become further distorted. This could result in a dashboard that misleads users. To address these challenges, we took a User Centred Design (UCD) approach to dashboard development.
UCD is an iterative process, which seeks to centre 'users' and their 'needs' in the design process, targeting product development towards solving a clearly defined set of issues for a defined set of users. We recruited a small user testing group of HEI staff from across England with a wide range of roles, seniority, and experience in using data to understand university impact. We held three co-design workshops with the user testing group to identify the different potential 'gains' staff had for using data, and the 'pains' they encountered trying to find it. From the second workshop onwards, we produced draft versions of the dashboard (first simple wireframes, then Tableau screenshots) to test our ideas for solutions with potential users and rapidly incorporate their feedback.
Through this process, we discovered several insights for how HEI staff use data:
- First, the importance of accommodating multidisciplinary approaches to using data. HEI staff were keen to access data not just to quantify their impact, but to ensure civic work with communities was valued and valuable, using storytelling that combined narrative and numerical data.
- Secondly, the importance of having the right scope. Many different user issues were raised during our workshops. Trying to solve all issues with one product would result in a lack of focus and poor design. Instead, the NCIA collaboration has sought to map the user journey and needs to the wider programme's intended outputs, and identify the best gap to fill with the Civic Impact Dashboard and other upcoming outputs (such as NCCPE's Civic Outcomes Framework).
- Finally, a challenge we encountered was in addressing general questions of accessibility, which were often overshadowed by more technical questions of data and evaluation support. Many of the user testing group had strong expertise and interest in civic impact evaluation, making it difficult for participants to situate themselves as 'laypeople'.
Next steps for developing the dashboard
This next phase of developing the dashboard involves opening testing to a wider audience by publishing a prototype online for all to experiment with. By clicking on the link above, you will be taken to the prototype, which is fully interactive.
With your feedback, we hope to add more data and improve on the design over the coming months, with the final dashboard launch at CiviCon, 14-15 October 2025. To help us, there is a feedback form alongside the dashboard to record your experience with and thoughts on its current design.
Over the next few months, we will gather and invite feedback from respondents to May's online workshop for further user testing. We also hope to run further workshops over summer 2025. These workshops and feedback will allow us to produce new prototype iterations in June 2025 and September 2025.
Your insights will shape the next iteration of the Civic Impact Dashboard — so don't hold back. Try it out, tell us what works (and what doesn't), and help us build a tool that truly supports the civic agenda.
