Value: value is about ensuring the data meet user needs
Tips for maximising dashboard value:
- Is the dashboard user-driven? Consider how to maintain relevance, taking account of potentially changing user views.
- Think about how the dashboard will communicate insight. If users only access data via the dashboard within a statistical release, what key messages are communicated?
- Have clear and prominent links on the dashboard to ensure coherence with other products.
- Statistics in a dashboard should be equally available to all. Comply with accessibility legislation, where possible. Dashboards should be accompanied by an accessibility statement.
- Have a plan in place from the start for archiving.
Putting user needs at the centre of dashboard development
User views should be at the centre of statistical production. Throughout the process of building and maintaining a dashboard, their needs should be understood, their views sought and acted on, and their use of statistics supported.
A key question that producers should ask themselves before creating a dashboard is: ‘Is this what users want or need?’. Producers should look to consult users before a new form of data dissemination, such as a dashboard, is produced, and new products should be tested with a wide range of users, where possible, before they are put into the public domain. This ensures that the product works smoothly from launch and that the intended benefits are maximised.
User views should drive any decisions around the most suitable form of data dissemination. Dashboards should have the contact details of the producer team visible so that users can contact the team to provide feedback on the product. Producers should be responsive to any user requests and feedback to maximise the value of the dashboard. All user feedback should be considered, and producers should inform users as to why suggestions are adopted or not.
The waiting times dashboard developed by Public Health Scotland (PHS) is an example of a dashboard that puts user needs at the centre of its development to try and maximise the public value of its published statistics. It is aimed specifically at the needs of patients who are waiting for appointments and treatments provided by services within NHS Scotland. To respond to their specific information needs, PHS used feedback from a range of stakeholders, including patients, to develop a new stand-alone website. The site uses a subset of a much larger dataset that is published regularly on national waiting times performance as official statistics. There are limitations on the statistics that the data source can provide. This means the site provides information on the waiting times by specialty for the health board area where the patient is resident but not for the specific conditions or treatments for which they may be waiting to be seen. However, PHS acknowledge this and are transparent in its communication of the limitations. They continue to seek feedback on the site with a view to enhancement.
Dashboards should be reviewed periodically to ensure their continued relevance and value as a statistical product. It’s important that dashboards are not left as a legacy tool. Sometimes there is a user need for a dashboard, but there is not sufficient resource to continue it, in which case this should be communicated clearly, and the impact of continuing or discontinuing the dashboard assessed.
Communicating insights and coherence of statistical communication
Statistics should be presented clearly, impartially, explained meaningfully and provide authoritative insights that supports use by all types of users. Because dashboards are a visual tool, there may be less space for commentary about insights. Producers should consider the degree of reliance placed on a dashboard to communicate insight and consider options for including narrative and insightful commentary in other related products, such as a statistical bulletin.
Integrating visualisation into dashboards should be done in a considered manner – being used to enhance the data and make the statistical messages clearer to users. It is important that any visualisations are accurate and do not present a misleading picture for users. Visualisations that work for the whole population may fail when the user filters down to a small subgroup, so the producer needs to consider this as well.
The Programme for Government (PfG) Wellbeing framework dashboard developed by the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency (NISRA) is a good example of how insights across a range of indicators can be brought together in a visual and engaging way. The dashboard allows politicians, policy makers and the public to assess the state of NI society.
The dashboard received praise from key users and was the winning entry of the 2025 Analysis in Government Communication Award. Communication was carefully considered, using colours and plain language to help users understand statistical trends and key messages.
Coherence of statistical products
Relevant links and navigation between different products should be clear and prominent, for example, by including links on the dashboard to supplementary bulletins, tables, technical notes or quality information. In this way, the ease of navigation, coherence and use of the full range of products are maximised.
If the dashboard is accompanied by other types of data presentation, such as a statistical bulletin or data tables, then additional links and commentary should be added to aid coherence between the products.
The Net Additional Dwellings dashboard, developed by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is an interactive tool that presents estimates of changes in the size of the dwelling stock in England. The net additional dwellings release is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply.
The main page provides useful links to the main statistical bulletin, guidance on the statistics and other relevant types of data, such as the dwelling stock and indicators of new supply. Guidance on how to use the dashboard, with short tips on how to filter, drill down and copy the data, is clearly visible. This enables new users and people unfamiliar with using the dashboard to access all its additional benefits and features.
Adherence to accessibility legislation and ensuring equal access
Statistics and data in a public-facing dashboard should be equally available to all. Dashboards should be easily accessible, considering the needs of different users including users with disabilities to determine how the statistics should be presented and released.
A dashboard should adhere to accessibility legislation and standards wherever possible. A dashboard should be accompanied with an accessibility statement detailing the extent of its compliance with accessibility standards – the underlying data should be made available by other means to comply with the Code. Producers should consider an accessibility audit for new dashboards before they are published, to inform developments and provide clear information for the accessibility statement.
Producers should be aware of the accessibility constraints of the various software packages used to develop dashboards, such as Power BI.
A good example of a detailed accessibility statement is available on the Department for Health and Social Care’s Health Trends in England dashboard. It includes contact details for users to request information presented on the dashboard in a different format, for example an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille – in addition to a channel for users to report any accessibility problems with the website.
Archiving
Statistics, data and metadata should continue to be publicly available, including when organisational websites are changed, and be archived as required. Any data should remain available, but if data are no longer updated, this should be made clear.
Before a dashboard is archived, a prominent notice should be added that informs users when the dashboard will be archived and from which point the data on it will no longer be updated, for full transparency. There are different ways that data can be archived, and the format does not need to remain the same. A non-proprietary format would more likely ensure future accessibility and useability; for example, it could be a .csv data file or providing links to the source data.
Archiving a dashboard can be quite costly in terms of time and resources, so it is important that archiving is considered in the early stages of any dashboard’s development process and is proportionate. A better understanding of how the data are used should help inform decisions around archiving. There should be a plan in place to archive the dashboard when it is decided that there is no longer a user need for it.
The previous UK coronavirus dashboard published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), now the UKHSA data dashboard, is also a good example of how a dashboard can be archived effectively. It was created during COVID-19 to provide the public with updates on the prevalence of the virus, with daily updates to produce the timeliest data.
Following the decommissioning of the ‘COVID-19 in the UK’ dashboard, you can now download all the historic data on the COVID-19 archive data download page. Despite the time and resources needed to accommodate this, data presented in the COVID- 19 dashboard were archived onto the national archives’ website every day, ensuring that the historic data were available to users after the dashboard was closed.
The UK Climate Change dashboard provided a variety of estimates on a range of topics including climate and weather, emissions, drivers, impacts, mitigations and adaptations. It uses graphs to visually aid users and provides headline estimates in context with previous years to help users understand the relevance of the data.
The dashboard was archived in February 2024 via The National Archives. There are clear notices that the page has been archived, and a link is provided to the UK Government Web Archive, where users can find previous data. A clear note states that the data are no longer updated, and a variety of links are provided to up-to-date data on the subject.
Users were informed in advance about the retire plans for the dashboard. This gave users time to prepare for the dashboard coming to an end and to put future plans in place.