The tool that Education Geographics were using was nearing its end-of-life. They needed to find an alternative solution quickly to ensure stability of their service. At the same time their dashboard needed an upgrade in terms of design.
“InfoBurst Squirrel has ticked all the boxes. In short, we now have a better product and that is a killer observation when reflecting on how well it has met our expectations.”
Education Geographics is an organisation that provides demographic analysis to help schools to plan, manage and market themselves.
Their solution allows over 130 users to access individual reports with bespoke analysis and summaries. But with the end-of-life looming for their existing software they needed to urgently convert their dashboard to a more future-proofed solution and ensure longevity and stability.
The main challenge for Education Geographics was finding a new tool that allowed their professionally produced outputs to be easily accessible, insightful and a joy to use.
It was not acceptable for the end users to be dependent on their own capabilities to select the correct analysis options, so tools such as PowerBI and Tableau were quickly ruled out, due to the potential learning curve for their users. The Education Geographics team planned to build the solution themselves and so a flexible, no-code software tool was essential to minimise overall cost and time.
On top of this, the dashboard was over 7 years old and looked very dated. Over time, the user experience had also become sub-optimal and user engagement had dropped as a result.
After researching various other tools and set-ups, it became clear that Squirrel365 and its flexible, no-code capabilities would be the perfect tool for the build of their new dashboard. However, because of the complex and secure user access requirements a sophisticated data connection layer would be needed to manage this. This is where InfoBurst comes in. The combination of Squirrel365 and InfoBurst enabled Education Geographics to seamlessly and securely connect to their enterprise data, while also building their bespoke visual interface for end users.
They created a new flagship demographic app comprised of six main modules including powerful ESRI based mapping. Users can drill into detail sections within the modules, accessing a client specific mini-census of some 800 demographic variables, and a collection of census-based time series charts going back ten years.
The team made good use of the support available, guiding them through every stage of installation and testing to ensure success.
A comprehensive design review was undertaken by the Squirrel Design team early in the project. Several improvements to the navigation and overall user experience were recommended and implemented. In terms of the styling, it was important to retain a sense of familiarity for the users, but respectful improvements to layout, typography, colour and hierarchy were incorporated to bring the design up to modern standards.
“The most effective assistance was paying for 10 hours of Squirrel365 support and using all of it on a design review.”
Education Geographics have spent a few months re-creating their new & improved dashboard solution.
After implementing everything on time, to budget, and with no major issues, they have successfully removed any dependency on the previous dashboarding tool. This new solution also supports their automation processes.
Using a basic AI approach Education Geographics have been able to automate more production tasks to fit with their automation strategies for dashboard content.
The new dashboard is faster, more process efficient, and is getting much better engagement from its users.
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