Dashboards are nothing new. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other dashboard lingo are inheritances from ERP and other business systems. Without getting bogged down in the lingo, let’s talk about the Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS and how it can help mosquito control operations.

First of all, a general point that we can all agree on – “doing reports” is, for most of us, a tedious and time-consuming chore. No matter how good our reporting is, there’s always something that the reports we have don’t quite give us that we have to bend, stretch, and finagle to get. Furthermore, printouts of numbers don’t make analysis easy – for an initiate who knows what they’re looking for, it might take minimal effort to find what you’re looking for. But in this case, reports are often doing only one thing – confirming or disconfirming an intuition or working hypothesis – not offering any new information or insights. And if you’re not an initiate, or aren’t familiar with the particular report – actually interpreting the information correctly is certainly not a given.

This is where dashboards are so useful. Key information is presented visually. Clarity and simplicity are the rule. This isn’t to say that dashboards replace reports or that they solve all problems of presentation or interpretation – but the difference is clear.

Same Information in a GIS Dashboard, showing locations, counts, and statistics

Operations Dashboards are intended to be shared internally with management and staff. Operational views are prepared using ArcGIS Online maps, then shared within your organization or with groups that include members of other organizations. Dashboards can be viewed on your Windows desktop or laptop, or on any device in a Web browser.

The ArcGIS Operations Dashboard relies on ArcGIS Online Web maps. After these are authored, they can be made part of an operational view. The operational view is further developed using a variety of built-in widgets. You can have as many as you want and configure and arrange them however you like. Developers can also create their own widgets to deploy with the dashboard.

Mosquito control operational views could show information such as:

• Average landing count
• Average dip count
• Service requests per zone, per type, per tech
• Service request average turnaround time
• Field inspection counts per zone, per tech
• Total acres treated this month per zone, per tech
• Mosquito counts per species, per trap type, per zone

Join us for a brief webinar on Tue, Jan 12, 2016 from 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM MST for more information and a demo. View Recorded Webinar