Diary of One Visualization for Social Good
In this post, I would like to share my experience participating in Viz For Social Good. This was my first time creating a business dashboard in Tableau, and I found the project to be quite enjoyable. Viz For Social Good is a community of volunteers that helps organizations make positive social changes through data visualization and storytelling. Through this project, I had the opportunity to collaborate with CEPEI, an independent think tank based in Bogota, Colombia. It was a wonderful experience, as I not only had the chance to support a great cause, but also learned a lot and connected with the community. As Michael Scott from The Office would say:
Context
The Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional (CEPEI)
Just to give you some context, CEPEI is a think tank that works to improve political processes at the highest levels of governance. Their goal is to help governments and their partners achieve their sustainable development goals. They've created a methodology to measure the quality of the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) that countries submit to the United Nations, to showcase their implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They also created a methodology to quantify the quality of National Governance established to meet these objectives. So far, CEPEI has completed some reports, which you can check out below:
During our kickoff meeting, CEPEI shared some challenges they were facing. They needed a better way to handle information, make it easier to update, and provide useful insights at a glance. They also wanted to share best practices on how to improve VNRs and national SDGs governance quality. You can find my final visualization in the following page: VNR Quality Tracker.
Diary
To keep track of my progress, I decided to record some activities I did every day for this project. It's a bit messy, but I'm learning a lot about what goes into creating a visualization. I've divided the task into categories, which you can check out below:
- Project Management - The process of planning, executing, and controlling the tasks and resources required to create a Tableau visualization. It includes setting goals, timelines, and managing project stakeholders.
- Research - Gathering information about the data, audience, and goals to inform the design and content of the visualization. It involves understanding the context and purpose of the project.
- Data Modeling - Structuring and organizing data in a way that supports effective analysis and visualization. Data modeling includes defining relationships, hierarchies, and data sources.
- Data Analysis - Examining the data to identify patterns, trends, and insights. It's a critical step to determine what information is relevant for the visualization.
- Data Visualization - The process of representing data graphically using charts, graphs, maps, and other visual elements to make complex information more understandable and insightful.
- Functionality - Ensuring that the visualization serves a clear purpose and provides the necessary functionality to help users achieve specific goals or answer questions.
- Usability - Designing the visualization to be user-friendly and easy to navigate. It involves optimizing the user experience to make it intuitive and efficient.
- Visual Design / Aesthetics - Focusing on the visual appeal of the visualization. This includes choices related to colors, typography, layout, and overall design aesthetics to enhance user engagement.
- Development - The technical implementation of the visualization within Tableau, including creating data connections, building dashboards, and applying interactivity.
- Testing - Evaluating the visualization to identify and resolve issues, ensuring that it functions correctly and meets design and usability standards.
- Incident Management - Managing and addressing any unexpected issues, errors, or challenges that arise during the development or deployment of the visualization.
- Documentation - Creating detailed documentation that outlines the data sources, design choices, and functionality of the visualization. It serves as a reference for users and future updates.
- Receive Feedback - Actively seeking input and feedback from users, stakeholders, or team members to identify areas for improvement and refine the visualization.
- Presentation Skills - The ability to effectively communicate the insights and findings derived from the visualization to various audiences through presentations, reports, or discussions.
August 01
- Project Management - I attended the project kickoff meeting where the CEPEI team shared their requirements with us.
- Research - I began conducting a more detailed analysis of their requirements and researched the work they had done in Tableau to have a starting point.
August 02 - 03
- Data Modeling - I created the first draft of the data model based on the databases provided by CEPEI. During the process, I learned that Tableau does not support multiple fact tables related to multiple shared dimension tables. Source: The Tableau Data Model
- Data Modeling - I noticed that the Governance Quality Index had a fixed value that does not depend on time and wondered if CEPEI had considered incorporating information about the year in subsequent publications. Update: After a meeting with Javier from CEPEI, it became clear that the value did not depend on time because the resources, ministries, or structures established by a government do not change easily.
- Data Modeling - I observed a possible solution to link the VNR Quality Index tables with the Data Actions, which is the inclusion of a table that has information about the SDGs.
- Data Analysis - I found that Jamaica had the best reported VNR Quality Index among the 33 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
- Data Analysis - I noticed that Barbados had the lowest VNR Quality Index but improved considerably in 2023.
- Data Analysis - In the relationship between the Governance Quality Index and the VNR Quality Index, I observed that although Guyana had a low Governance Quality, it obtained one of the highest VNR Quality in the only report that is recorded.
- Data Visualization - I did not find the presentation of the data in the form of a map favorable for the small islands in the Caribbean. I started to consider another type of graph.
August 04
- Data Visualization - I combined three sources of information in a visualization: the VNR Quality Index, National Governance Quality Index, and Data Actions.
- Data Visualization - I started to see the need to include indicators such as the number of VNRs presented, Governance Quality Index, and Number of Initiatives.
- Data Analysis - I found that Colombia had the highest number of registered Data Actions, but it did not have VNRs and only presented the Governance Index.
- Data Analysis - I reviewed the links for each of the Data Actions and found that some did not work.
- Data Analysis - Up to that point, I did not see a direct relationship between all the data provided by CEPEI and SDG compliance. Update: I mentioned this point in the final presentation.
August 05
- Data Visualization - I started brainstorming the questions I was going to answer with the visualization and searched for the types of visualizations that fit best. For this, I used a board in Figma where I collected all the information from different sources such as Tableau Public, Pinterest and Twitter.
- Data Visualization - At that point I was determined to develop a business dashboard and for this I took advantage from the current #IronQuest - White Space by Sarah Barlett, and I decided to take Priya Padham's dashboard as a basis. I downloaded the file and started exploring how it works.
- Data Visualization - I was working on the visualization of the map of the Caribbean islands and considered that it is better to show a separate map where each of the islands can be visualized.
August 06
- Research - I realized that to improve the approach to formulating questions for this project, I needed to consider the context and audience. I created a diagram to help with understanding:
- Audience: The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF)
- Purpose of the Dashboard: show the state of the quality of the VNR in the region and also to help the people in charge to make improvements in their reports.
- Research - In my Figma dashboard, I started to integrate some Chat GPT ideas for the different charts I wanted to integrate in my the visualization.
- Data Visualization - I created a map representing the VNR Quality Index of the latest record per country. However, some countries such as Colombia do not have national reviews.
- Data Visualization - I designed a graph on the count of dimensions by category, which could identify areas that need the most work as "Continuity between reports" and "Participation of Actors in the Construction of the VNR".
- Data Visualization - I created a table showing variations between the quality of the VNRs.
- Data Analysis - Argentina had the largest decrease in quality from 2020 to 2022.
- Development - I practiced a lot of LOD functions in Tableau with these visualizations.
August 07
- Visual Design - I worked on creating the initial layout for the visualization. Through testing various ideas, I have settled on an option that I believed was effective.
- Data Visualization - I was undecided whether to include a legend for each chart or a single legend for the entire report.
- Visual Design - Following the branding guidelines provided by CEPEI, I successfully installed the Roboto font on my computer and integrated it into Tableau.
- Visual Design - After reviewing several color combinations, I settled on a color scheme.
- Usability - I needed to begin working on incorporating multiple languages. I had a mix of English and Spanish and I was unsure of the most appropriate way to proceed with visual design.
- Development - I needed to develop the KPIs as they were currently only static text.
August 08
- Usability - I configured a language toggle button for Spanish and English.
- Incident Management - I discovered a font issue when viewing the visualization on different devices. So, I decided to use Tableau font to ensure consistency. Update: during a #VizOfficeHours meeting, I was introduced to the Flerlages Twins resource which explained the issue with the fonts in detail: Demystifying Fonts in Tableau
- Data Visualization - I completed two KPIs: one tracking the quality index's evolution and the other measuring the annual VNR count.
August 09 - 10
- Documentation - I organized the variable names and implemented a camel writing for better clarity. I realized I had repeated calculations in different variables.
- s - string
- c - calculated field
- d - dimension
- p - parameter
- m - measure
August 11
- Receive Feedback - I had the opportunity to met Javier from CEPEI, who gave me some recommendations including:
- Create an indicator for the general quality average.
- Include the y-axis in the graph of the reports by year.
- Modify the order of the charts.
- Perform the variation calculation for all reports, not just the last one, as I had previously
- Functionality - I worked on one of the visualizations that CEPEI has within its dashboard, which consists of the comparison of the dimensions between the different reports. For this, I unified the country and the year in a single field, in order to eliminate the reporting options when the user selects a combination for which there is no report.
August 14
- Presentation Skills - I had the opportunity to attend my first もくもく会 event organized by Satoshi Ganeko, where I had the chance to present my dashboard. Satoshi explained that he had organized the event to address language barriers and expand the project to others in his country. I was impressed by his organization skills, and even though the explanation was in Japanese, I was able to follow the meeting easily.
August 15
- Data Visualization - I made improvements to the visual representation of data based on Javier's recommendations. The dashboard now includes a graph showing the overall trend of the reviews' average, and a table displaying the variations between the reports. I rearranged the graphics to give more prominence to the table of individual reports.
- Data Visualization - I added a legend at the top to clarify the colors used in each graph.
- Development - I gained some knowledge on using Table Calculations when I was working on the table that shows the variations between reports.
August 16
- Data Visualization - I worked on creating a Dashboard for the Governance index.
- Data Analysis - I noticed that some countries with a low Governance Quality Index have a better VNR Quality Index than countries with superior governance.
- Data Analysis - It was also evident that Convention is one of the categories where countries need to work the most.
- Development - I found very convenient that usually I like to start with a sketch, create each graph individually, and then place them on the dashboard.
- Development - With the new name convention, I found it easier and faster to create new charts.
- Receive Feedback - During the #VizOfficeHours with Nicole Klassen and Michelle Frayman, I received feedback that helped me in many ways.
- Usability - They recommended changes to the navigation bar, suggesting an horizontal navigation bar at the top of the report, to name the sections and avoid the issues I faced with the bar on one side.
- Usability - They also suggested using texts to guide the user in the functionalities of the application. They gave me two considerations: whether to do it directly in the visualization or use an extra layer. For the layer, they recommended using Brittany Rosenau's tutorial: Create a dashboard overlay — ENTIRELY in Tableau
August 17
- Usability - I made changes to the navigation bar, and the dashboard improved significantly. At that point, I realized that I should have included user experience in the initial design of the visualization.
- Research - Brittany's tutorial (Create a dashboard overlay) was easy to understand and implement, and it came just in time for me. I was planning to create this layer in Figma, but Tableau is more convenient because it makes maintaining the visualization easier.
- Usability - I decided to create the sheet in Tableau, and to access it, the user must use a "How To" option. I was still figuring out how to change the language in these layers, but I thought I could achieve it with the methodology I had implemented so far.
- Usability - I was also considering creating an overlay to provide context about VNRs, CEPEI's work, and what is expected from this dashboard.
- Documentation - I began working on a blog post about how I changed the languages in my visualization. I want to improve this method as it seems a bit complex to me and shared it with Jenna Morabito, who reached me on the Slack group of VFSG: Changing Between Languages in Tableau
August 18
- Usability - I created detailed instructions for the first page of the VNR Quality Index.
- Project Management - I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough time to implement the data actions sheet. Additionally, I believe that the dashboard already has enough amount of information that may contribute with the purpose that I defined some days ago: show the state of the quality of the VNRs in the region and also to help the people in charge to make improvements in their reports.
August 19
- Development - I found out that Tableau has a feature that reviews Best Practices. I took action by organizing all the variables and ended up with only four columns left, which correspond to the default calculation created in Tableau. This function is great because it allows me to eliminate unused variables and see if I missed any in my calculations.
- Usability - I completed instructions for the second page of the governance index.
- Functionality - I developed a new layer with some recommendations for the countries that are presenting a new review to the UN. To do this, I created a form with two questions, and the recommendations will appear based on the answers.
August 21
- Receive Feedback - I learned that sharing my visualization on Twitter is a good way to get feedback. So, I shared my visualization with the Tableau community.
- Project Management - I submitted a form as part of the Viz For Social Good process.
August 22
- Receive Feedback - I received feedback from Dennis regarding the language button I had used for switching between languages. Initially, I had some doubts about it, but it became clearer with the feedback, and I also started to recognize with more detail this feature in other webpages.
- Receive Feedback - I also discovered that changing languages in Tableau is quite challenging and there is still a lot of work to be done. For instance, Veronica Simoes' portfolio is an excellent example of this.
August 29
- Documentation - I was approached by Amey Pathare, who was interested in the CEPEI project. I shared the steps I followed to create the table with the variations between the reports.
August 31
- Presentation Skills - I was notified that I was selected to participate in a live event hosted by Viz For Social Good, alongside the amazing work of:
- Presentation Skills - I began preparing for the presentation by creating a script and practicing my delivery using Zoom's screen sharing and recording options. My aim was to improve both the content and my English pronunciation.
September 01
- Presentation Skills - I gave a live presentation of my visualization with a mix of excitement and nervousness. It was truly a pleasure to present my visualization, and as I mentioned, it really felt more like a community project. I couldn’t done it without all the feedback and resources from the #datafam.
Lessons Learned
From this experience, I learned several valuable lessons:
- Firstly, I must consider the context and audience before diving into data analysis and answering questions.
- I need to prioritize user experience design from the beginning of a project. This means considering the functionality and flow of a visualization and anticipating how the user will interact with it.
- Another important lesson was the importance of name conventions. I spent two days organizing variables that could have been avoided if I had established proper naming conventions from the start.
- I realized the need for a testing protocol to confirm that the information presented is accurate and functioning properly.
- On a positive note, I was able to practice my presentation skills twice during this project, which boosted my confidence for future interactions.
- Lastly, this experience allowed me to gain more experience with LOD expressions, table calculations, and the accepted data models in Tableau.
Conclusion
Thank you very much for reaching this point in the post! Building a good creative process takes time and constant effort, and it's even better when you collaborate with others. I hope this experience has sparked your interest in participating in a future Viz For Social Good project. Additionally, I am open to suggestions, feedback, or any questions you may have for me.