Inspectorate: open data (interactive dashboards)

Overview

With the City of Skopje's Department for Inspectorate, SmartUp, through SkopjeLab, digitised six months of inspection records and turned them into interactive Power BI dashboards: a public version without personal data and an internal version for the Inspectorate's staff. Reported results include changes in policies and staffing and preventive work on waste disposal.

The City of Skopje, a partner in the Open Government Partnership, had opened datasets on transport, energy, water and greenery, but citizens still doubted how local government works. In this wider effort to open its data, SmartUp worked with the Department for Inspectorate from October 2019 to March 2020 to collect and digitise inspection data and to agree what is shown publicly and what stays internal. The dashboards covered three inspection services: environmental inspection, communal inspection and communal wardens. The public version let users explore their work by municipality, type of offence, fine, offences by natural or legal persons and legal basis, and build scenarios. The same Power BI approach was used for the SkopjeSeZagreva household heating dashboard.

The challenge

Data that could not easily guide decisions

The Inspectorate wanted data it could use to plan its work, take quick and effective decisions and follow its results.

Public trust and transparency

The City had opened several datasets, but citizens still doubted local government. The platform was also meant to give other public institutions, especially local governments, data to support measures such as keeping the city clean and protecting the environment.

Two audiences, one dataset

The same records had to serve citizens and inspectors, which meant a clear structure for public and internal views and no personal data in the public one.

Activities and methods

SkopjeLab and the Department for Inspectorate worked through five steps.

Digital platforms & tools. Collected and digitised six months of records from three inspection services.
Co-creation & innovation processes. Designed with Inspectorate staff a framework for structuring the data and defining the best way to show it, publicly and internally.
Digital platforms & tools. Built the visualisations in Power BI with interactive filters and the option to build scenarios.
Digital platforms & tools. Published a public dashboard without personal data and a separate internal dashboard for Inspectorate employees.
Pilots, implementation & scaling. Presented the platform at a public debate on 19 June 2020, and, according to the summary report, to representatives of municipal groups from across the country in an online event.

Impact and learning

Two dashboards delivered. One public, one internal, from six months of data from three inspection services.

A better view of workload. According to SmartUp's 2022 case study, decision-makers could see the workload of different departments, the types of cases by area, the types of business behind most offences, where most interventions take place and the types of offenders.

Policy and staffing changes (as reported). According to the case study, the Inspectorate later used these insights to change some policies, to intervene with the employment of new inspectors and to start preventive measures with departments and municipalities on waste disposal. The case study gives no figures or dates.

Learning. Opening data and presenting it interactively helps decision-makers grasp complex questions and spot areas that need attention.