One tool we use in our strategic planning and evaluation work with clients is called a data visualization dashboard. Dynamic and interactive, a data visualization dashboard, or “viz,” displays an organization’s key performance indicators at a single glance. More than that, a viz allows a user to quickly ask their own questions of the data, making interacting with your data painless (and even fun!).

To illustrate what a simple viz can do, here are three very basic dashboards that address specific questions related to substance abuse. Built to address distinct questions, they offer a glimpse of the potential of data visualization to tell a story with immediacy and power. Click the links to explore three data visualizations:

Any organization that wants to be evidence-based needs a few tools in its toolbox. Data, for one– it’s hard to be evidence-based without evidence!

But to qualify as evidence, it has to be more than just raw numbers in a spreadsheet. The data must be collected and framed in such a way that it can clearly tell the story of an organization and its work. Constructed correctly, data can help to form a trustworthy narrative to accomplish three things: To understand what works, to communicate an accurate and compelling story to stakeholders, and to decide what to do next. With well-designed data visualizations, your organization can do all three.