The FCC, Data Driven Dashboards and Computech

8/9/2019 The FCC, Data Driven Dashboards and Computech

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Data-driven Dashboards.Thursday, August 5, 2010


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Dashboards can be as simple as a report or spreadsheet --or very detailed, providing near real-time aggregation and analytical

transformation of operational data with drill down and roll up capabilities.Computech has architected and designed numerous data-driven dashboards for its

clients; at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), such dashboardsfacilitate the internal exchange of data and ideas while providing an interactive site

for communication between the regulator and U.S. public.

More than a simple, out-of-the-box reporting tool, these dashboards enable:

Process Optimization;Decision Support for Multiple Stakeholders;

Messaging and Communication;Information Analysis; and

Citizen Engagement.

What follows are project descriptions for DTV.gov, Openinternet.gov andBroadband.gov. All share heretofore unaccessible data and information.

Each dashboard, constructed to support distinct FCC initiatives,engage the public using social media and web 2.0 techniques.

Dening Features 1

One Representative Client,Three Specic Examples

Thursday, August 5, 2010


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Background:In 2009, Congress required a transition from analog to digital broadcasting. Known as the DTVtransition, Congress charged the FCC with providing real-time information to the general public inadvance of this national switchover.

Challenges:While the FCCs main website provided cursory information, such as policy documents and scheduledtransition dates, they could not make available real-time transition data, from public-facing trackingstatistics to internal executive-level decision making. With the vast majority of the U.S. publicuninformed and unequipped for the transition, FCC help desks were flooded with calls from nervousand confused citizens.

Further complicating the transition: service providers kept customer data private, preventing the FCCfrom modeling supply or demand challenges. In addition, allowing industry to shape the messageabout the risks and costs of the transition to the public undermined confidence in the FCC.

Solution:Working with the FCCs Office of Communication and New Media bureau, we created a dashboardspecific to the DTV transition, and separate from www.fcc.gov. We built the site to integrate data fromnon-standard sources (e.g. national broadcasters and crowd-sourced feedback from the public).Packaged in a rich, intuitive interface, behind the scenes DTV.gov required complicated analyticaltransformations, integration with other systems for key data, and authoring tools that enabled businessusers to keep the site up-to-the-minute fresh. This solution enabled FCC staff to mobilize hundreds of grass roots support organizations, Congressional staff, and million s of U.S. households by providingup-to-the-day information on:

Digital conversion penetration by precise geographical boundary; Localized transmission simulations for use by the public; and Education and outreach material for support and advocacy organizations, end customers and callcenters.

Notable Results:On June 12, 2009, the transition date, 11,744,906 DTV.gov website page views were recorded, arecord in one day for the FCC. More importantly, Americans survived the transition to digitaltelevision without incident, prompting major news organizations to applaud the FCCs efforts to turnthe digital TV conversion into a non-event for most Americans.

DTV.gov 2

DTV.gov

DTV.gov:: a homepage designed to communicate + crowd-source

DTV.gov: an interactive reception map shows, in real-time, all available DTV signals

http://dtv.gov/http://dtv.gov/http://dtv.gov/http://www.fcc.gov/http://www.fcc.gov/


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Background:The "Open Internet" is the Internet as we know it. Its open because it uses free, publicly availablestandards that anyone can access and build to, and it treats all traffic that flows across the network in

roughly the same way. But the Internets openness appears to face some emerging challenges, such asincidents where broadband providers have restricted the applications their customers can use over their Internet connections, a lack of transparency about how consumers Internet service will function, andcongestion on the network. In light of these emerging challenges and uncertainties about existing

policies, the FCC began a process to seek public input on draft rules of the road that would clarify andsupplement current FCC policies to protect the open Internet.

Challenges:The idea of net neutrality pits commercial interests against public expectations . With legislation

pre-dating the Internet confining regulatory interests of the FCC, the Commission needed a dynamic platform to share ideas, communicate with the public, and engage in online discussions in order toshape a policy that protects American interests.

Solution:Despite being faced with an aggressive fast tracked deadline, we created this dashboard in a matter of days as a platform for the Chairman to present his ideas and the Commissions stance on netneutrality. At launch, the site comprised YouTube videos, live streamed videos with open commentsand a full blog, ready for FCC use in posting new messages and public engagement. With theChairman calling for fair, open and deliberate conversations, we designed the dashboard to collectinput from anywhere and anyone.

Taking an iterative approach to building up Openinternet.gov, we launched an upgraded site tocoincide with the FCCs October Open Commission Meeting. Loaded with additional pages withoutsacrificing the look or flexibility, we redesigned and expanded the dashboard to accommodate

numerous speeches and third party applications. One, an idea and voting platform, allowed theCommission to collect ideas from citizens, the first use of crowd-sourcing information at the FCC.

Notable Results:As the debate continues about Internet standards, Openinternet.govs blog receives a record setting10,000 comments from the public. The site successfully integrates offline press relations with onlinemeasures, allowing the media bureau to track mentions and public perception (e.g. favorable or negative impressions) and connect with the global press in a way previously unimaginable.

Openinternet.gov

Openinternet.gov 3

Openinternet.gov: video messages welcome visitors to the homepage

Openinternet.gov: tools to engage the public in discussions around net neutrality



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Background:In January 2009, President Obama set forth an agenda for universal broadband -- a plan to make highspeed internet service available to all Americans. Congress subsequently directed the FCC to developa National Broadband Plan to ensure every American has access to broadband capability. With the

plan due to Congress in February, the FCC required a new site to engage key stakeholders in a rapid,and contentious policy formation exercise.

Challenges:While the underlying premise of a National Broadband Plan garnered widespread support, manydisagreed on how to achieve the goal of bringing high-speed connections to all Americans. Virtuallyall interested parties hailed the FCC's primary goal of the broadband plan; nonetheless,implementation of its suggestions prove far more complex. With competing interests from carriers andnetworking providers to public interest groups and government agencies, the FCC had to developcreative ways to manage the influx of all incoming data and requests and the wide variety of formatsin which the material was sent. In addition to managing content, the FCC needed to ensure the publichad access to information in a timely and accurate manner.

Solution:In the interest of transparency, transformation and information organization around the national

broadband plan, we worked with the FCC to build a dashboard that provided maps to represent the broadband access and availability. Search Engine Optimization ensured that the FCC's material on thetransition were retrieved tops by search engines like Google, not the pages of detractors. Social mediaanalytics allowed the FCC to measure the effectiveness of their approach to providing an open,transparent and participatory process to create and develop its policy strategy with public participation.

Notable Results:The launch of Broadband.gov marked a fundamental shift in policy making at the FCC, as publicforums became truly open to all interested parties. The site received over 1,200 comments and over half million page views in its first week, and and introduced the FCC's first crowd-sourcing tool: over 300,000 tested their connection speed using the Broadband Speed Test application in the first week alone.

Broadband.gov 4

Broadband.gov

Broadband.gov: rotating homepage provides detailed information on the proposed plan

A unique feature of Braodband.gov: a Spectrum Dashboard that shows all spectrum availability & use



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With the recent push to open government to the U.S. public, content on an agencys site cannot remain static. Citizens have raised the bar;they demand richer, more integrated presentat ion technologies to facilitate a community dialog. Concurrently, organizations need to collect

better and deeper information that shape initiative-focused projects. One solution: data-driven dashboards, which we create to aggregate datafrom heterogeneous systems to provide business intelligence coupled with change/transformation management wrapped around heavy UX.

To go a bit deeper, we fully integrate the online experience to help our federal clients shape policy and practice good government web 2.0. In the process, we collaborate with our clients to ensure meaningful engagement with their constituencies. To craft an exceptional online presence, we:

Blend a team of Operations Research with User Experience professionals; Analyze and crowd-source data to improve predictability and reduce re-work; Design communication strategies to reach targeted audiences; Employ leading web 2.0 and GIS technologies to support participation objectives; and Incorporate diagnostic tools to measure performance.

Be it enterprise mashup dashboards or executive-level, data-driven dashboards, our Data-driven Dashboard practice provides the followingservices: Data Management; Interaction Design; Information Architecture; Geographic Information Systems; Data analysis and businessintelligence; Search Engine Optimization; Social Media Analytics; Business Performance Management; and Change Management.

Data-driven Dashboards 5

Shining a light on data / information



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The FCC, Data Driven Dashboards and Computech