Year /
2023 - 2024
Community Dashboard Development
This case study follows the creation of a self-service dashboard developed for members of an Indigenous community to access key demographic and governance-related data. The main goal was to provide autonomy and transparency by allowing community members to independently explore information about their tribe, such as population distribution, historical records, and family structures.
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The initiative was grounded in the principle of data sovereignty, ensuring that community members — and not just administrative teams — could directly access and engage with the data that belongs to them.
Partner Organization: Developed in collaboration with One Nation Governance
Team Involved:
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Project Manager: Kimberly
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Development: 3 Senior Developers, 2 Co-op Students
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UX/UI Design: 1 Designer
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QA: 1 Tester
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Product Owner & Stakeholders from Customer Success
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Timeline: Planned for 12 months, delivered in 8
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Main Goal:
Empower tribal members to access and explore key information about their community — including demographic trends and geographic data — through an intuitive, self-service dashboard.
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This project was developed in close partnership with One Nation Governance, whose mission to support Indigenous self-governance guided both the design and delivery of the dashboard experience.
Who Holds the Data?
Prior to the dashboard, information about the tribe was available only through requests or internal reports. This created barriers to access, slowed down engagement with the data, and limited community members’ ability to interact with their own historical and demographic records.
Primary Challenges
Lack of transparency and autonomy in accessing tribal data
Inaccessible family or lineage records for members
Fragmented or outdated ways of sharing demographic insights
A growing desire from the community to be more connected to their own data
Journey
Under the leadership of Kimberly (Project Manager), the team adopted an agile approach to structure the work efficiently. With a mix of senior developers and co-op students, the team moved from research to delivery in 8 months, ahead of the original 12-month plan.
Methodology
Agile (Scrum with 2-week sprints)
Weekly planning, sprint reviews, retrospectives
Regular demos to stakeholders for feedback
Phases
Phase
Duration
Deliverables
Discovery & Design
1 month
Wireframes, user feedback
Development
5 months
Features built incrementally
QA + Launch Preparation
2 months
Testing, mobile optimization, launch prep
Tools
Figma
For wireframing and prototyping
Jira
For sprint planning and task tracking
Slack
For team communication
Confluence
For documentation and notes
Key Features Delivered
Interactive demographic visualizations: Map-based data to explore population and regional distribution
Lineage and family tree views: Custom interfaces to track familial connections
Secure access control: Ensuring users see only data relevant to their permissions
Mobile optimization: Access the dashboard from phones and tablets
More Autonomy, More Connection
The dashboard empowered community members to independently explore meaningful data about their tribe. It encouraged engagement, helped bridge the gap between governance and community, and offered transparency in an intuitive, respectful way.
Highlights
Strong positive feedback from tribal leaders and members
Increase in dashboard access during community events
Greater awareness and ownership of community records
Internally, the structured project management contributed to smoother workflows
“Kimberly’s leadership kept everyone aligned while making room for learning and collaboration.”
Bruna, UX Designer
What We’re Taking With Us
What went well
Early engagement with tribal leaders helped align the design to real community needs
Mentorship structure allowed co-op students to grow while contributing meaningfully
Iterative testing with actual users ensured relevance and usability
What could be improved
Start accessibility testing earlier in future projects
Include more members from different age groups in usability feedback rounds
Best practices adopted
User demos every 4 weeks
Peer programming and code reviews
Prioritization system based on community value (“must-have” vs. “nice-to-have”)