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Dashboard Design
Streamlining Compliance Monitoring: A Nursing Home Oversight Dashboard
Note: Due to the sensitive nature of this internal dashboard, all visuals use randomized placeholder data. This case study focuses on the UX strategies and design decisions behind the work.
Dashboard Design
Streamlining Compliance Monitoring: A Nursing Home Oversight Dashboard
Note: Due to the sensitive nature of this internal dashboard, all visuals use randomized placeholder data. This case study focuses on the UX strategies and design decisions behind the work.
Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Tools
Tableau, Figma
Timeline
8 Months
Impact
80% faster data access,
WCAG-compliant,
Adopted by 4+ teams
Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Tools
Tableau, Figma
Timeline
8 Months
Impact
80% faster data access · WCAG-compliant · Adopted by 4+ teams
The problem
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, NYS needed tighter oversight of long-term care facilities. This lack of clarity delayed reporting and decision making, during a time when every day mattered for vulnerable nursing home residents. In the wake of New York’s COVID-19 crisis, public trust in how nursing home deaths were tracked and reported fell under intense scrutiny. Investigations revealed major undercounting and sparked calls for better transparency and oversight. NPR Coverage
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During this pivotal time, I was part of the design effort at the NYS Department of Health’s Office of Aging and Long Term Care, helping enforcement teams monitor compliance across nursing homes. My role was to design the internal Tableau dashboard that analysts used to detect violations, making it faster, more accessible, and more actionable. ​​
Users
Primary users
Analysts & Supervisors
Office of Aging & Long Term Care, NYS Department of Health
Enforcement
Compliance monitoring
Risk assessment
Move quickly between statewide views and facility-level detail
Assess risk at a glance without manual cross-referencing
Trust that the data they were acting on was current
Key Insights
Research consisted of stakeholder interviews with analysts and supervisors and a content and accessibility audit.
Scattered Data
Critical data was scattered across multiple Excel spreadsheets with unclear ownership and unreliable update schedules
No Data Currency
Analysts had no way to assess data currency without hunting for it manually
Hard to locate risk
Analysts struggled to quickly identify high-risk facilities with no dedicated view for surfacing them.
Excessive manual filtering
Interpreting data required extensive manual filtering across multiple files before any analysis could begin.
Design Decisions
Decision 1
Centralizing data with clear hierarchy
A unified layout replaced the fragmented workflow of cross referencing multiple Excel files, charts, and graphs, organized around how analysts actually scan for risk: filters for residents, vacancies, incidents, and sick patients, with trend graphs surfacing areas of concern and drill downs enabling movement from statewide to facility level data.
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Decision 2
Making data currency visible
Timestamp indicators were added to every data source so analysts could immediately assess reliability without hunting for it.
Decision 3
Interactive state map
All nursing facilities plotted in a single view. Hovering surfaces key information: location, last inspection date, and violation status.
Decision 4
Accessibility and brand alignment
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Full WCAG audit conducted and requirements addressed throughout the design
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DOH brand colors and typography applied consistently, following NYS Health and Human Services brand guidelines
Outcomes
01
Analysts previously spent up to 15 minutes locating relevant
facility data across multiple spreadsheets. With a centralized,
filterable dashboard, that dropped to approximately 3 minutes.
02
Timestamp indicators added to every data source gave
analysts immediate visibility into data currency, eliminating
the guesswork that previously slowed decision making.
03
A single dashboard replaced a fragmented collection of
spreadsheets and disconnected views, organized around the
investigative flow analysts actually use.
Outcome
The design gave analysts a single, reliable tool where there wasn't one before. Adoption across 4+ teams reflected that the design solved a real workflow problem, not just a visual one.
80%
Time to access data
Analysts previously spent up to 15 minutes locating relevant facility data across multiple spreadsheets. With a centralized, filterable dashboard, that dropped to approximately 3 minutes.
Increased
Data Source Trust
Timestamp indicators added to every data source gave analysts immediate visibility into data currency, eliminating the guesswork that previously slowed decision making.
Visual hierarchy
Layout Structure
A single dashboard replaced a fragmented collection of spreadsheets and disconnected views, organized around the investigative flow analysts actually use.
Reflection
Working closely with analysts on this project clarified something about dashboard design: the layout is a hypothesis about how people think. Starting from scratch meant every structural decision had to be justified by how analysts actually work, not by convention. Organizing around the investigative flow they described made the difference between a tool that displays information and one that helps people act on it.
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A missing timestamp isn't a data problem, it's a confidence problem. When analysts can't verify that what they're seeing is current, they slow down, double check, and sometimes act on stale information. Fixing that was a one line addition to the interface and one of the highest impact decisions in the project. Working under pressure with high stakes data made clarity and speed non-negotiable, not aspirational.