Innovation

Keywords: Dashboard, Data management

EThekwini Strat Hub also referred to as the City’s first ever “Single Source of Truth” is a 3-tiered innovation of 1. Data visualisation; 2. Digitization & automation and 3. Cloud Data warehousing started in 2019 and officially launched in 2022. The Strat Hub leverages digital tools and the use of data to enhance the City’s operational efficiencies while improving service delivery. Prior to the introduction of this initiative, the city experienced challenges related to data silos; data egos; failure to optimise investment on digital tools; lack of insight-driven decision making etc. Many operational systems produced data that was not used to provide strategic direction for the city. In many instances these datasets were controlled by external service providers or stored in unusable formats. The entire technological architecture of the city was not leveraged for optimum return on investment. The Strat Hub currently host a few strategic tools such as city dashboards; indexes; open data and digital forms that provide insights on various functions and operations of the municipality; the Liveability index, open SDG portal, Greenbook Metro View, Open GIS data and the Digital Forms Platform all of which are available to the public. These tools and datasets provide insights on a range of issues including the economy, service delivery issues, governance, environmental issues, safety and many other issues in the local government space. The aim of making this platform freely available is to improve citizen engagement and provide our communities with evidence-based state of the world upon which they can base their own decisions. Evidence-based participatory governance improves our communities’ ability to make decisions, contribute meaningfully to political processes and hold us accountable. The Strat Hub promotes the idea of data as critical infrastructure upon which decisions should be