By Jack Crawford, b.world Engineer
Impact measurement is a core part of b.world, but the actual data entry has long been an underserved part of our development. That changes with our latest release, where Indicator measurement becomes far easier thanks to several new features.
Before this release, data entry worked in the following way:
Clicking a row of the data table opens the side panel.
Values are entered for the topline value, any disaggregates, and notes.
Hitting “Save” adds the values to the data table and closes the side panel.
Rinse and repeat this process for every row in the indicator as needed.
While that method is effective for careful, gradual data entry on new indicators where measurements are being added directly to b.world, plenty of data sources are not adequately served. Legacy or externally recorded datasets are challenging to add to indicators when entry is limited to a single row at a time that must be selected and saved by hand.
To lower that barrier, we’ve taken the Indicator data grid and made some significant improvements. While sidebar entry is still accessible, data can now be manipulated inline and edits are automatically saved. This includes support for keyboard navigation and seamless row-to-row progression, thanks to a series of modifications to the fundamental component. This navigational layer makes it far easier to enter lots of data very quickly.
The second layer of improvements makes bulk data entry into b.world far easier. First, Indicator Excel export creates a copy of the Indicator that can be shared outside of the platform for data collection. Then grid support for spreadsheet copy/paste allows for that data to be pasted back into the Indicator in one fell swoop. Simply copy from the external spreadsheet and paste into b.world using the standard hotkeys.
Whether entering values manually or bringing complete datasets into your projects, impact measurement is now faster and easier on b.world!