Case Study: Department for International Development (DFID) achieves faster, more accurate crisis response with Tableau Software

DFID visualizes happenings in crisis areas improving response times

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) needed a faster way to make sense of thousands of disparate field reports from multiple partners across Syria and neighboring countries so it could decide where to allocate millions in humanitarian aid. Data arrived as spreadsheets, PDFs and local databases detailing location, demographics, health, sanitation and border status, making consolidation slow, error-prone and ill-suited to timely decision-making.

DFID adopted Tableau to blend and geocode partner datasets into interactive maps and dashboards that analysts build and share in minutes. The visual analytics let teams quickly pinpoint where to target food, water, shelter, medical and education services across 281 sub-districts and nearby countries, monitor border and weather impacts, and move from days-long analysis to near real-time, better-coordinated responses.

Department for International Development

Gerson Bergeth

Information Manager