Puget Sound Info Platform

Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) works with 16 lead entities and hundreds of partners to better align ecosystem recovery efforts in the region. Their goal is to maximize the use of limited resources and improve coordination among regional partners.

Why does this project matter?

To help facilitate management of the vast amounts of collected data, simplify accessibility, and streamline analysis and reporting, PSP enlisted ESA’s Technology Services group to identify opportunities to improve their data systems, workflows, and data access. We built the web-based Puget Sound Info platform to meet PSP’s needs for project tracking, performance monitoring, and public engagement.

What is ESA doing to help?

We began our work with PSP by performing a Data Diagnostic—a comprehensive assessment of data management practices, user workflows, and existing systems. This included conducting dozens of interviews with PSP staff and key partners, defining user personas in coordination with PSP’s Communications team, performing a detailed user task analysis, and evaluating alternatives. Outputs from this process included a roadmap for strategic, long-term data management that focused on improvements to systems, workflows, and data access. We also did some visioning work that included a few design prototypes for what would later become the Puget Sound Info platform.

Today, Puget Sound Info is helping PSP and its partners consistently track and communicate investments, activities, and accomplishments related to Puget Sound recovery priorities. This scalable, flexible system includes the Vital Signs dashboard, integrations with PSP’s enterprise GIS system, an OpenID authentication service, and a project-tracking system based on our open-source ProjectFirma platform. Puget Sound Info also includes a National Estuary Program Atlas and a dashboard summarizing $254 million invested in more than 600 projects since 2007 under the region’s Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration program. Highlights of this program’s accomplishments include the restoration of over 22,500 acres of habitat, opening of over 140 miles to fish passage, and creation of more than 3,400 jobs.

Working closely with PSP data stewards, we imported legacy data sets, including thousands of projects and hundreds of organization and user records. Our phased implementation plan optimized support for daily operational needs in the early stages of deployment while aligning with budgetary resources. We additionally helped PSP develop a standardized workflow for data collection and synthesis.