Saving time and improving impact communication thanks to automation and data visualization

Silbernetz e.V. tracks thousands of calls to combat senior loneliness. We automate their data pipeline and build an interactive dashboard for impact reporting.

AutomationVisualization Process

Status: Finished
Project Period: July 2021 – December 2021
Partner: Silbernetz e.V.

Silbernetz is a unique hotline and support service for older adults in Germany, dedicated to helping lonely elderly individuals combat isolation. Through a three-step approach, it enables anonymous contact initiation, the gradual rebuilding of personal connections, and networking with local services for older adults in their environment and immediate neighborhood. Initially established and tested in Berlin, Silbernetz has been available nationwide since March 16, 2020. Beyond its core services, Silbernetz leverages data-driven tools to amplify its impact and demonstrate its value to stakeholders. The organization collaborates with CorrelAid volunteers to maintain a Shiny dashboard, which has revolutionized its ability to communicate impact to politicians, stakeholders, and donors. This dashboard, a milestone for Silbernetz, visualizes key metrics and outcomes, playing a critical role in advocacy work and attracting new funding. While the current version of the dashboard is outdated and unstable, ongoing efforts aim to update and stabilize it to ensure continued effectiveness. (Source: Silbernetz Homepage)
Homepage

The challenge

Before the project, Elke Schilling, the founder of Silbernetz, had to manually download the current number of calls from the telephone provider every week and calculate relevant statistics by hand in a rather laborious way. This process took over an hour each time and was prone to errors. In addition, some of the statistics she was interested in were not available on the phone company's web portal. Finally, there was no appealing visualization of the data that could be used for communication purposes.

The data

The project was based on the raw data from over 500,000 calls (as of November 2023) from the telephone company's web portal. Among other things, the data provides information on the location and date of the call and the federal state from which the call originated. Personal data that would have made it possible to identify the caller was already anonymized by the web portal.

The solution

The CorrelAid team developed an interactive R Shiny application that downloads and aggregates the latest data and updates all statistics with just one click, eliminating the need for manual work. The application is also specifically tailored to the needs of Silbernetz: it provides summarized statistics on a monthly, weekly and daily basis and enables analyses at state level. In addition, it provides the user with various visualizations that can be used in presentations or other publications. Working with the raw data also made it possible to calculate new statistics for Elke that could not be calculated before.

Silbernetz Wirkungskommunikation

The impact

The developed solution frees Elke Schilling from the error-prone and time-consuming work of manually copying and analyzing the data each week - she can now use this time for more important and impactful activities that benefit Silbernetz's mission. As the previous process was a very repetitive task that took over an hour each week, Silbernetz has been able to save significant time since the 2021 project, as the tool has now been in use for over 21 months (as of November 2023). During a follow-up meeting in November 2022, Elke reported that she is still satisfied with the results and finds the visualizations very helpful. She also pointed out that these visualizations support her in the acquisition of further funding, which is crucial for the continued success of Silbernetz.

In addition to Elke Schilling, the (now former) manager of Silbernetz was also very satisfied:

"The visualization of the data has revolutionized our work. As a manager, I often used the maps in discussions with politicians, stakeholders and donors. Our counterparts understood much faster and better our work. We were able to convince existing donors of our impact and gain new ones. The project really was a game changer for us."