PROJECT OVERVIEW

The City of Liberal partnered with Southwind Marketing Group to implement a modern Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard system designed to improve how internal data is used for forecasting, strategic planning, and operational decision-making.

The City’s goal was to move beyond static reports and spreadsheets and create a visual, interactive data environment that allows leadership and staff to quickly identify trends, compare performance over time, and support data-driven goal setting across economic development, tourism, finance, and internal operations.

A core focus of this project was ensuring the dashboards could be used to forecast future conditions, benchmark performance against surrounding communities, and support transparent, efficient governance—while maintaining strict control over sensitive and confidential data.

All dashboards were built and deployed entirely within the City of Liberal’s Microsoft Power BI environment, ensuring full data ownership, security, and long-term sustainability.

OBJECTIVES

Create clear visual representations of complex city data for leadership and staff
Support internal forecasting and long-range strategic planning
Enable trend comparison across time and peer or surrounding communities
Improve transparency and efficiency in local government reporting
Reduce reliance on manual spreadsheets and ad-hoc reporting
Train City staff to independently build and manage dashboards
Maintain strong governance over sensitive and restricted data

SOLUTION DELIVERED

Southwind designed and implemented a multi-module Power BI dashboard system aligned with how City staff actually use data to make decisions. The dashboards were structured to support both high-level executive review and detailed departmental analysis, allowing the City to use a single platform for leadership briefings, staff planning, and operational management.

CORE DASHBOARD MODULES

Economic Development & Events

Event counts and attendance tracking
Event categorization and trend analysis
Historical comparisons to support planning and funding decisions

Tourism & Visitor Analytics

Total visits and out-of-market visitors
Length of stay and time spent in market
Visitor travel distance and origin analysis
Year-over-year visitation comparisons

Local Sales Tax & Budget Analysis

Monthly and annual revenue trends
Year-over-year comparisons
Department-level budget allocations
Budget and revenue variance analysis

INTERNAL TRAINING & SENSITIVE DATA ENABLEMENT

A critical component of this engagement was internal capacity-building, particularly for sensitive and restricted datasets. Southwind trained the City’s IT Director to independently create and manage secure, role-based dashboards for departments handling confidential information, including Police, Fire, and HR.

This approach ensures sensitive data remains under City control while still being presented in a clear, usable format that improves internal decision-making for department leadership and staff. The City now has the ability to expand analytics internally without vendor dependence or compromising data governance.

RESULTS & IMPACT

Improved internal visibility into economic, tourism, and financial trends
Stronger forecasting and strategic planning capabilities
More informed internal decision-making across departments
Reduced manual reporting and spreadsheet dependency
Increased transparency and efficiency in government operations
Long-term sustainability through City-owned infrastructure and trained staff

"Southwind helped us move beyond static reports and into a more strategic use of data. The dashboards give our team clearer visibility into trends and help us have better conversations internally and with our commission. Just as important, our staff was trained to manage and expand the system, keeping ownership and decision-making with the City." — Scarlette Dieseker, City Manager, City of Liberal, Kansas

Interactive Dashboards Delivered

Spanning economic development, tourism, events, sales tax, budgeting, and internal operations.

100%

City-Owned Data & Infrastructure

All dashboards built and hosted within the City of Liberal’s Microsoft Power BI environment.

Trained

Internal Teams Enabled

City IT staff trained to manage dashboards independently, including Police, Fire, and HR use cases.

Interactive dashboard showing total events, attendance, event categories, and trend analysis.

Economic Development & Events Dashboard