Sunshine Coast Community Venues Audit Report
Sunshine Coast Council
Purpose
The project's aim was to provide a detailed and region-wide understanding of the Sunshine Coast’s extensive community venue network, which includes over 474 venues run by various organisations like the Council, community groups, schools, and churches.
The goal was to gain a thorough understanding of the current situation and untapped opportunities within the community venues network by filling information gaps and ensuring reliable, up-to-date, accessible data for making informed decisions. Council wanted the data to support the allocation of resources and determine the venue’s capacity to meet the community's current and future needs. The project aimed to facilitate effective decision-making and regional infrastructure planning while optimising the utilisation of existing community venues for the community's benefit.
Approach
Council had already developed and distributed a survey when CPR Group was appointed. The value in the data being collected was recognised and steps taken to reach out directly to stakeholders to improve the completeness of the dataset.
The conversion of information to data was also an important step, followed by data modelling, analysis and research which resulted in the development of an interactive analysable dashboard which informed the final report and provided Council with an ongoing analysis tool. Generated by Microsoft Power BI, filterable maps and charts presented venue data alongside population demographics, forecasting likely usage trends and facility demand.
Outcomes
CPR Group used data expertise to create an interactive dashboard that enables effective data exploration and future decision-making for the Council. The report provided background information, observations, and recommendations based on data analysis, population projections, demographics, regional planning strategies, and industry standards. The report sets a contextual foundation for community space provision in the Sunshine Coast region out to 2041.
The Power BI dashboard, a valuable long-term planning tool, remains in use by the Council after the project was delivered. CPR Group conducted training workshops to equip relevant officers with the knowledge and confidence to utilise the data and visualisations to support increased community facility use and support future planning.
