A screenshot of the City of Tshwane’s dashboard depicting the top 10 issues across the metro. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and City of Tshwane have developed an integrated intelligence dashboard to provide municipal officials with real-time operational data and insights.According to the CSIR, the proof of concept for the dashboard began in 2025, and its feasibility was recently tested within the municipality.The dashboard consolidates information from multiple municipal departments and business units into a single platform.It aggregates weekly reporting data from across the metro and presents it through a custom-built dashboard that enables users to monitor service requests, response times and planned operational activities, says the CSIR. Tristan Davis, CSIR geospatial modelling engineer and lead developer, says the City of Tshwane has started incorporating the dashboard into its reporting processes.“Over the past few weeks, the City of Tshwane has taken a strategic decision to ensure its reporting measures are shaped and informed by its dashboard.” The initiative aims to address a common challenge facing municipalities: fragmented data spread across multiple systems and departments. To mitigate cyber risks, the dashboard and supporting digital infrastructure are hosted within the CSIR’s network.“Currently, the technology is only available to the City of Tshwane; however, the CSIR is open to working with other metros and government departments in South Africa,” states Davis. Jerry Seko, director: enterprise data management at the City of Tshwane, adds: “The partnership between the CSIR and the City of Tshwane demonstrates the important role that collaboration between government, academia, research institutions and broader civil society can play in strengthening public service delivery. “By working together, institutions can develop practical solutions that improve transparency, accountability and operational efficiency, while ensuring technology and research are directed towards addressing real community needs and improving the daily lives of residents across Tshwane.”