Tracking civic integration progress with a municipal dashboard

Municipalities make civic integration progress visible by recording participation hours, activities and the agreements in each participant's PIP in one place, and showing them in a dashboard per participant, route and chain organization. That way you see during the trajectory who is on track, instead of afterwards.

Why tracking progress matters now

Since the Wet inburgering 2021 (Civic Integration Act), Dutch municipalities direct civic integration. According to the Dutch government, the municipality guides newcomers with a broad intake and a personal Plan Inburgering en Participatie (PIP): the plan with the learning route and agreements. In the Z-route, a participant completes at least 800 hours of participation, including the participation statement program (PVT) and the labor market and participation module (MAP), according to the DUO conditions.

Municipalities also deliver data on people in civic integration to CBS, Statistics Netherlands, every quarter or half year. CBS notes that part of that municipal data is not good enough to publish. Recording progress at the source produces more reliable figures.

Three ways to track progress

A municipality can track participants' progress in three ways. The main difference is how quickly you notice that a trajectory has stalled.

Criterion	Spreadsheets or lists	Case management system	Participation app with dashboard
When do hours come in?	Afterwards, often monthly	When the case manager enters them	At the activity itself
Who enters them?	Chain organization, then the municipality	Case manager	Participant, approved by the supervisor
View per chain organization	Limited	Depends on integrations	Built in
Insight for the participant	None	Usually none	Own progress in the app
Risk of errors	High, from retyping	Medium	Low, no double entry

Many municipalities combine a case management system for the file with an app that records hours at the source. Make sure you can export the data, so the two systems connect. Divosa recommends, in its guidance on participation hours, a digital registration system that also gives the participant insight.

What a good dashboard shows

A civic integration dashboard answers four questions. Each one supports a decision by a case manager or policy officer.

Is the participant on track?

The dashboard sets the participation hours built up against the norm in the PIP. For the Z-route that is 800 hours; for the B1-route the norm differs per municipality.

Where does a trajectory stall?

Participants without recent hours stand out, so the case manager can get in touch in time. A trajectory that cannot continue for a while can be paused.

Which chain organizations generate participation?

Chain organizations are the partners where participants log their hours, such as community centers, language cafés and volunteer organizations. Hours per organization show where the offer works and where it is missing.

How is the region doing?

Filtered reports per region make reporting to the city council and chain partners easier.

How to set up a dashboard

A dashboard is only as good as the agreements behind it. These four steps keep the figures right from day one.

1. Record the norm per participant. Take the number of participation hours and the route from the PIP, so the dashboard measures progress against the right norm.
2. Give every chain organization its own registration point. A QR code or form per organization makes sure hours land in the right place straight away.
3. Agree who approves, and when. Assign a supervisor per route to approve hours within a fixed period, so no backlog builds up.
4. Plan fixed reporting moments. Align reports with the CBS deliveries and with the moments the city council asks for information.

Start small, with one route or one region, and expand once the agreements work.

Privacy when monitoring progress

Progress data on participants is personal data, so the GDPR applies. Set up role-based access: a supervisor only sees participants in their own region. Work with a data processing agreement and a DPIA, and give participants access to their own data. Read more in Monitoring participation hours of status holders.

Where Taaly fits

Taaly is the digital integration assistant for newcomers, with a dashboard for municipalities. Participants check in with a QR code at the chain organization, the supervisor approves hours with one click and the municipality sees progress in real time. You export reports as CSV, Excel or PDF. 12 municipalities register hours via Taaly, and in the first municipal pilot the hour-registration module cut administration by 80%.

Because language practice, activities through Taaly Meedoen and hour registration live in the same app, participants see their own hours grow. "Participation, connection and finding your own way in society start with being there," says Shadi Alhakimi, founder of Taaly.

See how the hour registration works and book an introduction call.

Frequently asked questions

What methods are there to make civic integration progress visible?

Municipalities use spreadsheets, a case management system or a participation app with a dashboard. Recording at the source, where the participant checks in at the activity, gives a real-time view of hours per participant, route and chain organization.

Are there ready-made reporting solutions for tracking participants?

Yes. Case management systems and participation apps offer standard reports per participant and per region. When choosing, check export to your own systems, role-based access and a data processing agreement with a DPIA.

How do you monitor participation hours in a GDPR-compliant way?

Limit access by role and region, work with a data processing agreement and a DPIA, and give participants access to their own data. Only record what the PIP and reporting require.

Can you export data from the Taaly dashboard?

Yes. You can export hours, progress and reports as CSV, Excel or PDF, so you can use them in your own client tracking system or in reporting to chain partners.