What Belongs on a Public Affairs Dashboard (and What Doesn’t). The Internal Side of Public Affairs (47)

Alan Hardacre, PhD

Co-Founder Advocacy Academy, Advocacy Strategy

If Public Affairs wants to be seen as a strategic function, it needs to show up like one. That means not just delivering value — but reporting it in a way that resonates with senior leaders. This is where a dashboard is often the front line. The challenge? Too many dashboards focus on the tactics and quantities not on impact and quality – and they are not tailored to your organization. They often count meetings, events, and consultation submissions — and totally miss what matters. So, what should a mature Public Affairs dashboard include?

What Does Belong

Strategic Objectives Tracked Over TimeAre your Public Affairs objectives, key milestone and targets, license-to-operate ambitions and improving influence metrics moving in the right direction?

Risk and Opportunity ExposureVisuals that highlight political or regulatory changes likely to impact business performance — colour-coded, time-bound, and prioritised. Also, if possible, quantified.

Influence Metrics (Where They’re Credible)Where possible: show uplift in policy outcomes, speed of access, or positioning wins tied to engagement efforts.

Relationship Capital ScoreTrack stakeholder access, trust-building activity, and depth of network in key markets — and link to tangible outcomes.

Forward LookWhat’s coming next? Where do you need internal alignment or investment now to avoid problems later?

What Doesn’t Belong (on its own)

Meeting or Event or Newsletter or Webinar (or anything else) CountsVolume doesn’t equal value. Unless connected to outcomes, this is noise.

Media Mentions (without context) Reputation monitoring is useful — but not in isolation. Tie it to business risk or narrative goals.

Activity Logs Executives don’t need to know everything that happened — they need to know what it means for the organisation and what to do next.

Dashboards aren’t just reporting tools. They are strategic framing tools — they shape how your function is perceived and how people will talk about you. So, ask yourself: does your dashboard show Public Affairs as a source of insight, foresight, and risk management? If not, it’s time to recalibrate.

You can find some example dashboards for reflection. What do you think? Do you have better examples or metrics that you track and visualize? We need to build dashboards that earn influence. It is perhaps only 1-2 slides but the work behind it – and the impact it can have are immense. If you have great examples or want to discuss more please just get in touch with us.