Open Forum

I work at an organization that tracks visitor data for multiple museums. Each museum currently tracks their own visitor data in a different way and we don't want to interfere with the way they are currently tracking if it works for them (these museums are of variable size and a standard format likely wouldn't work for all of them). We are looking to have each site enter their own visitation data into one program that can generate a comprehensive report showing data for the full portfolio of sites. Does anyone have experience with a program or system that does this? Or even any visitor tracking programs/systems they can recommend? We have tested everything from plain old Excel spreadsheets to Google Forms to Smartsheet but haven't found something that allows our museums the flexibility to enter their data in the way they currently track it (daily, weekly, etc.) and also generate a comprehensive report for multiple sites. It's possible this doesn't exist, but I would love to hear any recommendations if there are programs that are working well!

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Kelly Schindler
Manager, Historic Sites Administration & Engagement
National Trust For Historic Preservation
Washington DC
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It sounds like a job for a business intelligence platform such as Tableau or Microsoft's PowerBI (so rather than standardize the input you can synthesize the output).  Both these platforms can accept data from a variety of sources, including Excel, and generate dashboards, analytics etc.  There's a bit of a learning curve to each, but if you have someone in your org who is conversant in databases, reporting etc then they should be able to get started.

Tableau Software

Power BI | Interactive Data Visualization BI Tools

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Shyam Oberoi
Chief Digital Officer
Royal Ontario Museum
Toronto ON
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-15-2018 07:49 PM
From: Kelly Schindler
Subject: Tracking visitation

I work at an organization that tracks visitor data for multiple museums. Each museum currently tracks their own visitor data in a different way and we don't want to interfere with the way they are currently tracking if it works for them (these museums are of variable size and a standard format likely wouldn't work for all of them). We are looking to have each site enter their own visitation data into one program that can generate a comprehensive report showing data for the full portfolio of sites. Does anyone have experience with a program or system that does this? Or even any visitor tracking programs/systems they can recommend? We have tested everything from plain old Excel spreadsheets to Google Forms to Smartsheet but haven't found something that allows our museums the flexibility to enter their data in the way they currently track it (daily, weekly, etc.) and also generate a comprehensive report for multiple sites. It's possible this doesn't exist, but I would love to hear any recommendations if there are programs that are working well!

------------------------------
Kelly Schindler
Manager, Historic Sites Administration & Engagement
National Trust For Historic Preservation
Washington DC
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We use excel pivot tables to analyze our visitation data. Are you familiar with Them? a very powerful and flexible tool for analyzing data.

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John Jenkins
President & CEO
SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention
Bellingham WA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-15-2018 07:49 PM
From: Kelly Schindler
Subject: Tracking visitation

I work at an organization that tracks visitor data for multiple museums. Each museum currently tracks their own visitor data in a different way and we don't want to interfere with the way they are currently tracking if it works for them (these museums are of variable size and a standard format likely wouldn't work for all of them). We are looking to have each site enter their own visitation data into one program that can generate a comprehensive report showing data for the full portfolio of sites. Does anyone have experience with a program or system that does this? Or even any visitor tracking programs/systems they can recommend? We have tested everything from plain old Excel spreadsheets to Google Forms to Smartsheet but haven't found something that allows our museums the flexibility to enter their data in the way they currently track it (daily, weekly, etc.) and also generate a comprehensive report for multiple sites. It's possible this doesn't exist, but I would love to hear any recommendations if there are programs that are working well!

------------------------------
Kelly Schindler
Manager, Historic Sites Administration & Engagement
National Trust For Historic Preservation
Washington DC
------------------------------

Thanks for all of these suggestions! We have used pivot tables but the problem we are facing is with data entry (some sites track daily, some track monthly, etc. and we are trying not to interfere with that process and make it simple for them to add to the comprehensive report). We are trying to do this in a low-cost way but I will take a look at some of the programs referenced here. Does anyone have experience with other cloud-based platforms?

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Kelly Schindler
Manager, Historic Sites Administration & Engagement
National Trust For Historic Preservation
Washington DC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 10-16-2018 10:49 AM
From: John Jenkins
Subject: Tracking visitation

We use excel pivot tables to analyze our visitation data. Are you familiar with Them? a very powerful and flexible tool for analyzing data.

------------------------------
John Jenkins
President & CEO
SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention
Bellingham WA

Original Message:
Sent: 10-15-2018 07:49 PM
From: Kelly Schindler
Subject: Tracking visitation

I work at an organization that tracks visitor data for multiple museums. Each museum currently tracks their own visitor data in a different way and we don't want to interfere with the way they are currently tracking if it works for them (these museums are of variable size and a standard format likely wouldn't work for all of them). We are looking to have each site enter their own visitation data into one program that can generate a comprehensive report showing data for the full portfolio of sites. Does anyone have experience with a program or system that does this? Or even any visitor tracking programs/systems they can recommend? We have tested everything from plain old Excel spreadsheets to Google Forms to Smartsheet but haven't found something that allows our museums the flexibility to enter their data in the way they currently track it (daily, weekly, etc.) and also generate a comprehensive report for multiple sites. It's possible this doesn't exist, but I would love to hear any recommendations if there are programs that are working well!

------------------------------
Kelly Schindler
Manager, Historic Sites Administration & Engagement
National Trust For Historic Preservation
Washington DC
------------------------------

Hello,

We currently use Trafsys as a people counter. It has the ability to be installed in multiple sites but that would require some work on the part of your museums to get it installed (and there's a cost involved).

I would try to get in touch with NEMA-they currently track attendance data for multiple museums, including mine, and it works well on my end. We send them a monthly total at the end of each month (so you'll need to standardize the data collected a little bit just for your own processing) through a page on their member login site.

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Marisa Higgins
External Affairs Coordinator
Portland Museum of Art
Portland ME
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-15-2018 07:49 PM
From: Kelly Schindler
Subject: Tracking visitation

I work at an organization that tracks visitor data for multiple museums. Each museum currently tracks their own visitor data in a different way and we don't want to interfere with the way they are currently tracking if it works for them (these museums are of variable size and a standard format likely wouldn't work for all of them). We are looking to have each site enter their own visitation data into one program that can generate a comprehensive report showing data for the full portfolio of sites. Does anyone have experience with a program or system that does this? Or even any visitor tracking programs/systems they can recommend? We have tested everything from plain old Excel spreadsheets to Google Forms to Smartsheet but haven't found something that allows our museums the flexibility to enter their data in the way they currently track it (daily, weekly, etc.) and also generate a comprehensive report for multiple sites. It's possible this doesn't exist, but I would love to hear any recommendations if there are programs that are working well!

------------------------------
Kelly Schindler
Manager, Historic Sites Administration & Engagement
National Trust For Historic Preservation
Washington DC
------------------------------