Introduction to Track

What is Track

Track is Polco's community performance management system — a set of continuously updated, benchmarked dashboards that show how your community is doing across every major area of livability. It pulls from the GPAL (Government Performance Action Lab) database, a curated collection of 400+ national data sources maintained by Polco in partnership with Stanford, UW-Madison, ASU, Harvard, ICMA, and other leading institutions.

Track answers a simple but important question that's hard to answer without it: compared to communities like ours, how are we actually doing?

Rather than presenting raw numbers in isolation, Track places every indicator in context — showing where your community sits relative to national averages, state peers, and similarly sized communities. This context is what makes data actionable.

What Track Shows

Track is organized into four levels that move from summary to detail:

Community Livability Snapshot — A visual overview of all domains at once, plotted on a quality-importance matrix.

Track Overview Dashboard — All domain index scores on a single page, with histograms and demographic context.

Domain Dashboards — Deep dives into each livability domain, showing every underlying indicator with trend charts, benchmarks, goals, and predictions.

Data Sources — A reference page documenting every data source that feeds GPAL.

There is also a Community Disparity view available on some accounts, which surfaces equity gaps across population groups. This view is not included by default — contact Polco if your organization is interested in accessing it. 

Community Livability Snapshot

Navigate to Track Data → Community Livability to see the Snapshot.

The Snapshot is a quality-importance matrix — a chart that plots all 10 livability domains simultaneously based on two factors:

• Quality (horizontal axis, left to right) — How well your community performs in this domain relative to peers, based on GPAL data
• Importance (vertical axis, bottom to top) — How important residents rate this domain, based on NCS survey data from communities nationwide

Based on where each domain lands, it falls into one of three categories:

• On Track — High quality and high importance. Current performance and investment levels are working.
• Needs Attention — High importance but relatively lower quality. These are the areas most deserving of strategic focus and additional resources.
• Possible Excess — Lower importance but higher quality. May represent an opportunity to reallocate resources toward higher-priority areas.

Where the data comes from: The importance ranking is derived from resident ratings (identified as "essential" or "very important") from communities that have conducted the National Community Survey (NCS) since 2020. The quality indicators are calculated from GPAL's publicly available community data. If your community has conducted an NCS, your own resident sentiment data is incorporated; otherwise, national averages are used.

The "What Is This and How Can I Use It?" button at the top of the Snapshot opens a Polly AI explanation for quick context.

Track Overview Dashboard

Navigate to Track Data → Overview to see all domain index scores in one view.

The Overview Dashboard is the primary control room for Track. It shows a Domain Index Score histogram for each livability domain, with three filters at the top that apply across the entire page:

The Three Filters

Show Data For Selects which community or group to display. Options include:

• Your community (e.g., "My Community (Polcoville)")
• Any configured comparison group (e.g., "AZ Counties")
• Broader geographies (e.g., United States of America)

This filter determines whether you're in single-community mode or comparison group mode — two significantly different views described below.

Data to Display Toggles between:

• GPAL — Standard indicators across all livability domains
• GPAL for Older Adults — Indicators filtered to those most relevant to aging populations; pairs with CASOA benchmark survey data

Compare Data Against Communities Sets the benchmark cohort your community is measured against:

• Nationwide
• Similar Population Size Nationwide
• My State
• Similar Population Size in My State

Note: When a comparison group is selected in "Show Data For," the "Compare Data Against Communities" filter is not applicable and will be grayed out.

Reading the Histograms

Each domain displays as a small histogram — a bar chart showing the distribution of all communities in the selected benchmark cohort, scored from 0 to 100. Your community appears as a highlighted blue bar. A dashed vertical line marks the average.

If your blue bar is to the right of the dashed line, your community is performing above average. If it's to the left, below average. The further from center in either direction, the more significant the difference.

How Do I Read Histograms? — An AI button near the top of the Overview Dashboard opens a Polly explanation of how to interpret histogram charts.

Demographics Section

Below the domain histograms, the Overview Dashboard also shows a Demographics section with key population statistics: total population, median age, median annual household income, and adults with a bachelor's degree. These provide quick community context when sharing or presenting Track data.

Resident Sentiment

Where your community has conducted the NCS, resident sentiment indicators appear alongside GPAL data on the Overview. If you haven't conducted the NCS, a yellow notice appears: "Resident Sentiment Data Unavailable," with a prompt to get started. Resident sentiment reflects how residents themselves rate areas like safety, economic health, and community quality — context that hard data alone can't provide.

Two Views: Single Community vs. Comparison Group

Track works in two fundamentally different modes depending on what you select in "Show Data For."

Single Community Mode

The default view. Shows data for your community only. Each histogram plots your community's position within the broader peer distribution. Ideal for:

• Understanding your own performance at a glance
• Identifying which domains need attention
• Tracking progress over time

Comparison Group Mode

When a configured comparison group is selected (like "AZ Counties"), Track shows all communities in that group simultaneously. The histograms become multi-colored, with each bar representing a different community in the group. This mode is used when:

• You're a regional authority or county-level organization monitoring multiple jurisdictions
• A state agency needs to compare performance across its municipalities
• You want to see how peer communities rank against each other on specific indicators

In Comparison Group mode, the individual domain dashboards show:

• Ranked tables — Top and bottom communities in the group for each indicator
• Trend line charts — Multiple colored lines, one per community, showing how each has changed over time
• Map view — A choropleth map shading each community by percentile rank, with a toggle between the chart and map views

Comparison groups are configured by Polco based on your account's needs — contact your Customer Success Manager to set one up. 

Domain Dashboards 

Navigate to Track Data → Data Dashboards and use the Dashboard dropdown to select any of the available domains:

• Community Connection
• Economy
• Education, Arts & Culture
• Finance
• Health & Wellness
• Housing & Community Design
• Mobility
• Natural Environment
• Parks & Recreation
• Safety
• Utilities

Each domain dashboard has three sections:

1. Domain Index Score

The top of every dashboard shows the Domain Index Score — a weighted, benchmarked composite score (0–100) for that domain. The score is the average of the percentiles for each included indicator, so a score of 60 means your community scores at roughly the 60th percentile compared to its benchmark cohort.

Below the score:

• A "Plan for [Domain]" AI button opens Polly with context about that domain for strategic planning
• A "Score last updated [date]" timestamp shows data freshness
• A histogram shows your position within the peer distribution
• A note clarifies which indicators are and aren't included in the index score calculation

2. Community Statistics

The heart of each domain dashboard. This is where all individual indicators are listed, each showing:

• Current value — The most recent data point available
• Change — The delta compared to the prior period, with directional arrows
• Data source — The national source this indicator draws from, with the data date
• AI insight button — A Polly prompt specific to that indicator (e.g., "How Can We Support Job Growth?" or "What Drives Child Poverty?")

Subdomain tabs allow filtering to specific categories within a domain. For example, the Economy domain has tabs for All Subdomains, Business Vitality, Income, and Employment — showing the count of indicators in each.

Additional controls:

• Sort by — Default, or reorder by value, change, or other criteria
• Data Source filter — Filter by specific source within the domain
• Reset — Clear applied filters
• Show Predictions (On/Off) — Toggle GPAL's predictive modeling overlays on indicator trend charts
• Show Goals (On/Off) — Toggle any goals your organization has set for indicators

3. Individual Indicator Detail

Clicking on any indicator expands a detailed trend chart showing that indicator's values over time. The chart shows historical data, and if goals or predictions are enabled, those appear as overlaid reference lines.

Each indicator has a three-dot menu with three options:

• Save as Image — Download the chart as an image for reports or presentations
• Save Data Point — Bookmark this indicator to your Saved Data Points list for quick future reference

Goals and Predictions 

Goals let your organization set a target for any indicator and track progress toward it. Once set, the goal appears as a horizontal reference line (shown as a red dashed line) on the indicator's trend chart whenever "Show Goals" is toggled On. Goals are visible only to your admin team, not to the public.

Data Sources

Navigate to Track Data → Data Sources to see the full list of sources feeding GPAL.

GPAL draws from a comprehensive set of nationally trusted public sources, including:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics
• U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
• U.S. Census Bureau Community Population Survey
• U.S. Census County Business Patterns
• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
• U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
• HUD Point in Time Estimates of Homelessness
• U.S. Department of Education EDFacts
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Walkability Index
• EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System
• Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting (FBI UCR)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index
• County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
• PLACES (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation / CDC Foundation)
• Center for Neighborhood Technology
• Climate Mapping Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA)
• Institute of Museum and Library Services Public Libraries Survey
• The Government Finance Database, Willamette
• Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement
• Map the Meal Gap
• Open Energy Data Initiative
• And many more

GPAL is maintained through partnerships with: Stanford University / Hoover Institution, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Arizona State University, Harvard University, ICMA, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, High Road Strategy Center, and NRC.

Community Disparity (available on select accounts) 

The Community Disparity view — accessible at Track Data → Community Disparity when enabled — provides a specialized analysis of equity gaps across population groups within your community.

It presents a severity matrix showing how disparities in resident-reported challenges vary across four demographic dimensions: income level, geographic location within the community, race of respondent, and housing tenure (rent vs. own). Each challenge area (behavioral health, economic, employment, food security, health, technology, and others) is rated as showing No Disparity, Small Disparity, or Large Disparity for each demographic dimension.

This view is not included by default — it is built around specific survey data conducted for your account. Contact your Customer Success Manager if your organization is interested in accessing Community Disparity analysis.

What Admins Can Do with Track 

Track is designed to be used at every stage of the government decision-making cycle:

Strategic planning — Use the CLS and Overview Dashboard to identify your community's highest-priority domains, then dive into domain dashboards to understand root causes.

Budget conversations — Reference Domain Index Scores to prioritize resource allocation across departments. Show council members objective, benchmarked evidence for investment decisions.

Grant writing — Save data points from Track indicators to reference in grant applications. Ask Grace to incorporate GPAL statistics into needs statements and program narratives.

Performance monitoring — Set goals for specific indicators, then track progress over time using trend charts. Quarterly reviews against your goals create accountability without manual data collection.

Public communication — Save indicator charts as images for council presentations, annual reports, and community newsletters. Use content posts to embed saved data points directly into the resident feed.

AI-assisted analysis — Use the Polly AI prompts embedded in each indicator ("How Can We Support Job Growth?") for instant strategic context, or open a full Polly session to ask complex questions across multiple indicators and domains. 

Track and the NCS: Better Together  

Track works without an NCS — GPAL provides objective indicator data regardless of whether your organization has run a benchmark survey. But the NCS significantly improves what Track can show.

Without an NCS, resident sentiment indicators across all domains show as "Data Unavailable." With an NCS, those sections fill in with your community's own resident perceptions, layering subjective community voice on top of GPAL's objective metrics. The CLS also becomes more precise: instead of using national NCS averages for importance ratings, it uses your own residents' ratings.

The combination of GPAL data and NCS resident sentiment gives you both the hard numbers and the community story behind them.

Related Articles

• Community Livability Snapshot
• Overview dashboards
• Domain dashboards guide
• Comparison groups and peer benchmarking
• Filtering data in Track
• Saved data points
• Data sources and update frequency
• Introduction to Polly AI