The National Lottery Heritage Fund wanted to improve public access to funding data through an open data viewer. A programme of internal stakeholder research, usability testing and accessibility review ensured that the tool was useful, usable and accessible.
- Who: The National Lottery Heritage Fund, a UK public body distributing National Lottery funding to heritage projects.
- What: A multi-method research programme assessing a Power BI open data viewer prototype.
- How: Internal stakeholder interviews, external target user research sessions (policymakers, researchers and sector professionals) and an accessibility review.
- Result: Clear, strategic recommendations to improve usability, accessibility and positioning of the tool, supporting more intuitive data exploration, reduced complexity and greater confidence in the viewer as a public-facing resource.
The challenge
Heritage Fund distributes funding to support heritage projects across the UK, generating a substantial volume of publicly available grant data. While this data is already published, it is primarily accessible through large, complex spreadsheets that are difficult for external audiences to navigate and interpret.
To improve transparency and enable more effective self-service, Heritage Fund developed a prototype open data viewer using Power BI. The ambition was to provide a more intuitive, visual way for a range of audiences including political stakeholders, sector organisations, researchers and the general public to explore funding data by geography, theme and grant characteristics.
Web Usability was commissioned to evaluate how effectively the prototype met user needs and organisational goals, and to identify opportunities to strengthen the experience prior to wider release.
Outcomes and impact
The research provided Heritage Fund with a clear, evidence-based foundation for evolving the open data viewer into a more effective and inclusive digital product.
The work highlighted the importance of clear context, guidance and positioning, helping ensure that users can quickly understand the purpose of the tool and how it complements existing services. This informed a more intuitive experience that reduces cognitive load and supports more efficient task completion for a wide range of users.
The accessibility review provided a practical framework for addressing both technical compliance and broader usability barriers, enabling Heritage Fund to take a more inclusive approach while managing platform constraints.
Overall, the project has helped Heritage Fund move towards a more user-centred, transparent and strategically aligned approach to publishing grant data, increasing confidence in the tool as a credible resource for both external stakeholders and internal teams.
“Web Usability were a pleasure to work with. The outputs we received, and they work they did were both incredibly thorough and covered exactly what we were hoping to get out of the project” – David Carr, Data and Analytics Lead, The National Lottery Heritage Fund
How we did it
Web Usability undertook a multi-method research programme to assess both the usability and strategic fit of the open data viewer.
This included:
- Stakeholder interviews to understand internal objectives, priority user groups and functional requirements, as well as perceived risks and constraints
- Moderated usability testing with a representative sample of external users, exploring how effectively the prototype supported real-world information needs
- An accessibility review assessing both technical compliance and the practical usability of the tool for users with access needs
Findings from these activities were synthesised into a set of strategic recommendations, focusing on improving clarity, usability, accessibility and the overall positioning of the tool within the Heritage Fund digital estate.
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