The short answer: a Saudi government KPI dashboard works when it mirrors how performance is actually governed. Vision 2030 tracks progress through indicators at three levels, from strategic objectives down to the initiatives of the Vision Realization Programs, and the National Center for Performance Measurement (Adaa) measures public entities' performance against targets and benchmarks. Build on a governed data warehouse with one agreed definition per KPI, classify data under the National Data Management Office's policy before it reaches a dashboard, restrict rows by department and role, and choose between Power BI and a custom Arabic-first front end on the basis of right-to-left support, hosting and embedding needs.
How Vision 2030 performance is measured
According to the Vision 2030 Annual Report 2025, performance indicators are defined across three levels: the first two measure progress toward strategic objectives, and the third tracks the implementation of initiatives under the Vision Realization Programs and national strategies. The report counts 390 indicators with activated and measured readings in 2025, of which 93% achieved or came near their annual target — 309 met or exceeded interim targets and 52 were near target (85-99%). With Vision 2030 entering its third phase in 2026, the report says measurement approaches will continue to be refined.
Two national bodies shape what an entity's dashboard must answer:
- Adaa. The National Center for Performance Measurement was established by a Council of Ministers resolution in 2016 and is organisationally linked to the Prime Minister. It measures public entities' performance against local and international benchmarks, issues performance reports, and measures beneficiary satisfaction through mystery shoppers, surveys, focus groups and the Watani app.
- The Digital Government Authority. DGA's Digital Transformation Measurement (Qiyas), the successor to ten editions of Yesser's measurement, assesses how far government entities comply with DGA's digital transformation standards.
The practical consequence: an entity's internal dashboard should use the same KPI definitions, baselines and targets as the figures it reports upward, so leadership never sees one number internally and another in an official report.
The dashboard challenge
Government data lives in silos: HR systems, financial systems, service delivery platforms, citizen feedback channels and project management tools. Building a unified dashboard means extracting data from these sources, normalising it into a consistent format, and presenting it in a way that supports decisions rather than just displaying numbers.
Data architecture
The recommended approach is a data warehouse with ETL pipelines that extract data from source systems on a schedule, in three layers: a staging layer for raw ingestion, a transformation layer for cleaning and normalisation, and a presentation layer optimised for dashboard queries. Three additions matter in government work:
- A KPI dictionary. For every indicator: definition, formula, owner, source system, refresh frequency, baseline and target.
- Period snapshots. Freeze each reporting period so a reported figure can always be reproduced later.
- Both calendars. Support Hijri and Gregorian dates in filters and period definitions.
Data governance and security
- Classify before you publish. The National Data Management Office, part of SDAIA, has issued a Data Classification Policy with four levels — Top Secret, Secret, Restricted and Public — and its policies apply to all government entities and all forms of data. Tag each dataset with its level in the warehouse and let that tag decide who can see it and where it can be hosted.
- Minimise personal data. The Personal Data Protection Law came into force on 14 September 2023, and its one-year transition period ended on 14 September 2024, with SDAIA as regulator. Leadership dashboards rarely need named individuals; aggregate wherever possible.
- Restrict rows, and know the limits. Power BI's row-level security filters data by role, but it only applies to users with Viewer permissions; workspace Admins, Members and Contributors see everything. Keep department users as Viewers.
Power BI for government: strengths and limits
Power BI is a common choice for government dashboards: it integrates with the Microsoft tools many entities already run, supports row-level security, and can be hosted on-premises through Power BI Report Server, an on-premises report server licensed through SQL Server core licences or Fabric F64-and-above reserved capacity.
Arabic support needs care. Microsoft's language documentation confirms that the Power BI service interface is available in Arabic, but Power BI Desktop does not support right-to-left languages, and the layout of visuals inside reports does not change for a right-to-left language. Arabic dashboards therefore have to be designed right-to-left deliberately — navigation, visual order, axis direction and text alignment — rather than translated at the end.
Custom dashboards
For requirements beyond Power BI — native right-to-left layouts, dashboards embedded in a public portal, real-time operational monitoring, or a mobile experience for leadership — a custom front end built with React and D3.js or Recharts, fed by the same warehouse, gives full control. If the dashboard sits inside a citizen-facing service, it inherits the portal's requirements; see our guide to digital government portals.
| Criterion | Power BI | Custom (React with D3.js or Recharts) |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic right-to-left | Manual layout design; Desktop authoring has no right-to-left support | Native, built in from the first screen |
| Hosting | Power BI service or on-premises Report Server | Wherever you deploy it |
| Time to first dashboard | Fast for analysts | Slower; needs developers |
| Embedding in portals | Possible, with licensing and identity setup | Straightforward |
| Ongoing cost | Licences | Development and maintenance |
Implementation roadmap
- 1.Inventory the KPIs leadership and oversight bodies actually use, and write the KPI dictionary.
- 2.Map each KPI to its source systems and define data-quality rules.
- 3.Classify the data and design access: classification levels, roles and row-level security.
- 4.Build the warehouse layers with automated, monitored refreshes.
- 5.Prototype with leadership in Arabic first, then add English.
- 6.Operate it: named data owners, change control for KPI definitions, and audit logs.
Common pitfalls
- Vanity metrics that no oversight body or strategy document asks for.
- Manual Excel uploads as a permanent data source.
- Numbers that do not reconcile with officially reported figures.
- Assuming row-level security protects everyone, while editors inherit full access through workspace roles.
- English-first design translated into Arabic at the end.
How Mantiqi can help
Mantiqi builds KPI dashboards and the data platforms beneath them: warehouse design, Power BI development and custom Arabic-first visualisation. Our Power BI work includes a critical path report with an embedded Power Apps canvas app for a UK manufacturer. Explore our data analytics, digital transformation and web development services and our government industry page, then contact us to discuss your dashboard requirements.