The REMPLAN online economic profiles have been our first foray into public access products. As a company of economists, demographers and software developers this raised some new challenges for us.

With REMPLAN Economy software our aim has been to deliver detailed data, flexibility in terms to being able to drill into topics of specific interest, as well as value-added resources such as economic impact modelling.  This level of detail and flexibility has however come with the need to provide on-site training, detailed help files and phone and email support. 

The issue we faced was that people using the economic profiles would not have the benefit of a training session, and we also believed that help files would be too cumbersome for a public access product.  Therefore, our challenge was to develop a product that was simple to use (as our view was that simplicity would equate to greater utility for the greatest number of people), satisfying in that data of interest was quickly accessible, and dynamic and fun to use. 

The primary goal was to develop an economic profile that would engage a variety of audiences and promote the local economy to investors, government agencies and potential new residents.  The degree to which we have succeeded in this is ultimately for others to decide. We would welcome any suggestions or feedback you may have. 

Click the image below to explore economic profiles for regions across Australia:

To date the feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive and this has caused us to reflect on the REMPLAN software interface. While the need for detail, flexibility and value-added analytical resources in REMPLAN software will remain, we nonetheless believe that many of the lessons we have learnt in developing the public access economic profiles can be applied to further improve the interface of the staff access REMPLAN software. 

Here are a couple of sneak previews:

The new interface design will be applied to REMPLAN Economy and REMPLAN Community software and will incorporate design and functional elements that are consistent with the public access economic and community profiles.

Should you have any questions regarding these developments please don’t hesitate to contact the REMPLAN team:   1300 737 443;   info@remplan.com.au