Council decision diagnostics
Evidence for public decisions worth getting right.
Signify helps councils examine the decisions that matter most, one at a time, using population evidence, public data, institutional context and a bounded council dataset.
In four focused analytical days we identify who is affected, where the pressure falls, what the evidence supports and what remains uncertain. Council retains responsibility for policy and action.
Fixed-price engagements, delivered within two weeks once agreed data are received.
Diagnostics
Six decisions we help examine
Each is a standalone engagement. One decision, one bounded question, one evidence brief.
Recommended starting point
Infrastructure Funding Case Diagnostic
Decision
What is the strongest evidence-based rationale for funding this project?
What council receives
An executive funding rationale and evidence pack covering beneficiaries, current and future need, accessibility, expected outcomes, strategic alignment and the consequences of the status quo.
Service Reach, Equity and Spend Diagnostic
Decision
Is one service or asset portfolio reaching residents equitably and effectively?
What council receives
A neighbourhood need-and-access analysis, peer comparison, mismatch diagnosis and executive decision brief.
Community Transition Evidence Brief
Decision
How will one defined demographic, economic, policy or development change affect the LGA?
What council receives
A local exposure model, affected-population analysis, implications across council, uncertainties and the questions that require judgement.
Community Condition Impact Diagnostic and Workshop
Decision
What does one health, social or demographic condition mean across the whole of council?
What council receives
A local condition atlas, affected-population profile, service and responsibility map, half-day interpretation workshop and strategic-considerations record.
Population Change and Housing Reality Diagnostic
Decision
Which life stages does the LGA support, and does its housing system match its changing population?
What council receives
A life-stage support profile, population-flow analysis, housing-fit matrix and planning evidence brief.
AI and Local Workforce Exposure Diagnostic
Decision
Which workers, occupations and neighbourhoods are most exposed to AI-driven change?
What council receives
Detailed occupation analysis, neighbourhood exposure profile, adaptive-capacity context and peer comparison. Exposure is not presented as predicted job loss.
The first conversation
We begin with one local fact
Before the first meeting we can generate a concise local evidence card using public and Signify data, without requiring council data. It contains one material local finding, one visual, one benchmark, a transparent method label and no policy recommendation.
The purpose is not to preview a predetermined conclusion. It is to show the analytical machinery that the full diagnostic brings to a live council decision.
Evidence card structure
One local fact, stated plainly
Benchmark
Compared with a small group of structurally similar places
Why it matters
One sentence on the decision the finding bears on
Method label
Observed, modelled, inferred or uncertain, with a short note on how the figure was produced
Illustration of the card structure only. Figures are produced for the council's own LGA and are never published as generic examples.
What every diagnostic includes
- One bounded council decision or question
- Four focused analytical days
- Delivery within two weeks after data receipt
- Existing Signify data, public evidence and one agreed council dataset
- Maps, charts and a concise executive brief
- Observed, modelled, inferred and uncertain findings kept clearly separate
- A transparent method note and stated evidence limitations
- Council ownership of policy and action
Scope and pricing
Fixed pricing assumes the council dataset is supplied in the agreed form. Material data remediation, additional analysis or additional workshops are separately scoped and quoted.
Council data remains the council's. We work within agreed confidentiality and do not publish council-specific findings without written agreement.
Working alongside your existing evidence
Designed to sit alongside, not replace
.id gives councils trusted profiles and forecasts from aggregate evidence. Signify models the people, households and institutions beneath those aggregates, so councils can test how a specific decision is likely to play out, and why.
We can use council's existing .id outputs as evidence inputs where appropriate. The purpose is not to replace a community profile. It is to examine a bounded decision that requires evidence to be joined, interpreted and tested.
A diagnostic is likely to be useful when the decision requires
- Joining council operational outcomes to external evidence
- Constructing an explicit counterfactual
- Modelling household or population composition under scenarios
- Mapping actors, mandates and institutional dependencies
- Reconciling contradictory evidence
- Recording competing hypotheses and uncertainty
- Analysing cumulative effects across projects or systems
The machinery
Three engines, one decision
FirstLight
People-and-place intelligence that shows who is here, how communities differ, and where demand, risk or opportunity is likely to emerge.
V'ger
Landscape intelligence that maps the institutions, policies, documents, partners, competitors and pathways surrounding a decision.
Iris
Structured strategic reasoning that helps turn evidence into choices, cases, briefs, narratives and action.
Separate engagement
Accepting a funded program or asset?
Funding a project and carrying its long-run obligation are different questions. Our Program Burden Stress Test examines realistic uptake, operating costs, indexation, asset liabilities and risk allocation before council accepts or renegotiates an externally funded mandate.
Discuss a cost-shifting obligationNext step
What decision is live?
Tell us the project, service, transition or population question council needs to resolve, the date that matters and the evidence that is still missing. We will tell you whether one of the diagnostics fits, and say so plainly if it does not.
Initial conversation: 30 minutes. No council data required.