How to Use the AED Lessons Learnt Dashboard

This guide covers accessing the dashboard, reading and filtering lesson cards, and the project workbook process used to update the Cloudflare deployment.

1. Getting access

The dashboard is password-protected. On your first visit you will see an unlock screen. Enter the access password provided by your manager or the dashboard administrator.

2. Reading the dashboard

Lesson cards

Each lesson is shown as a card. The card contains:

• Title — brief summary of the lesson event
• Chips — Year, State, Category, Subcategory, Discipline, Type of Lesson
• What happened — factual description of the situation
• Lesson (highlighted in red) — the key takeaway
• Recommendation — suggested action for future projects
• Details (expandable) — Lifecycle, Design Stage, Origin, Impact, Stakeholders, Affected Documents
• Footer — Project name, Logged by, Date logged

3. Filtering and searching

Sidebar filters

The left sidebar contains dropdown filters for each taxonomy field (Year, State, Category, Subcategory, Discipline, etc.). Selecting a value narrows the results to lessons matching that value. Multiple filters combine — selecting both "VIC" for State and "Energy" for Category shows only Victorian energy lessons.

Year range

The Year filter uses two dropdowns (From and To) so you can select a range. By default the range covers all available years. Adjust either end to narrow by time period.

Category and Subcategory

When you select a Category, the Subcategory dropdown automatically narrows to show only the subcategories belonging to that category. Clearing the Category resets the Subcategory to show all options.

Free-text search

The Search box at the top of the sidebar matches free text across all fields simultaneously — title, description, lesson, recommendation, project name, and every other field. Results update as you type.

Clearing filters

Click the Clear button next to the "Filters" heading to reset all dropdowns, the search box, and the year range back to their defaults.

4. Exporting data

Template (current compiled workbook)

Click Template in the toolbar. This downloads a dated .xlsx file containing all lessons currently in the dashboard, plus the full taxonomy (Lookups sheet). Use this as the current offline workbook for review or further compilation.

Example project template

For a new project, use the exemplified workbook supplied with the project files: AED_Lessons_Learnt_PROJECT-EXAMPLE.xlsx. Replace PROJECT-EXAMPLE with the real Project ID in the filename, replace or delete the clearly marked example row, and save the workbook with the same naming pattern.

Provide images in a separate images folder and add one row per image on the workbook's Images sheet. Do not embed images in Excel.

5. Field reference

The dashboard uses the WRL project workbook fields below. The compiler requires Title, Description, Lesson, Project Category and Type of Lesson. Project ID and Lesson ID identify each record. Multiple images are entered on the separate Images sheet.

Field	Required	Input type	Notes
Project ID	Required	ID	Stable project identifier, for example PROJECT-001
Lesson ID	Required	ID	Unique within the project, for example L-0001
Title	Required	Free text	One-line summary of the lesson event
Project Name		Free text	The project where the lesson occurred
Year		Dropdown	Year the lesson occurred
State		Dropdown	Australian state/territory
Project Lifecycle Type		Dropdown	Origination / Tender / Delivery / CPS / As Builts
Design Stage		Dropdown	N/A valid — select N/A if no design stage applies
Project Category		Dropdown	Energy / Water / Transport / Urban & Social
Project Subcategory		Dropdown	Specific infrastructure type within the category
Design Discipline		Dropdown	Primary discipline affected
Main Origin		Dropdown	Root cause category (e.g. Scope changes, Coordination issues)
Main Impact		Dropdown	Primary consequence (e.g. Rework required, Safety impact)
Type of Lesson		Dropdown	e.g. Technical issue, Process improvement, Best practice
Stakeholders Involved		Dropdown	N/A valid — use N/A if no external stakeholders were involved
Affected Documents		Dropdown	Document types affected (Reports, Drawings, Models, etc.)
Description	Required	Free text	Factual account of what happened. Be specific — include numbers, timelines, systems, and parties involved where relevant.
Lesson	Required	Free text	The single key takeaway. What should not be repeated, or what should always be done?
Recommendation		Free text	Actionable suggestion for future projects. Focus on what to do differently, not just what happened.
Logged By		Free text	Your name or initials — helps with follow-up questions
Date Logged		Date	Format: YYYY-MM-DD
Images sheet		Filename	Optional. Add one row per image with Project ID, Lesson ID, Image Filename, Caption and Sort Order. Place matching files in the project package's images folder.
Approver 1 / Approver 2		Free text	WRL workflow metadata retained in the compiled dataset.

6. How lessons and images are updated

The lessons displayed on the dashboard are loaded from a data file that is deployed with the site. This means the dashboard is a read-only view of the register — you cannot add or edit lessons directly on the site.

To submit new lessons or images, prepare a project package and send it to the dashboard administrator. The dashboard is updated by compiling the packages locally and re-uploading the contents of the site folder to Cloudflare Pages.

1. Prepare one WRL workbook for the project using the approved headers and taxonomy.
2. Give every lesson a unique Project ID and Lesson ID.
3. Put supporting image files in the package's images folder and add one row per image to the workbook's Images sheet.
4. Place the project package under _Import/incoming/<Project ID>/.
5. Double-click _Import/Run_Compiler.bat and correct all issues shown in _Import/compile_report.csv.
6. Upload the contents of site/ to Cloudflare Pages.