IBC student team redesigns Cannabis DEI dashboard, unlocking deeper insights

Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) has partnered with Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) to better integrate and visualize a trove of new data about Illinois’ burgeoning cannabis industry.

Gies Associate Professor of Accountancy Justin Leiby is overseeing the project, working with IBC students to redesign a dashboard to make it easier to analyze complex information related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and social justice regulatory policies.

“These students were given a unique opportunity to innovate for societal impact,” said Leiby (left). “There are very few public-facing DEI dashboards and even fewer efforts to benchmark DEI performance in any industry beyond demographic breakdowns.”

“This project is a fantastic example of how students gain experience using real-world data to create transparency and deliver value to stakeholders across the industry,” said Jacob Kinsey, director of IBC at the University of Illinois.

Leiby began working with the State of Illinois in 2021 to gather and analyze cannabis industry data. In Fall 2023 he asked IBC to assemble a student team to help him develop a framework for extracting insights from the data. This spring, five students from Gies, three students from The Grainger College of Engineering, and two students from the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and School of Information Sciences joined the project to build upon the initial work.

Tiffany Lac, a junior studying finance at Gies Business, was drawn to the project’s potential for lasting impact.

“I was excited to build on the work of previous students and create a legacy that future ones can contribute to,” said Lac, who also found it appealing to apply what she had learned about the Tableau platform in BADM 210: Business Analytics I to a real-world problem that could benefit her community. "What made this IBC project special was that many members had no prior experience with Tableau or data visualization. Over 12 weeks, everyone embraced this learning opportunity and developed transferable skills, which speaks volumes about the impact IBC projects have on the student experience.”

For Andrew Fu, a junior in finance, this project offered a unique perspective on the policy side of business.

“I was excited to work on a project that has a higher purpose, focusing on policies and DEI,” said Fu, who is currently interning at a company in China this summer. “What surprised me the most was how quickly the Illinois cannabis market has grown to become a major source of tax revenue. The fact that it’s become a source of public funding makes it even more important. The redistribution of income and capital gains is a key element of the income side of DEI.”

Lac said she and her team developed a deeper understanding of stakeholder needs and how to integrate them into a single dashboard. Through their feedback, they identified features that would facilitate clear data storytelling and visualizations that would support informed decision-making.

The team also examined user-friendly dashboards from other states. Their goal was to create a tool that would be easily understood, even for those unfamiliar with the underlying data sets.

The project was not without its challenges. The team found some elements were difficult to simplify because of missing data and integration hurdles. Ultimately, they collaborated with stakeholders to prioritize essential features and those that could be added in the future. Features on the current dashboard include toggling and filtering functionalities, allowing users to access various data insights quickly, even those with no prior exposure.

“The students built a data platform that we can parse in different ways,” said Reggie Gaudino, Director of DPI’s Cannabis Research Institute. “I haven’t seen any other state that is delving this deeply into the data to make the social impact of the cannabis industry so easily accessible.”

“Having experience simplifying complex data into a digestible format made me comfortable learning a new program, Microsoft’s Power BI, during my internship,” said Lac, who is working as a finance intern at AbbVie this summer. “The project instilled in me the importance of filtering capabilities and eliminating distracting elements within a visualization.”

Fu added that he appreciates the transferability of the skills he’s learning to different careers. He hopes to one day work in banking, corporate finance, or for a private equity firm.

“This project has taught me valuable soft skills like team management and daily operations, which will benefit me whatever path my career takes."