This mission maps the public and private stakeholders involved in lifelong guidance and orientation (OTLAV) in Brussels—covering guidance, reorientation, training, and socio-professional integration—by identifying their roles, target groups, funding, and modes of intervention. Its centerpiece is a visual, practical exploration tool that consolidates these actors into an easy-to-browse format with concise summary sheets and direct links to each website, making it simple to see who does what and find the right service.

The challenge

The assignment was to deliver an end-to-end map of OTLAV actors. First, consolidate data by scraping inventories from the specified websites. Next, present the information in accessible, device-friendly visuals with filters (theme, target group, intervention, territory) and concise actor sheets summarizing services, audiences, and links; the explorer should refresh automatically from the master dataset. Finally, provide simple, no-login update forms with structured fields, guidance text, and basic validation that feed the database.

Approach & results

The project began with web scraping of the specified inventories and public pages to assemble a unified list of OTLAV actors. Data from disparate sources was reconciled by normalizing names, interventions, target audiences, and territories, resolving duplicates, and retaining source provenance. Stable IDs and standardized website/contact fields were added, and bilingual (FR/NL) labels were introduced so attributes could be filtered consistently and displayed in both languages.

An Airtable database was then created to host the curated dataset. Its schema grouped core attributes with controlled vocabularies for themes, interventions, and audiences. To enable lightweight maintenance without logins, each actor received a unique, prefilled form URL mapped to its record. When an organisation submitted updates, the corresponding row was amended automatically. Guidance text, required fields, and basic validation reduced errors, while review flags and timestamps supported quick quality checks and a transparent change history—keeping administrative effort low.

The database fed a bilingual online dashboard designed for clarity and exploration. Three complementary views supported different user needs: a hierarchical “tree” navigator to select parameters (theme, target group, intervention, territory) and immediately list matching actors; a comparison view to place two actors side by side, aligning services, audiences, and key links for referrals and decision-making; and a flexible filter dashboard for stacking multiple criteria and drilling down to concise actor sheets. All visuals were responsive, keyboard-accessible, and refreshed automatically from the master dataset, ensuring that updates submitted via forms appeared in the explorer without manual intervention.

Results include an end-to-end pipeline: automated collection, coherent cleaning, a no-login update path for organisations, and a living, bilingual exploration tool for stakeholders. Partners can maintain their profiles through simple forms; administrators concentrate on light review rather than manual data entry; and users gain a practical, readable interface to discover who does what, compare options, and click through to websites. Deliverables comprised the cleaned dataset, the structured Airtable with per-actor forms, the bilingual exploration dashboard, and concise documentation describing update procedures and data definitions—positioning the system to remain accurate and useful over time with minimal overhead.