Strategic Dashboard

The Strategic Dashboard is a tool for BMABA member instructors that helps you build a detailed picture of the martial arts clubs operating in your local area. Rather than relying on guesswork or occasional word of mouth, it gives you a structured way to record, organise, and compare information about your own club and the clubs around you.

You can create profiles for your own club and for any other martial arts clubs in your area, tracking everything from the styles they teach and the age groups they cater for, through to their social media presence, estimated membership size, pricing, and governing body affiliations. You can also record your own private observations, run side-by-side comparisons, and see all your mapped clubs on an interactive map.

The idea is simple: the more you understand about what is happening around you, the better positioned you are to make smart decisions about your own club. Whether you are thinking about launching a new class, adjusting your pricing, strengthening your online presence, or just understanding who else is operating nearby, the Strategic Dashboard gives you a single place to pull that information together.

All data you enter is completely private to you. No other BMABA member can see your profiles, notes, or comparisons.

The Strategic Dashboard is available to all Bronze, Silver, and Gold instructor members. It is not available to Management Accounts, Volunteers, Assistant Instructors, or Affiliate members.

If you try to access the tool and see an "Access Not Included" message, it means your current membership tier does not include this feature. If you believe this is an error, please contact the team.

When you first open the Strategic Dashboard, you will see an empty state prompting you to add your first club profile. The best place to start is by creating a profile for your own club.

Click Add Club Profile and fill in what you can. You do not need to complete every field straight away. The form is divided into clear sections, and you can come back and edit your profile at any time. Tick the "This is my own club" checkbox so the system knows which profile is yours. This is used as the benchmark when running comparisons.

Once your own club profile is saved, start adding profiles for other clubs in your area. These might be clubs you already know about, or clubs you discover through Google, social media, or local directories. Again, fill in as much or as little as you have to hand. You can always update profiles later as you gather more information.

The Strategic Dashboard is organised into five tabs across the top of the page. Here is what each one does:

Overview shows all your club profiles as visual cards in a grid. Each card displays the club name, location, martial arts styles, a profile completeness bar, and quick-action buttons to view, edit, or delete the profile. Your own club is highlighted with a badge. This is your main landing view and gives you a snapshot of everything you have mapped so far.

Your Club shows the full detail view for the club you have marked as your own. This includes all the information you have entered, a SWOT analysis panel, your confidential notes, and your scrapbook items. If you have not yet created a profile for your own club, this tab will prompt you to do so.

Local Clubs shows all the other clubs you have profiled (everything that is not marked as your own). These are displayed as cards in the same format as the Overview tab.

Compare lets you select two or more clubs and view them side by side. Tick the clubs you want to compare, click Compare Selected, and the system generates a comparison table covering styles, class types, age groups, pricing, online presence, and more.

Map View plots all your profiled clubs on an interactive map using OpenStreetMap. Your own club appears as a purple marker with a star; other clubs appear as blue markers. You can click any marker to see a summary popup, and click through to view the full profile. If a club does not appear on the map, it means the location has not been geocoded yet. You can fix this by editing the profile and clicking "Verify Location".

At the top of the dashboard, four summary cards give you a quick overview: the total number of club profiles you have created, how many of those profiles are at least 80% complete, the average completeness across all your profiles, and whether you have set up your own club profile.

Profile completeness is calculated automatically based on how many fields you have filled in. It is weighted, so more important fields like club name, website, martial arts styles, and unique selling points contribute more to the score than optional fields like county or insurance provider.

When you click Add Club Profile (or Edit on an existing profile), a form opens with the following sections:

Basic Information covers the club name (required), head instructor, whether this is your own club, estimated membership size (from 1-25 up to 500+), and year established.

Location covers the full address and postcode. After entering a postcode, click Verify Location to geocode the address. This uses OpenStreetMap to look up the coordinates, which enables the club to appear on the Map View tab. Without verified coordinates, the club will not appear on the map.

Contact and Online Presence covers the phone number, email, website, and social media URLs for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Martial Arts Styles lets you select from BMABA's approved disciplines list. This is a checkbox selection, so you can pick as many as apply.

Class Types covers the kinds of sessions the club offers: regular classes, beginners only, competition training, private lessons, corporate sessions, school programmes, after-school clubs, holiday camps, fitness/cardio, self-defence workshops, seminars, online classes, outdoor training, and sparring sessions.

Age Groups lets you record which age brackets the club caters for, from Tiny Tigers (3-5) through to Seniors (55+), plus family classes and all-ages sessions.

Governing Bodies is a comprehensive list of UK and international martial arts governing bodies and federations. Select all that apply to the club.

Business Details covers membership pricing (free text, so you can note whatever you know), insurance provider, and unique selling points.

SWOT Analysis has four free-text fields for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is where you record your own strategic observations about the club. For your own club, this is a useful self-assessment exercise. For competitor clubs, it helps you think critically about where they are strong, where they are vulnerable, and where opportunities might exist for you.

Branding lets you add a logo URL and cover image URL for the club, which are displayed on the profile card and detail view.

Every club profile has a Confidential Notes section. This is your private notebook for recording observations, insights, and anything else you want to remember about a club. Notes are only visible to you.

Each note can have a title, content, a type (general, observation, pricing, marketing, or other), and a colour for visual organisation. You can also pin important notes so they always appear at the top.

Use notes for things like: what you noticed when you visited a competitor's class, changes they have made to their timetable, pricing information you picked up from their social media, or ideas for how you could differentiate your own offering.

The Scrapbook is a place to collect and organise reference material related to a club. You can save links (with a URL and description), upload files (images, PDFs, documents), or add items with tags for easy categorisation.

This is useful for saving things like screenshots of a competitor's website or social media posts, copies of their timetable or pricing page, flyers or promotional material, or links to reviews and articles. Everything is stored against the relevant club profile, so it is easy to find later.

The Compare tab lets you run side-by-side comparisons. Select two or more clubs using the checkboxes (your own club is pre-selected by default), then click Compare Selected.

The comparison view shows all selected clubs in a table format, making it easy to spot differences in the styles they offer, the age groups they serve, their online presence, pricing, and other factors. You can save comparisons with a name and notes for future reference.

This is particularly useful when you want to understand how your offering stacks up against specific local competitors, or when you are considering launching a new class and want to check whether anyone nearby already covers that niche.

The Map View tab displays all your profiled clubs on an interactive OpenStreetMap. Your own club is shown with a distinctive purple star marker, while other clubs appear as blue markers.

Click any marker to see a summary popup with the club name, location, martial arts styles, and a button to view the full profile. Below the map, all clubs are listed as clickable cards. Clicking a card pans the map to that club's location.

For clubs to appear on the map, they need to have verified coordinates. When adding or editing a profile, enter the postcode and click "Verify Location" to geocode the address automatically. If a club shows "Needs location" beneath its name, it has not yet been geocoded.

Start with your own club. Fill in your own profile as completely as you can. This becomes the baseline against which everything else is measured. Be honest in your SWOT analysis. The only person who sees it is you.

Build profiles gradually. You do not need to know everything about a competitor to create a useful profile. Start with the basics (name, location, styles) and fill in more detail over time as you come across information.

Use the scrapbook and notes actively. Whenever you spot something interesting about a local club, whether it is a social media post, a change to their timetable, or a new class they have launched, add it to their scrapbook or notes while it is fresh. These small observations build into a valuable picture over time.

Run comparisons regularly. Your local landscape changes. New clubs open, existing clubs adjust their offering. Running periodic comparisons helps you stay aware of shifts and spot opportunities early.

Geocode your clubs. The map view is one of the most powerful features, but it only works if your clubs have verified locations. Make a habit of clicking "Verify Location" whenever you add or edit a profile.

Think strategically, not competitively. The dashboard is called "Strategic" for a reason. The goal is not to obsess over what competitors are doing, but to use good information to make better decisions about your own club. If you can see that nobody in your area offers adult beginners classes on a Saturday morning, that is an opportunity. If three clubs nearby all teach the same style, you might want to emphasise what makes yours different.

Can other BMABA members see the profiles I create?
No. Everything in the Strategic Dashboard is completely private to your account. Your club profiles, notes, scrapbook items, and comparisons are only visible to you.

Can I create a profile for a club that is not on Google Maps?
Yes. You can create a profile for any club, whether or not they have an online presence. Simply add whatever information you have and leave the rest blank. The geocoding relies on a valid UK postcode, not a Google listing.

I have marked the wrong club as "my own club". How do I fix this?
Edit the club profile and untick the "This is my own club" checkbox. Then edit the correct club and tick the checkbox on that profile instead.

What happens if I delete a club profile?
Deleting a club profile archives it rather than permanently removing it. The club will no longer appear in your dashboard, comparisons, or map view.

The map is not showing my clubs.
Clubs only appear on the map if they have geocoded coordinates. Edit the club profile, make sure a postcode is entered, and click the "Verify Location" button. If the postcode is valid, coordinates will be saved and the club will appear on the map.

How many club profiles can I create?
There is no set limit. You can create as many profiles as you need to map your local area.

Is the Strategic Dashboard available on mobile?
Yes. The dashboard is fully responsive and works on phones and tablets, though the experience is best on a larger screen where you can take full advantage of the comparison and map views.

I am a Bronze member. Do I get the same features as Gold members?
Yes. All Bronze, Silver, and Gold instructor members have full access to every feature in the Strategic Dashboard. There are no tier-locked features within the tool itself.