What a CCD report contains. Sample data / illustrative composite / VIS framework v1.0

The composite is a weighted average of seven category scores, multiplied by the U coefficient at the end. In plain text:

composite = U × ( w_W·W + w_S·S + w_M·M + w_E·E + w_A·A + w_V·V + w_C·C + w_F·F )

Where each w_n is a fixed category weight that sums to one across the seven weighted categories, and U is the Unique Hook multiplier. Inside each category, the sub-criteria are averaged on a 0 to 100 scale; sub-criteria can carry per-criterion weights when the field sheet calls for it. Sub-criteria fields can be Online (auto-pulled), Synced (pulled once a town connects GA4 / GSC / Google Business), or Audited (filled during a field visit); missing fields are scored as null and excluded from the average, with the tier badge on the report marking what is still pending.

The U coefficient is not a score; it is a multiplier between 0.8 and 1.2 applied to the weighted seven-category sum. A town with a strong anchor and a recognisable landmark can move the composite up to twenty percent above its category-only base. A town with no distinguishing hook is penalised the same amount on the downside. This is the part of the framework that lets a small population town with a single iconic asset outscore a larger town with no through-line.

Online tier (free, automated). Every town in the corpus has an Online-tier score generated from public sources. PageSpeed Insights feeds w_speed. OpenStreetMap / Overpass feeds downtown density variables (d_density, d_ambience, d_after6) and lodging availability (s_lodging_avail). Google search results feed image relevance (w_images) and SEO rank (w_seo). About six to eight fields fill automatically per town; the rest of the Online tier is filled by a CCD researcher using Google Business, the town tourism site, and TripAdvisor.

Synced tier (the town connects their data). Once a town authorises a read-only OAuth connection to their Google Analytics, Search Console, and Google Business Profile, the report unlocks per-source visitor counts, referral mix, review velocity, recent review sentiment, and 90-day photo upload volume. Variables added at this tier: r_emotion, r_followup, a_photo, s_packages, and the digital portion of b_visual.

Audited tier (we visit the town). A field analyst spends one to three days on the ground, scoring the audited-only fields: ambience and downtown vitality (d_*, v_*), anchor signature and identity (a_signature, a_unique, a_identity, a_culture), curb appeal, signage, recurring event quality, and merchandise tie-in (r_merch). Photographs, GPS-tagged notes, and a written narrative are appended to the report.

Refresh cadence. Online-tier fields refresh every Friday at 03:00 CT. Synced-tier fields refresh on the same cycle when the OAuth token is live. Audited-tier fields refresh on field visit, and again on any rescore review (typically annual). Every score on the page carries a small timestamp showing when it was last refreshed.

A CCD report is built to be read in two passes. The first pass is the composite plate, the eight-category bar chart, and the trend line. That is the version a mayor or a chamber director can read on the way to a budget meeting and walk in with a defensible opinion. It takes about ninety seconds.

The second pass is the sub-criteria. Click any bar in the chart above and the panel underneath opens with the four or five variables behind it, each with its current value, its data source, and the rule used to score it. The variables that read as null in the sub-criteria panel are the most informative part of a report: a null on an Audited-tier field tells you the town has not yet been visited and the composite is provisional. A null on a Synced-tier field tells you the town has not connected their Google data, and a meaningful portion of their digital story is being inferred rather than measured.

The categories are not independent. Brand and Community (C) does the load-bearing work because every other category flows through whether the story holds. Marketing and Web (M) is the easiest to move quickly with a clean site rebuild and a tighter SEO posture. Anchor and Experience (E) is the slowest to move, because it depends on an audited inventory and on whether a single asset can do the work of distinguishing the town from its neighbors. The Unique Hook multiplier (U) sits over the top and can move the composite by twenty percent in either direction.

The forecast paragraph that closes a real report is the only narrative we put a date on. It names the next rescore, the specific sub-criteria that are expected to move, and the field visit window if one is scheduled. Everything else on the page is a measurement.

A condensed key to the variables you saw in the bar chart. Codes are stable across rescore cycles. Every score on a real report is a pointer to one of these rows.