Understanding Topics and Topic Management

At a Glance

The Topics page is your central hub for discovering and managing all topics across Zencity modules. Explore standardized Core Topics, browse Custom Topics tailored to your community, and personalize your Home dashboard by favoriting the most relevant topics.

Core Steps

1. Navigate to Topics in the main navigation menu
2. Browse the complete list of available topics in your workspace
3. Click the star icon next to any topic to favorite it for your Home page
4. Click the accordion arrow to expand a topic and view module-specific data
5. Click on module cards within expanded topics to navigate directly to the source data

In-Depth Guide

Explore Your Complete Topic Inventory

The Topics page displays all topics available in your workspace, organized in a comprehensive list that shows:

• Topic names for easy identification and navigation
• Module badges indicating which Zencity modules contain data for each topic
• Favorite status with star icons for quick Home page customization

Topics display data from the last 30 days for social media and news sources ("Listen" module), while survey data shows the most recent results. All data updates continuously to reflect current community feedback and engagement.

Understand Core Topics vs Custom Topics

Topics in Zencity are designed to comprehensively capture the full spectrum of public input and resident opinion within a local government ecosystem. They provide a unified framework for understanding community sentiment across all the areas that matter to residents and local leaders.

Core Topics are standardized topics that are automatically provisioned across all Zencity workspaces. These topics represent the essential areas of local government that communities consistently discuss—from public safety and transportation to parks, housing, and libraries. By maintaining consistent Core Topics across all communities, you can benchmark your community's feedback against similar municipalities and track how universal concerns are addressed locally. Core Topic names cannot be edited, ensuring this standardization remains intact across the Zencity platform.

Custom Topics are topics created by Zencity staff specifically for your community's unique needs, local initiatives, or emerging issues. While Core Topics cover the broad foundation of municipal concerns, Custom Topics allow you to track community sentiment on local projects, seasonal programs, or specific policy initiatives that matter to your residents. To add a Custom Topic to your dashboard, simply contact Zencity staff with your requirements, and they will create and configure it for you, including customized names and data mapping configurations.

Customize Your Home Page Dashboard

To personalize your Home page with topics most relevant to your role:

1. Click the star icon next to any topic to mark it as a favorite
2. Favorited topics immediately appear on your Home page dashboard
3. Click the star again to unfavorite and remove from your Home page
4. There are no limits on the number of topics you can favorite (but up to 5 will be presented in the Home screen) 

Access Cross-Module Data

Each topic shows module badges (such as "Listen," "Ask") indicating which modules contain relevant data:

1. Click the accordion arrow next to any topic to expand and view detailed module cards
2. Each module card displays specific metrics and data availability for that module
3. Click on any module card to navigate directly to the source data within that specific module
4. Use this cross-module view to understand how topics perform across different community engagement channels

Understanding the Details

How Core Topics Work

Core Topics use automated content analysis and mapping to categorize community feedback, survey responses, and engagement data across all Zencity modules. This ensures that similar content is consistently categorized regardless of which module it originates from, enabling meaningful cross-module insights and standardized reporting across different communities.

The auto-mapping process analyzes text content, survey responses, and engagement patterns to automatically assign relevant Core Topics. 

What to Expect

• Real-time data availability: Module badges update to reflect current data availability
• Seamless navigation: Direct access to detailed module data with a single click
• Comprehensive coverage: View all topics regardless of data volume, with clear indicators when modules contain no recent data

Important Notes

⚠️ Core Topics: Names cannot be modified to maintain platform-wide consistency

⚠️ Data timeframe: Displays data from the last 30 days for social media and news sources, while survey data shows the most recent results regardless of date.

⚠️ Module access: Navigation to module-specific data respects your existing permissions for each Zencity module