Monitoring
12.5 Reporting and other considerations
Once the data collected, how will it be used? Planning for the use of the results should be considered from the start. Evaluators can consider questions such as: How will the data be compiled? How regularly will it be shared? And with whom— managers, organizational professionals, intervention beneficiaries, or the general public? The compiled information can be used for learning, steering, and formative purposes with the intention of identifying areas and strategies of improvement carried out by the organization (Van Dooren et al., 2015). It can also be used to make decisions about whether to pursue an initiative (i.e. control and accountability functions).
Implementing a monitoring system requires careful planning. Success depends on a series of steps, including engaging with the organization, consulting to build support and anticipate resistance, and designing the system to be both useful and minimally burdensome. It is also essential to ensure that data collection, compilation, and reporting are straightforward. McDavid et al. outline the key steps for designing and implementing performance measurement systems (see Table 12.3).
Table 12.3 Key Steps to Designing and Implementing a Performance Measurement system
| 1. | Leadership: Identify the organizational champions of this change. |
| 2. | Understand what a performance measurement system can and cannot do and why it is needed. |
| 3. | Communication: Establish multichannel ways of communicating that facilitate top-down, bottom-up and horizontal sharing of information, problem identification, and problem-solving. |
| 4. | Clarify the expectations for the uses of the performance information that will be created. |
| 5. | Identify the resources and plan for the design, implementation, and maintenance of the performance measurement system. |
| 6. | Take the time to understand the organizational history around similar initiatives. |
| 7. | Develop logic models for the programs or lines of business for which performance measures are being developed. |
| 8. | Identify constructs that are intended to represent performance for aggregations of programs or the whole organization. |
| 9. | Involve prospective users in reviewing the logic model and constructs in the proposed performance measurement system. |
| 10. | Translate constructs into observable measures. |
| 11. | Highlight the comparisons that can be part of the performance measurement system. |
| 12. | Reporting results and then regularly review feedback from users and, if needed, make changes to the performance measurement system. |
Source: McDavid, J., Huse, I., & Hawthorne, L. R. (2019). Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement. An Introduction to Practice. Third Edition. Sage Publications: 375.
