Reporting on outcomes to multiple bodies with different outcomes structures November 14, 2007
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, DoView, Easy Outcomes, Outcomes models, Outcomes systems architecture, Using the approach , trackbackIn a workshop the other day the issue arose of how you deal with the situation where you have to report to a number of different outside organizations on your outcomes. Now, this is not much of a problem where the outside organizations don’t make any implicit or explicit demands on how you report. The way to proceed in such cases is to simply develop your outcomes model and report back to them on it.
However, with more and more organizations thinking in terms of outcomes, they are starting to have outcomes structures of various types themselves. In such instances, whether your control organizations demand it or not, you are wise to somehow relate your reporting to their outcomes structure if you want them to see how you are contributing to their outcomes – and, if they are funders, for them to keep funding you because they think you are making an important contribution.
The solution to this problem is to build your own outcomes structure which makes sense to you. This frees you up to build a tight coherent structure which makes sense to you, for instance by using the Easy Outcomes guidelines to build a model in DoView outcomes software. You can then take the documentation from the organizations you are having to report to and model each of their outcomes structures in DoView. When you do this, don’t worry about getting their models to follow the Easy Outcomes or other guidelines, just model them in a way that someone from the other organization can recognize that the DoView model is a version of their outcomes structure.
You do this all in the same DoView file so you end up with your model and also the three other outcomes models in the same file. You then simply list all of your projects on a slice (diagram) in DoView and map them (using the linking tool) onto the four outcomes structures (yours and the thre others). This means that when you report back to any one of the organizations you can show them exactly how you are contributing to they own outcomes. In addition you have available to you your own model for doing your own strategic planning and for assuring yourself that you are moving towards the outcomes you have specified as important.
Paul Duignan (outcomesblog.org)
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