Systematic Outcomes Analysis provides a complete solution to outcomes, strategy, monitoring, evaluation and contracting for programs, organizations or sectors. The approach is made up of a set of building blocks which you can build one at a time. You don't need to build all of the building blocks to make use of the system. However, sometimes if you want to do something in a later building block, you'll need to have already done a prerequisites in an earlier building block. The approach can be used for any type of project, program, strategy, policy, organization, sector and even at the level of national and international outcomes. The way you apply the approach is as follows:
Draw an outcomes model of all of the outcomes you want to achieve and the steps that are needed to achieve them. There are some simple guildelines for drawing your outcomes model so that it's suitable for use in later parts of the approach, the rules (called standards) are summarized here. One of the main guidelines is that at this stage you don't have to worry whether you can actually measure the outcomes or steps or whether you can prove that that you alone made them happen. Drill your outcomes model down as far as is useful for you (i.e. include processes and activities in it - in Systematic Outcomes we just refer to all of these at lower levels as steps and at the highest levels as outcomes). Check whether others think your outcomes model is realistic and whether there is any research to support your model. This is the 1st building block and it is called the Outcomes Model.
2. Work out your strategy. Do this by looking at your outcomes model and trying to decided your priorities for intervention to achieve your high-level outcomes. This is the stage when you work out what you want to do and who is going to do what. Strategy should be reviewed regularly and any work you have done on other building blocks between reviews (e.g. on evaluation) can feed into the subsequent round of your strategy review process. This is the 2nd building block and it is called Strategy. If you are just developing a monitoring and evaluation plan, the task of developing strategy may be something that is done by others - however, there are great advantages for integration if the strategists, the evaluators and the performance managers are all working off the same outcomes model (drawn according to the guidelines mentioned in 1 above).
3. Measure outcomes. These measurements are called indicators. You may not have an indicator for every outcome in your outcomes model. When initially thinking about these indicators, don't worry whether they are ones which you can prove that you alone made happen. Map the indicators back onto your outcomes model so you can see which outcomes do and which don't have indicators. This is the 3nd building block and it is called Indicators[not-necessarily attributable]. Not-necessarily attributable means that at this stage you don't need to prove whether your intervention caused these indicators to change.
4. Decide which of the indicators you found in the 3rd building block immediately above, can actually be attributed to you (i.e. you can prove that you alone made them happen). These are likely to be on the lower levels of your outcomes model. Look for any more attributable indicators that you have not yet identified. You may or may not have to do this step early on in the process. This is the 4th building block and it is called Indicators[attributable]. Attributable indicators are also often known as outputs.
5. Focus on whether you can prove that your project has caused high-level outcomes to improve. This uses one or more of 7 possible outcome evaluation designs identified in Systematic Outcomes Analysis. One or more of these may or may not be appropriate, feasible and affordable for you to use. Once you have done this work, from that point onwards, you can use your analysis to defend your decisions about what outcome evaluation you are planning to do if you are challenged by other stakeholders. This is the 5th building block and it is called Evaluation[outcome].
6. Focus on what other non-outcome evaluation you can do. There are a set of evaluation questions you can focus on at this stage. These include how the outcomes model is being applied in your particular project (process evaluation), how to improve it (formative evaluation), the way people understand what is happening and the context of you project. This is the 6th building block and it is called Evaluation[non-outcome].
7. Work out what economic evaluation you can do and what comparisons you can make between your project and other projects to see if your project is as effective as others. There are two types of comparison you can do and a set of different types of economic analysis you can do. This is the 7th building block and it is called Evaluation[economic & comparative].
8. Identify the overall monitoring and evaluation scheme you are going to use. There are two possible schemes, one where you do outcome evaluation for the full roll-out of a project and the other where you just do it for a pilot phase and use other types of monitoring and evaluation during the full roll-out. This is the 8th building block and it is called Overall monitoring & evaluation schemes.
9. Start thinking about what contracting arrangement you will have between Funders and Doers. If you are just doing a monitoring and evaluation plans this work on contracting will have already been done by others. The Systematic Outcomes Analysis appraoch identifies three possible types of contracting - contracting for outputs only; for outputs AND managing for outcomes; and contracting for not fully controllable outcomes. Using the outcomes model developed in 1 above is a useful way of making sure that everyone is clear about who is accountable for what. This is the 9th building block and it is called Contracting.
You will find more information on the models used in the system here and a detailed How To List you can work through if you want to build all or just some of the building blocks here. Systematic Outcomes Analysis can be applied using a range of different types of normal office software. However, a user-friendly version of the Systematic Outcomes Analysis approach has been applied using DoView Outcomes Software at the Easy Outcomes site. The Easy Outcomes site is a good place to start to get a quick overview of the approach.
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