In case you haven’t been following along (we’re not offended – you’ve been busy, right?), Provisio is offering a Tech Trek on August 15th called Mission Metrics: Tracking and Managing Outcomes for Maximum Impact. In this webinar, our Chief Innovation Officer, Erica Cox, will discuss strategies to decide what outcomes to track and then demo one of Salesforce’s newest tools, Outcome Management.
Your organization – whether you are in the nonprofit or public sector space – is working toward social good. Your mission is your driving goal, and impact is the long-term change you want to see in the community. This is why Outcome Management may be of interest to you: it allows you to evaluate, manage, and improve your organization’s impact.
Understanding the Terminology: Outputs Vs Outcomes
I talked to our Chief Advisory Services Officer, Julie Simpson, about what we mean by outcomes because the difference between outputs and outcomes may not be obvious to everyone – well, at least not to me.
Outputs. she said, are the results of an activity. Let’s say you hold after-school programs for kids and 30 kids attend. That is an output.
What happens to those kids as a result of attending your programs? THAT is an outcome.
- Are they better prepared to enter college?
- Are they staying out of the prison system?
- Are they able to hold a job?
What If You Don’t Know What Outcomes to Track?
Provisio’s Advisory Services helps organizations construct what good looks like for their programs, their staff, and their place in the larger ecosystem of people who want to see the same impact.
They help you explore several questions: Are we in the right position? Is our mission still relevant as our community needs change? Should it evolve as our community and the world continue to change?
Simpson explains that these elements should be on a constant loop in order for you to become an effective learning organization:
- Collect data
- Reflect on the data collected
- Put a mechanism in place to adjust or course correct in response to what you learn
Where Does the Outcome Management Tool Come Into Play?
If your data is spread across multiple systems, tracking and measuring performance can be challenging, if not impossible. Outcome Management allows you to measure your strategy with indicators, connect those indicators to your programs, and analyze results.
Erica Cox will share strategies for determining what outcomes you should track and demo how to define and track your outcome strategy in the Outcome Management tool. Don’t miss the chance to see this powerful tool in action and learn how to ensure accurate and meaningful outcome measurement over time. Register here to join us on August 15th!
Marjorie lives in Saint Louis, Missouri. She received her Master’s degree in English from Truman State University. Her responsibilities at Provisio Partners include content creation and technical writing.