As the recipient of a federal grant, our non-profit client was required to demonstrate progress toward program implementation targets. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measured if the client was meeting their goals related to reaching target users, program enrollment, support service delivery, and program completion. Our team created and implemented a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process to generate and present reports to senior leadership to track progress toward KPIs and identify areas for improvement. Different KPIs were prioritized at different phases of the project life cycle, with focus shifting from enrollment targets (acquiring new users) to retention targets (maintaining a user base).
Co-created an automated process in Excel to compile progress reports from different systems into a comprehensive presentation for senior leadership at partner organization
Created easy-to-understand data visualizations for non-technical audiences
Worked with the client to identify and track metrics outside of federally required KPIs that were important to their stakeholders
Progress reports from federal online systems presented only overall averages that were hiding the variation that different groups were experiencing within the program.
For example, program users were expected to receive 8 substantive service contacts (SSCs) from their case manager. Reports through the federal system showed an average of 6.4 SSCs per user, but our CQI reports showed that this relatively high average overlooked the many users who had received no SSCs at all.
The client wanted to target young fathers and participants who identify as Hispanic or Latino, but reports showed that their early successes in reaching these target audiences had not been sustained over time.
Senior leadership increased their efforts to partner with organizations serving primarily Hispanic/Latino individuals, creating two new service sites to serve this population and increasing the proportion of Hispanic/Latino clients by 6 percentage points.
The proportion of users who had received zero SSCs decreased, as case managers were able to identify and target supports toward this underserved group.
Presenting reports to senior leadership directly ensured that the decision makers understood the information needed to implement data-driven strategies for program improvement.
Going beyond federally required KPIs is necessary to get a complete picture of how a program is operating and how trends change over time.