EIA News

Overwhelmed by data management?

September 17th, 2024

Managing program data effectively is crucial for the success of any organization. The first step in the data management journey is to establish a clear data management plan that outlines how data will be collected, stored, and analyzed. This plan should include the selection of appropriate data management tools that align with your program’s needs and goals. By taking these initial steps, you can create a strong foundation for data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement in your programs.

There are two primary ways to manage program data: spreadsheets and databases.

Whether you use spreadsheets or a database really depends on your organizational capacity in terms of staff expertise, time, and funds. If you use spreadsheets, someone will need to oversee data entry and analysis. A database solution, on the other hand, typically has data analysis features built into it.

THE CASE FOR SPREADSHEETS

If you aren’t systematically tracking anything yet, a spreadsheet is a good place to start. This low-cost data management option is great for programs with few activities and/or participants. It does require you to have someone on staff with the skills to manage and analyze spreadsheet data.

A small nonprofit organization may want to focus on creating a realistic system using spreadsheets to enter and manage data. As your organization grows, put database solution on your to-do list. It will reduce hours spent on data entry and analysis.

Questions to consider:

• Which types of data will you collect in the spreadsheet: background, participation, and/or activity data? For each, which specific data will be collected?
• Who will oversee data collection (typically the program coordinator or director)?
• Who will be responsible for entering data into the spreadsheet?
• Who will be responsible for analyzing and reporting the data? How frequently?

THE CASE FOR A DATABASE

Implementing a new program evaluation plan can be a great time to adopt a database solution. I am a fan of nonprofits getting out of spreadsheets and into a database as soon as possible. It’s more expensive and time-consuming on the front end, but the payoff is transformative.

If you can swing the cost of a database solution, do that. It will save you so much time down the line because you can easily pull the data you need with a few clicks. I’ve never yet heard a client say, “I wish we didn’t have this super-easy database solution to track and pull data from. I’d much rather spend hours tackling a spreadsheet.”

If you go this route, you’ll need to speak with database vendors to see who is best suited to meet your organization’s needs. Justin Yuen, CEO of Grouptrail, shares what key questions to ask when evaluating a vendor:

• What is your annual licensing fee for the database platform?
• What is included in the annual licensing (server maintenance and hosting, ongoing feature updates, customer support, etc.)?
• Is consulting and training required and what is the number of hours and cost for rolling out the database?
• How do you handle the migration of existing data?
• Can you set up a demo database based on your needs and produce reports that are core to your data evaluation?

Once you have identified two or three potential database vendors, ask for references from existing clients to provide important insight into which vendor is the best fit for you.

Want more? An entire chapter in my book, Nonprofit Program Evaluation Made Simple, is dedicated to program data management. Get your copy today here.