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2. Using Management Information

2.1 Overview

The main purpose of a management information system is to use the data recorded for administrative, reporting and management purposes. Therefore, it is vitally important to consider what you need to extract from your system when designing it, not just what information you want to record. Considering this at an early stage, and ensuring the MIS is set up in this way, will help to prevent unnecessary time and effort being devoted to collecting information which will not be used.

In general terms, the MIS specification outlined in Chapter 4 will provide useful information relating to outputs and inputs but it requires interpretation from experienced CLD managers and practitioners. Although the MIS is a useful tool to assist CLD managers to manage their service, the information will not 'stand alone'; it needs to include contextual information to support effective decision-making.

When adding fields of data to be collected, it is a useful discipline to ask 'how will this be used? What will it tell us?' If there is a lack of clarity over the answer to these questions beyond, 'it will be quite interesting', then consider the merit of collecting it. Remember that each field you add has resource implications in terms of time associated with input and analysis.

This section identifies the range of reports and information which could be extracted based on the data categories identified in this specification. This is intended to act as a guide for you to think about the information you will need to administer and manage your service, and is not intended to be prescriptive.

Gathering output and input data as outlined in the specification will also support national reporting requirements requested by the Scottish Government via Learning Connections.

2.2 Output data - what it can do for you

2.2.1 Support administrative tasks

There are a range of administrative tasks that a management information system could allow you to do.

The most obvious administrative task that can be carried out is sending out mailings to contacts. The contact information held on participants could be extracted to use in a mail merge to send information out to participants - this could be in the form of publicity, newsletters or other types of communication ².

Basic contact information such as name, address and postcode can be extracted if information is to be sent to all participants, or you could also send mailings to specific types of participants (e.g. people from specific age groups) based on the categories recorded on the individual records.

Additionally, if your system links records on participants to the records of the groups they are involved with, or events they have attended, you will be able to send out more targeted mailings to people who have been involved in particular groups or events.

2.2.2 Provide you with a profile of your participants

The data collected on participants will allow you to understand how many individual participants use your services and what their demographic profile is. At a very simple level, you could examine:

• The number and proportion of participants in each age group;
• The profile of participants in terms of their qualification level;
• The number and proportion of participants in each equality category ³ (disability, ethnic group, gender, religion, sexual orientation).

You could also use the postcode data recorded on participants to identify the number and proportion of participants from deprived areas: to do this you would need to identify the postcodes for the deprived areas in your area of operation (based on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation - see description in box below) and identify the number of participants residing in those areas.

This information will also provide intelligence about who is not accessing the service (on a geographical or demographic basis) and provide a basis for discussion on future activity relating to targeting of participants.

While this information in itself may be interesting, to use it as management information you will need to consider whether your profile of participants matches your intended target beneficiaries. You could then use this information as a baseline to track progress over time if you aim to target specific groups of participants.

Many providers of grant funding ask applicants to identify the profile of intended beneficiaries. Being able to provide detail on the profile of participants will support reporting requirements, and a systematic approach to this will make reporting less burdensome, as the information is readily available.

2.2.3 Provide you with a profile of the services you have provided

The data collected in the management information system will be able to provide you with a comprehensive picture of the services you have delivered.

You will be able to extract information on the number of group activities you have provided, and analyse them in further detail by looking at the proportion of opportunities provided of different types, purposes and durations. You may want to ask yourself questions such as:

• Are we delivering an appropriate balance of different types of activities or events? Should we have more or less of a particular type of activity or event in the future?
• Do the group's purposes match our service's priorities?
• Is there an appropriate spread of activities throughout the year?

You will also be able to understand the number of groups provided and proportion of these by purpose, geographical focus and thematic focus.

One key limitation of this aggregate analysis of outputs is that it is only possible to ascertain numbers of groups supported rather than the depth of intervention, i.e. it doesn't provide a way of recording CLD resource in preparation or one-to-one support to group members, such as Chairs of groups.

Recording details of the individuals who have taken part in events will provide information that can be used to monitor impact. Individuals may subsequently participate in other CLD activities and this will provide a simple indication of the success of events in connecting people to learning opportunities.

2.2.4 Provide you with a profile of the use of your service(s)

Analysing the types of services you have provided is important, in terms of understanding how the services have delivered compare with what you had intended to deliver, but it is also very important to analyse how these services have been used; the management information should help you to understand this.

You may want to understand the level of participation in activities or events you have provided, asking yourself questions such as:

• How many attendances (number of opportunities provided) has there been across the whole service?
• How many individual people have used the services?*
• Which were the most popular activities or events? Which were least popular activities or events?
• Have any activities or events failed to meet expectations in terms of attendance?

*This is an important distinction as there may be lots of CLD activities provided that are accessed by the same individuals. This highlights issues if one of the aims at the beginning of the planning cycle is to target those who are not already engaged.

You may also want to understand the profile of the people that have participated in activities or events, either across the whole service or for specific activities or events. This might involve looking at:

• The geographical area participants come from and/or the number/proportion of participants from deprived areas (by looking at the postcodes);
• The qualification level of participants;
• How many participants have developed individual learning plans;
• The average duration of attendance; and
• The use of the service by those from equalities groups ⁴: age, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation.

Additionally, you may want to examine how people use the services, looking at the proportion of people who access only one activity or event and those who access many.

If information is recorded on group members, you may also want to analyse how many participants there are in groups supported by the service and their demographic profile (in areas similar to those noted above).

2.3 Input data - what it can tell you

Input data can be analysed in isolation: to look at what you are investing in delivering CLD services and how that changes year-on-year. This can be used to support general management decisions about service provision such as:

• Do we have an appropriate level of funding to deliver all our services?
• Are we fully using our budgets?
• Do we have a diverse enough range of funding sources? Are we over reliant on any single source of funding?
• When do current funding streams come to an end and what plans do we have to replace that income?
• Is the staffing / volunteer level appropriate for the services we are delivering?
• Do we have an appropriate level of qualified staff? Do we need to recruit more qualified staff?
• Is the composition of staff (full-time, part-time and sessional) appropriate for the services we deliver?
• Do we invest enough time in supporting the current level of staff?
• Is the level of staff turnover acceptable? What implications does staff turnover tell us about the way we recruit and support staff?
• Do we need to recruit more staff?

However, inputs should be linked to outputs to fully understand the investment in service delivery and the associated return on investment. The areas you might want to investigate include:

2.3.1 Where money has been spent

It will be important to compare the outputs (in terms of number of participants and/or number of services provided) to the level of expenditure, to inform decisions about value for money. This does not necessarily mean that more participants for a lower cost is the best use of resources, as you must consider this information in light of the types of services you are aiming to deliver. For example, more intensive interventions will require more resources, but this does not mean that they are better value for money than less intensive interventions requiring less resources. The key question to ask is: were these outputs what we planned, given the level of investment? If not, consideration should be given to what action is needed to change this. Is the lowered output level significant enough to consider revision of the resource allocation? Did we do enough to ensure maximum opportunity to access these activities? This could apply service-wide or in relation to specific activities.

You will also want to compare expenditure in relation to your organisational strategy and priorities. For example, if you are aiming to target the most deprived communities, were more resources spent in that area and did participation increase?

2.3.2 Staff deployment / staff to participant ratios

If information is recorded on numbers of staff involved in each area (e.g. on each group activity form) you could use this information to understand the level of staff resource deployed to certain types of activity or geographical areas. This could be used to inform decisions on whether appropriate levels of staff are deployed to those areas or activities which the organisation wishes to target and also if the levels of staff deployed are appropriate to the desired and actual outputs achieved. This is not designed to compare different activities, as there are too many variables to do this with any degree of confidence. By using input information in this way, it provides intelligence to support decision-making. Otherwise it is just a record of staff.

It is important to understand the ratio of staff to participants, as it tells you whether you have achieved the levels you set out to. This means that when deploying staff to activity, the numbers of participants that are able to access the activity should be logged. This planned number may be quite low, i.e. participants have high number of needs so a higher ratio of staff to participant is planned for. The important aspect is the judgement made about levels of activity and therefore staff available, because this will provide a planned maximum number and allow you to achieve the lowest ratio of staff to participants, whilst still ensuring that sufficient staff members have been deployed to carry out the activity appropriately. At the end of activity, the information gathered will assist your organisation to understand whether these planned levels were accurate or if more or less resources are required. It may also highlight areas for action in how the service provides information about activities.

Again, it is important to stress that a higher number of outputs are not necessarily better than a lower number, as it depends on the type of activities being delivered. The key question is whether the outputs are appropriate given the level of investment of staff time, and whether this resource could be better deployed in the future.

2.4 Using information to manage

While this section has suggested a range of ways in which input and output information can be reported on, it is important that this information is used to inform decision making. One danger with having a high quality management information system is that a vast amount of data can be extracted, and while it may be interesting, it may not necessarily be useful. Therefore, you should plan the system to produce, and subsequently extract, information that will be used. It may be used by a range of individuals to manage CLD activity, not just those with responsibility for 'management'. For example, the information may show that the profile of participants in adult learning does not reflect the intended audience. Part-time adult learning tutors may choose to alter their advertising methods as a result.

In most instances, it will only make sense to examine outputs where you have a baseline from which to measure progress or where you have a specific target or aim for what outputs you plan to achieve. For example, being able to state that 500 people participated may be interesting but it will not help you manage your service. This is only useful management information if you have a baseline from where you want to measure progress (e.g. 400 participants last year) and/or a specific target you were aiming to achieve (900 participants). Knowing whether you failed to meet expectations or exceeded them will help you make decisions about future service delivery.

Your management information system should be able to extract information, in the form of reports, to help you meet internal and external reporting requirements - the types of reports will be influenced by what information you are required to provide to others. Additionally, when deciding on which outputs you wish to set yourself, make sure that it is possible to extract this from your management information system, otherwise reporting will become more burdensome.

Overall, you should use the MIS information to assess your performance against your own organisational CLD priorities, plans and targets. Only by comparing your actual performance to your planned performance can this information be used as suitable evidence to support decisions on sustainability, resource allocation and the services which need to be delivered in the future.

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