Posted 23rd January 2017
This is a guest blog by organisational members Sinzer, on their work with members Aleron. This is a case study about impact management. This is part of the Member Exchange Series. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
During the Social Value Members Exchange 2016 in Birmingham last November, Aleron and Sinzer jointly presented the Kent Impact model, an impact framework developed on the Sinzer software platform to help AgeUKs in Kent (part of AgeUK, the largest UK charity delivering services to the elderly) measure and manage the impact of their work, across their near 20 member organisations. Aleron, a social impact consultancy based in London, partnered with AgeUK Kent’s consortium early in 2015 to help the consortium change the way outcomes and impact were recorded across all members. In order to do this, Aleron helped AgeUKs in Kent draft a Theory of Change as well as data collection model, and piloted this in paper-based form.
Using the Sinzer software platform
A specific request of AgeUKs Kent however was to operationalize the model by means of an IT system, in order to make data collection and measurement more consistent, as well as access aggregation and benchmarking options. This need led Aleron and AgeUKs Kent to partner with Sinzer in early 2016, an Amsterdam based organisation offering software solutions for social impact measurement and management. Sinzer’s software platform can be used to develop bespoke impact frameworks, collect data via online surveys, view results in a dashboard and export impact reports.
Currently, the Kent impact model has been “digitalized” on the Sinzer software platform and has been tested in a few training sessions. Staff and other users have been trained and instructions materials have been delivered. Front line staff in each one of AgeUKs Kent member organisations will soon start using Sinzer to collect data by surveying elderly people that visit the locations, over three measurement points in time. Collected data can be analysed on individual client level as well as per each AgeUKs Kent location by using Sinzer’s dynamic dashboard and ‘slice and dice’ functionalities. Moreover, data collected from all locations can be analysed and visualised in an aggregation dashboard, which can also be used to benchmark the different AgeUK’s locations.
Lessons learnt
The Kent Impact Model (KIM) provides AgeUKs Kent with a better understanding of clients and service delivery through more robust evidence, as well as providing the ability to show something tangible: not just a process change, but a mindset change supported by a specific software tool.
Some of the immediate benefits include:
- Real understanding of impact across the Network
- Common guidelines/training standards
- Having a county-wide view for the first time
- Commissioners onboard
- Data will feed into contract bids and research projects
- Development process built consensus and started indirect conversations around service design and ‘what works’
Next steps for KIM
Recognizing that measuring impact is an iterative process, possible next steps for KIM could include:
- Linking in control groups
- Integration with CCG datasets, via NHS numbers
- Data analytics capacity building
- Introducing the tool to non-Kent AgeUK Networks and non-AgeUK organisations.
Interested in learning more, or want to know what the KIM looks like in the Sinzer software? Download the case study here.
Using software for standardisation and aggregation of impact data:
Besides showcasing the Kent Impact Model during SVMX16, Sinzer also hosted a round-table on standardisation and aggregation of impact data. During this round-table Sinzer demonstrated an impact measurement template for Inclusive Businesses, which has recently been developed on the Sinzer software platform.
The Sinzer software platform is an IT system that organisations can use to measure and manage social impact. The platform allows for the creation of standardised ‘impact templates’ for a certain sector or domain: ‘blueprints’ in which certain elements (e.g. indicators) are pre-filled. These templates can be used to measure the impact of multiple projects, programmes or organisations, thereby ensuring a consistent way of measuring. Moreover, projects or organisations using the same template can benchmark their data, as well as aggregated the data of all of these organisations to gain insight into the total impact of these organisations.
Following a project Sinzer undertook for BoP Incubator last year, a Dutch organisation delivering business development services to businesses that operate in the Base of the Pyramid, Sinzer has now build on this work by developing a template to measure impact for Inclusive Businesses.
The template includes indicators from IFC, IRIS, UN and other sources, and aims to provide a starting point for any organisation that is an Inclusive Business or invest in them. The emphasis here is on the word ‘starting point’. Recognisably, not all IBs are the same or operate in the same contexts, which means not all indicators can be standardised. When using a template in the Sinzer tool therefore, organisations can choose which template indicators are relevant (and delete the ones that aren’t), as well as add their own organisation or context specific ones to tailor the measurement to their situation.
Want to learn more about the IB template, or templates and the Sinzer platform in general? Read the IB case study or contact Sinzer.
This is part of the Members Exchange Series, for more information, see here.