technology in nursing assessment

Culminating Project for Data Driven Decision Making I
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Getting Started with Data Driven Decision Making: A Workbook
 
 
 
 
 
 
Directions 1
Introduction 2
Worksheets
1. D e f i ne Y ou r A c t i on Q ue s t i on 3
2. Wh a t Does Th i s Question M ean T o Y ou r O r ga n iz a ti on? 5
3. H o w Wil l Y o u K n o w W h a t t h e Right Metr i c s Ar e? 6
4. What Could You Measure? 7
5. Wha t D a ta Do Y o u H a v e ? 9
6. F in d The Metr i c s That M a k e S e n s e Fo r Y ou 10
7. The M et r ic C r ea t ion P r ocess 11
8. D e f i ne a P ro c e s s f o r Us i ng Th e m to M a k e D e c i s i ons 12
9. Create an Implementation Action Plan 13
10. Action Plan 15
 
 
 
 
Could you use more help thinking through how to use data to help your organization make decisions? If so, you’re not alone. Recent reports on how organizations are using data has shown that although most are relying heavily on data, a number are doing very little to measure their work.
 
Measuring may not be as difficult as you suspect. Experts agree that simply starting to track a few strategic metrics is a huge step toward a more data based decision making based culture. Once an organization has data that they can use to make decisions, they will often start to want more. A few, straightforward metrics can start the snowball rolling.
 
Getting started with data driven decision making isn’t a trivial process, however. What metrics will be useful and actionable—but, not require a ton of time to collect and understand? How do you define and communicate data in order for your organization to make decisions? This workbook will help you to start applying what you have learned in this course, and will also help you to start answering critical questions.
 
Starting with a question of interest that you want to explore, either in your current organization or a future organization that you want to work with, this workbook will guide you through the process of using DDDM. You will start with the first worksheet and proceed in order through the entire workbook. The workbook will walk you through the process of choosing and refining initial metrics, defining how you will collect the data, and explaining how to disseminate that data for decision making.
 
Don’t feel overwhelmed by data. The journey to data-based decision making, like any, begins with the first step. In this case, you will begin with the first worksheet. Once you start defining the metrics that will help your organization, you may find that it’s easier than you thought!
 
After all of the workbook pages are complete, you submit the completed version into the appropriate Dropbox.
 
 
Introduction
 

Create an introduction section where you should fully describe the organization, your role, and the overall area of concern (Minimum requirement: 250 words).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14
 

This workbook is designed to help you hone some of the metrics that will be practical and meaningful for you in a particular area. To focus your efforts more productively, start by identifying the general area you want to explore in more detail. Choose an item from the box to the right that resonates with you, or define your own based on a topic your organization is most interested in.

What’s an area you want to explore?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now, define a particular action question within that area. It’s not going to be easy—your action question must be specific enough to be measurable and to help you decide how to move forward, but also important enough to really matter to your organization. Let’s start by brainstorming.
 

What are some tactical questions you’d ideally like to be able to answer in this area that would help your organization improve?

 
 
1.
 
 
2.
 
 
3.
 
 
4.
 
 
5.
 
 
POSSIBLE ORGANIZATIONAL AREAS FOR EXPLORATION
 
· Recruiting clients
· Efficiency of a process
· Projecting future income
· A specific program
· Annual campaign
· Facebook outreach
· Email list-building
· Staff development
· Staff recruitment
… Or choose your own
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WHAT MAKES A GOOD QUESTION?
 
Stumped as to the type of question we’re looking for? Try to think of something that will help your organi- zation improve and that you can have an impact on—but that can also be tested and measured. For example, “How can we improve fundraising?” is too broad—it’s not easy to pin down what you would specifically do to affect or measure it. “What’s our email open rate?” is too narrow and it’s not clear how it relates to organization goals. Look for a question that’s both important and detailed enough to be testable, such as “Is our blog worth the time we spend on it?” or “How can we improve program attendance?”
 
Let’s drill a little more deeply into those questions. Refer to the questions you defined above by number.
 

 
 
 
 
Think through the answers you gave above. For one or more of the questions, were you able to answer “Yes” in all of the boxes? If so, pick one of those questions to explore with this workbook, or combine multiple questions together to define one overarching question. (Note that if you combine multiple questions into one, you need to plug it into the table above to make sure it fits all the criteria.) You must end up with an action question that will be the framework for the rest of this workbook.
 

Write your single action question here:

 
 
 
 
 
Did you answer “No” to at least one of the criteria for all of your questions in the table above? If so, those questions will be difficult to answer using metrics. Brainstorm some other questions that are important but also measurable to get to a place where you can define an action question that will be the framework for the remainder of this workbook.
 
 
2. What Does This Question Mean To Your Organization?
 
 
 

What would different people in your organization want to know about this question in terms of how it affects their own jobs? How much does each person care about the information at all? It’s likely that there are a number of different perspectives about it. Not sure what people would like to know? Ask them…

 
In the mock organization chart below, do two things:
· In the small box in the upper left, define how important the information would be to each type of role in your organization (High, Medium, or Low).
· In the larger space in each box, list some of the key pieces of information that a person in that role in particular might be interested in seeing. Don’t worry about what’s possible or practical just yet, simply brainstorm what they’d ideally like to see.
 

 
 
Now that you’ve thought that through, do a reality check: Do other people care about this question too? If you’re the only person who really cares, is it an important question for your organization?
 
 
 
 
 
 

Soon we’ll define metrics to help you answer your question. Metrics provide a numerical yardstick to help you determine whether your efforts are making a difference—and if so, in what direction. Before we go too far down that road, think through how you’ll judge whether the metrics will actually help you define what you really want to know.

 
There are different ways to think about this. Answer the questions below – this step will help you make the most sense of your overall action question. Write a brief description of what success will look like in this process.
 
 
1. What specific decisions do you want to be able to make based on the answer to your question?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. What things will you need to understand in order to feel you have real knowledge to address your question?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3. Will any answer to your question feel like success, or will you need to achieve a specific result to feel successful?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There are a lot of different things you could measure for any given thing. Brainstorm the different actions you could take that might have an impact on your overall question and the metrics you could use to measure it. A metric is a number—often a KPI, a count, or a percentage—that measures your success in an area.

 
 
 
 
Based on the rows where you have indicated the highest total score in the right hand column (and your gut reaction to how well the total score reflects reality), choose six that seem promising for exploring your action question . For each, copy the Metric, from the second column, and the overall sum for that row into the table below.
 
 

The next step in this process is to identify the data sources for the metrics you’ve said you’d like to track (if you can’t collect the data, then you won’t be able to track that metric). For each of the six metrics you defined on the previous page, think through the data you have (or can collect) that relates.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You’ve rated the usefulness of each metric (in Worksheet Four), and the difficulty of getting the data (in Worksheet Five). Now plot each metric using those two scores.
 
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14
 
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10
 
9
 
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6
 
5
 
4
 
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2
 
1
 
 
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 
EASE OF COLLECTING DATA
 
 
 
It likely makes sense to start with the metric that is closest to the top and right of the plot. Choose one metric (or a small number) that will provide you the biggest bang for the buck. As you grow comfortable with that metric, you may want to add more that also seem useful into the mix.
 
What Metric will you start with?
 
 
 
 
HOW TO PLOT YOUR METRICS
If your metric had a sum of 6
according to worksheet four, and a score of 5 according to worksheet five, then you’d plot that metric like this example.
 
 
7
 
6
 
 
5 6
 
 
 
 
 
 

Even if the data is readily at hand, the metrics won’t create and distribute themselves. It’s important to map out the flow of how the data will become an accurate metric—both to make sure you’ve thought it through, and to acknowledge the actual work that will be required to ensure success. Think through this process for your metric.

 
Data Sources?
 
 
How is this data entered into a system?
 
 
What’s the incentive to ensure it’s entered?
 
 
Where is it stored?
 
 
Who creates the metric from the data?
 
 
Who distributes it?
 
 
Who’s in charge of this whole process?
 
 
 
How will you spot check to ensure the metric accurately reflects reality?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

You not only need a process for creating your metrics—you need a process to actually use them. This is one of the most critical steps.

 
 
How frequently will you create the metrics?
 
 
Who will they be distributed to?
 
 
 
In what meetings will they be used?
 
 
How frequently will you plan to adjust your actions based on what the metrics say?
 
 
What decisions shouldn’t be made without them?
 
 
How frequently will you check in on whether the metrics themselves are an effective way to measure? and What you’re trying to measure?
 
 
 
 
 
 

Congratulations! You’ve defined a strategy to create and use metrics to measure a core question for your organization. But a strategy is one thing, and implementation is

another. To speed you on your way to a successful rollout of your metrics, think through the implementation steps.
 
 
People You’ll Need to Get Onboard
Who are the core individuals who will need to buy in? Think through both the official people who need to be onboard and the other people who might become barriers if they’re not included. List them below. Then think through the right way to include them in the process: Email? Presentation? Discussion?
 
 

Processes You’ll Need to Define

On the previous worksheets, did you define processes for collecting, analyzing, or distributing metrics that need to be more fully fleshed out? If so, define what they are and how you’ll put more detail around them. Maybe another meeting? More documentation? A larger project?
 
 

Things You’ll Need to Allocate a Budget For

Have you defined a process that involves things that you don’t already have? For example, a survey tool, a bar code scanner, a new staff member, or maybe a consultant to think it all through? Itemize anything new that needs to be paid for, and what process you’ll need to go through to select and purchase the product.
 
 

Other Things You’ll Need to Make Happen

Are there other things that need to happen before you can move forward? List them here along with useful details.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Those are your next steps–but they’re probably not in the right order.
 
Go back through that list and decide what you should do first: Talk to some people? Define a process? Put a number 1 next to that step. Determine what’s next and put a number 2 next to it. Continue through the whole list until you have an entire action plan in approximately the correct order.

And then… go start with the first item on your list

 
Action Plan
 

Please offer a clear and concise implementation plan (Minimum requirement: 350 words).