Western Melbourne Child and Family Service Alliance Project Manager Kay O’Connell got in touch with the OPEN team to make use of the free OPEN advisory service. Let’s take a look into what happened.
Kay was looking to strengthen monthly reporting for their local ChildFIRST. Kay hoped to add more detail to the reports by using the data to better understand the journey of clients accessing the service to then identify opportunities to strengthen service delivery to better meet their needs.
To analyse, present and interpret the monthly ChildFIRST data in order demonstrate the breadth of program delivery and impact on families and children.
The OPEN data project, in consultation with Kay, made a plan:
The process of reviewing the monthly reporting template for the Western Melbourne Child and Family Services Alliance, revealed several opportunities to add qualitative data to give a stronger narrative, charting families’ progress through the system. Working in partnership with Kay, OPEN discussed her vision for the monthly reports and areas of improvement.
OPEN assisted Kay to create a new monthly reporting template that added interpretations of the data. Adding descriptions to support the data presented gave the reader a clearer picture of the significance of the data and what this means for clients accessing the service. Without this, the significance of particular figures presented in the graphs was not as immediately apparent.
Working with OPEN to gain an outside perspective and dedicate the time and space to enhance the report was identified by Kay as a particularly useful.
By tapping into OPEN support there is now momentum for continuous improvement. Kay intends to continue to adjust the report based on feedback from the Alliance executive and find ways to interpret and present data to give a clearer picture of the client experience.
Do you have data that needs to be put to good use? An IDEAS project may be just the way to get started!
