STANDARD:
To meet the standard in full, you have identified what information you need to test, support or refine your understanding of the way your work brings about change. This information is able to show whether or not you are making good progress towards the difference you planned to make.
Your social enterprise is likely to want reliable information that can show whether it is making good progress and achieving its planned outcomes.
This depends on having specific, measurable things you can track, which will allow you to assess both progress and impact. These signs of success are usually referred to as indicators, measures and metrics:
It can be helpful to examine each of your intended outcomes in turn to help decide what data you will need to collect, and what the best indicators of success might be.
Course 5 of the Impact Practice series from the Social Enterprise Institute looks in more depth at how to turn your information requirements into measurable indicators.
It is also important to consider the audience that you will need to communicate information to, including board members, staff, funders and service users. Think about what information they will want to know and what you will want to show. These issues are covered in Section 9.