What are outcome indicators in case management?
Outcome indicators measure the results or changes that occur because of your program’s or project’s support. Even though they might be harder to measure, they are very powerful because they move the focus from the activities done to the change brought.
Examples of outcome indicators in case management:
| Protection | Health | Education | Economic stability | Case management quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of clients who report feeling safer after intervention | % of clients with improved psychosocial well-being | % of children re-enrolled in school after support | % of clients with access to a stable source of income | % of clients with fully implemented case plans |
| % of children no longer exposed to violence at home | % of clients who completed mental health treatment | % of children with regular attendance for 3+ months | % of households with improved housing or food security | % of clients who report satisfaction with services |
| % of cases closed with a safety plan in place | % of clients reporting reduced distress (self-assessed) | % of caregivers engaged in child's education | % of clients linked to livelihoods programs who report increased income | % of clients achieving planned case goals |
Organizations usually define outcome indicators in tools such as:
- Logframes
- MEAL plans
- Donor reporting frameworks
- Sector guidance (e.g. CPMS, GBVIMS+)
Outcome indicators should be tied to the goals of your case management program/project. They should help answer questions like:
- Did our support actually improve the client’s safety, health or stability?
- Are we helping clients move toward positive closure?
- Where are we making the most difference and why?
Examples of outcome indicators
In the following example, you can see the difference between Activity, Output and Outcome:
Activity: A child is referred to school
Output: Child identified as out-of-school is referred to appropriate education service
Outcome: Child is re-enrolled and attending school regularly
How to track outcome indicators in Case management
Analyze the outcome indicators
To track outcome indicators effectively, we must first ask whether this is a high-level indicator that might derive from many other indicators that must be collected in other levels of analysis. Check our article “Levels of Analysis in Information Management: how and how much to track” for more information on this topic. In a nutshell, make sure to analyze the percentages, identify the units of analysis and decide on the data points you will use to collect the data. You might also need to revisit indicators that are hard to get.
Design case forms with the outcome indicators in mind
When designing the forms for your Case Management system, keep in mind the M&E component and include fields that will help you reach the outcome indicators in the end. Keep the fields simple and consistent with the objective to capture the data that will help you achieve this.
Design case forms with the objective to capture the expected change
Use follow-up forms to capture change over time while ensuring to avoid data duplication. For example, in ActivityInfo you can use subforms to collect recurring information about a case and/or key fields or unique constraints to ensure all related information is collected under the same client/beneficiary.
Leverage calculated measures to generate percentages and reports to get overviews or trends
In platforms such as ActivityInfo, you can include calculated fields in your case forms which allow you to automatically calculate key numbers based on the information collected in the form or its subforms. Additionally, data analysis and visualizations tools can help you calculate the outcome indicators based on the data collected in various forms.
Outcome indicators can help you understand the impact of your case management work and help you stay accountable. By building them into tools like ActivityInfo, you can connect your existing indicators to real beneficiaries’ journeys and combine operational work with the M&E component in a simple and effective way while you make sure that each team accesses only the data they are supposed to. Do you wish to explore how ActivityInfo can support your case management system? Contact us to discuss further.