OUTCOME MONITORING WORKSHOP

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OUTCOME MONITORING WORKSHOP

• Bernie Giles Martin Bryson
• Services for Communities, City of Edinburgh
  Council

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Workshop Aims

• Get to know our approach to outcome monitoring
  the benefits challenges
• See ECCO - our citywide web based system for
  recording and reporting outcomes
• Hear about the lessons weve learned

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Group Exercise 1

• Duration 5 minutes
• Off the top of your head, quickly identify three
  outcomes to do with homelessness
• Dont worry! This is deliberately vague.
  

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Outcomes happen at different levels

• Examples
• The national level
• The organisational level
• The community level
• The individual level
• We give huge importance to CUSTOMER OUTCOMES

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Dont mistake outputs for outcomes!

• OUTCOMES are about
• Positive change e.g. improved self confidence
• Maintenance of a current situation e.g. alcohol
  misuse stabilised
• Reduction in something e.g. less offending
• OUTPUTS are about
• activities, services or products
• e.g. keywork sessions, referrals made, user
  satisfaction surveys returned

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From aims and objectives to customer outcomes

• As far as possible, we have distilled our
  Homelessness Strategy into customer outcomes.
• For each of the objectives (or actions) in our
  Homelessness Strategy Action Plan we asked
• What will customers get as a result of taking
  this action?

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From aims to customer outcomes Example 1

• Overall Aim Prevent homelessness occurring
• Specific Aim Prisoners avoid becoming homeless
  on liberation
• Objective Assist prisoners to retain their
  accommodation so they do not become homeless on
  liberation e.g. by subletting, negotiation with
  landlord, etc.
• Customer Outcome I return to my home on leaving
  prison
• Measure of prisoners returning to their
  original home on leaving prison
• Baseline 45 (2007/08)
• Target 2008/09 50

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From aims to customer outcomes Example 2

• Overall Aim Respond quickly and effectively to
  people in housing crisis
• Specific Aim Successfully tackle rough sleeping
• Objective Seek out and work with people who are
  rough sleeping to resolve their accommodation
  crisis quickly
• Customer Outcome I get accommodation as quickly
  as possible
• Measure of people sleeping rough who move into
  emergency accommodation within 5 days
• Baseline 80 (2007/08)
• Target 2008/09 85

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A single citywide set of customer outcomes

• All commissioned homelessness (and most housing
  support) services in Edinburgh are asked to
  pursue these outcomes with their customers. This
  musters citywide effort to achieve a single set
  of customer outcomes.
• We watch customer outcome achievement across the
  city (via ECCO system) to see if our Homelessness
  Strategy is working well or not.

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Group Exercise 2

• Duration 15 minutes
• Identify potential benefits of focusing on
  CUSTOMER OUTCOMES from the perspective of your
  customers, your organisation and commissioners.
  

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Customer outcomes - benefits

• What individual customers achieve is what its
  ultimately all about.
• Providers are clear about what they are being
  asked to achieve with their customers. This
  supports a culture of outcome achievement and a
  common sense of purpose.
• The worker - customer relationship is structured
  around what the customer wants.
• Monitoring meetings between commissioners and
  providers are structured around what the customer
  gets.
• Providers are better placed to win CEC contracts
  (outcome based procurement).

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Lessons learned

• Important to find out why customers are not
  achieving outcomes.
• Are you able to do something about low outcome
  achievement e.g. commission a new service
  yourself or persuade strategic partners to do so.
  What if commissioning budgets are already
  committed?
• Reality checking customer outcomes are these
  really what customers want.
• Include a distanced travel tool to show movement
  towards hard customer outcomes e.g. Housing
  Support Outcomes Matrix.
• Need to identify the customer outcomes of housing
  support especially given competing funding
  priorities within local authorities.

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Take a 5 minute break
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Group Exercise 3

• Duration 10 minutes
• You are tasked with commissioning a visiting
  housing support service to work annually with 100
  new young tenants with recent experiences of
  homelessness. The aim of the service is to ensure
  the young people dont become homeless again.
• Come up with
• Two objectives of the service
• One customer outcome you hope will result from
  achieving each objective (i.e. one outcome per
  objective)
• TIP! Identify what young tenants might need to
  remain settled in their homes.

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EDINBURGH COMMON CLIENT OUTCOMES Monitoring
System

• Collects and Reports Customer Outcomes

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ECCO Lessons Learned

• Challenge of one system across many services
  (180).
• Attributing success to who?
• Get a system that you can control i.e. minimise
  future development costs.
• Properly support it polished training,
  guidance, telephone support.
• Listen to system users e.g. ECCO User Group
• Use the information and be seen doing so report
  back to providers and their customers, report to
  audiences that can act (strategic groups,
  commissioners, elected members, boards).
• SHOW OUTCOME COLLECTION MAKES A DIFFERENCE FOR
  CUSTOMERS!

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Questions