plotlineEvaluation

Where your data becomes your story.

Sample deliverables

What you receive from us, shown on a fictional program and a fictional company. Every name, number and quote on this page is invented for illustration.

Every deliverable comes in the format you will use: full report, executive summary, slide deck, one-page brief or dashboard.

Dashboard

The measures your funder and your board ask about, kept current.

Sample · fictional program, invented data

Program dashboard: year 1

312Participants enrolled
78%Still engaged at 6 months
64%Referrals completed within 30 days
9.4Mentor contacts per participant

New enrollments by month

14
35
ONDJFMAMJJAS

October to September. On a live dashboard every figure updates as data comes in and can be filtered by site and group.

Logic model

How the program is meant to work, on one page, agreed with your team before any data is collected.

Sample · fictional program

Harbor Peer Support Program: logic model

Peer mentoring for veterans and first responders in a mid-sized county. Fictional, for illustration.

Inputs

  • Trained peer mentors, veterans and first responders
  • Program coordinator
  • County grant
  • Referral agreements with counseling partners

Activities

  • One-to-one peer mentoring
  • Monthly group sessions
  • Warm referrals to counseling and benefits

Outputs

  • Participants enrolled
  • Mentor contacts
  • Referrals made and completed

Short-term outcomes

  • Stronger social connection
  • Knows where to get help
  • Lower reported stress

Long-term outcomes

  • Sustained help-seeking
  • Improved wellbeing
  • Fewer crises

Evaluation plan

The questions the evaluation will answer, and exactly how each one will be measured.

Sample · fictional program

Evaluation plan: questions and measures

Evaluation questionMeasureData sourceWhen
Is the program reaching the people it was designed for?Enrollment by service background and referral sourceIntake formsMonthly
Do participants feel more connected, and do they know where to get help?Share agreeing with each statementParticipant survey, paper and onlineIntake and 6 months
What makes peer mentoring work, and what gets in the way?Themes from participants and mentorsFocus groups and interviewsMonths 5 and 6
Are referrals completed?Referrals completed within 30 daysReferral logQuarterly

Final report

Written to be used, not filed. Each finding puts the numbers and the voices side by side.

Sample · fictional program

Plotline Evaluation · Year 1 evaluation report · Fictional

Harbor Peer Support Program: what changed in year 1, and why

Contents

  1. Executive summary
  2. The program and how it is meant to work (logic model)
  3. Evaluation questions and methods
  4. Findings: reach, connection, help-seeking, referrals
  5. Recommendations, in priority order
  6. Appendices: survey, focus group guide, data tables

Methods at a glance

  • Participant survey at intake and 6 months, 118 matched responses
  • Six focus groups and twelve one-on-one interviews
  • Program records: enrollment, mentor contacts, referral log
  • Qualitative and quantitative results read together, finding by finding

Every report also comes as an executive summary, a slide deck and a one-page brief.

A page from the report

Sample · fictional program, invented data

Finding 2. Participants feel more connected, and shared experience is why.

What changed

Participant survey, 118 people who answered at intake and at 6 months.

At intakeAt 6 months
I have someone I can talk to
41%
72%
I know where to get help
55%
83%
My stress is high most days (lower is better)
64%
46%

Why it changed

Six focus groups and twelve interviews. Quotes are written for this sample.

They have been there.

My mentor didn’t need me to explain the job. That’s why I kept showing up.Participant, focus group

Help on their schedule.

Texts at 2 a.m. after a bad shift. That’s when it mattered.Participant, interview

What gets in the way: referrals stall at the handoff.

I got the counselor’s number, and nobody called me back for three weeks.Participant, interview

What it means. The survey shows the change. The focus groups show how it happens: shared experience builds the trust that makes a referral possible, and a slow handoff puts that trust at risk.

One-page brief

For the board meeting, the funder and anyone who will not read the full report.

Sample · fictional program, invented data

Harbor Peer Support Program: year 1 at a glance

What we found

  • Connection rose from 41% to 72% of participants in six months.
  • Participants credit mentors who share their background.
  • Only 64% of referrals are completed within 30 days.

What it means

The mentoring model works. The weak point is the handoff to counseling, where slow callbacks undo trust the mentors have built.

What to do next

  • Agree a 72-hour callback standard with counseling partners.
  • Recruit more first-responder mentors; demand from dispatchers exceeds supply.
  • Keep after-hours text contact, and fund it in the renewal.

A business evaluation finding

The same methods, applied to how a company gets its work done.

Sample · fictional company, invented data

Order to delivery: where the days go

A regional distributor, fictional. Average days per step, 400 orders from the order system, 12 observed shifts, 9 staff interviews.

Order entry
0.4 days
Credit approval (the bottleneck)
2.3 days
Picking
0.9 days
Packing
0.3 days
Dispatch
1.1 days

The numbers: credit approval takes 2.3 of the 5 days from order to delivery.

What we saw: approvals are done in one batch after lunch, so morning orders wait a day. Most orders held were from repeat customers with no payment problems.

We’re not checking anything on those accounts. We’re just waiting for the batch.Staff member, interview. Written for this sample.

Recommendation: approve repeat customers automatically up to a set credit limit, and review the rest twice a day.

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