Outcomes frameworks

An outcomes framework is the set of results your organisation measures its grants against: domains, the outcomes under each domain and the indicators under each outcome. You attach a framework to a Grant, set targets, and bind Milestone deliverables to its indicators, so each approved Milestone records the grantee's actual against the target. The results are on the Outcomes tabs; see Outcomes.

Grant, Application, Milestone and Program are your organisation's own terms if you've renamed them.

Before you start

To build, activate or retire a framework you need Can access Settings > Templates. Anyone who can see your templates can read the frameworks.
To attach a framework to a Grant and set its targets you need to be able to edit and publish the Grant.

The frameworks list

Go to Plan > Outcomes frameworks. Each framework is listed with every version, and each version shows its status (Draft, Active or Retired), how many indicators it has and the Grants it is attached to. Select New framework to start an empty one, Import framework to load one from a CSV file, or Start from a starter framework to copy a ready-made one. Select a version to open it.

Import a framework from a CSV file

Select Import framework.
Under CSV file, choose the file. Backed reads it and shows a preview. Nothing is created yet.
Check the preview. It lists the domain, outcome, indicator, unit and direction of every row, and under Rows with problems each problem with its line number.
Change the Framework name if you want to. It starts as the file's name.
Select Import. The framework is created as a Draft and opens in the builder, where you can change anything before you activate it.

The file needs a header row (line 1) with the columns domain, outcome, indicator, definition, unit and direction. Each row after it is one indicator, under the outcome and domain it names. definition may be empty. unit is one of number, currency, percentage or people, and direction is one of increase, decrease or maintain.

A file can hold up to 2,000 indicator rows. A bigger file is refused before any row is read: you see This file has more than 2,000 rows. Import a file of 2,000 rows or fewer.

Every problem in the file is listed with its line, and Import stays unavailable until there are none. Backed reports, among others:

a unit or direction that is not one of the codes above
the same indicator twice under one outcome
a missing value, or a column missing from the header or named twice

Fix the rows in the file and choose it again.

Start from a starter framework

Select Start from a starter framework.
Choose a starter. Each shows how many domains, outcomes and indicators it has.
Change the Framework name if you want to. It starts as the starter's name.
Select Copy. The copy is created as a Draft and opens in the builder.

Two starters are offered:

Sustainable Development Goals: the United Nations goals at goal and target level, each goal a domain and each of its targets an outcome.
Results-based accountability: a template with a population result and the three performance questions (How much did we do?, How well did we do it? and Is anyone better off?), each with example indicators.

Neither starter carries baselines or targets; you set those when you attach the framework to a Grant. The copy is your organisation's own draft: change, add or remove anything in it. The starter itself never changes.

Build a framework

A new framework is a Draft. In the builder:

Add a domain, then the outcomes under it, then the indicators under each outcome.
Give each indicator a name and a definition, and choose its unit (Number, Currency, Percentage or People) and its direction (Higher is better, Lower is better or Hold steady).
Select Save.
When the framework is ready, select Activate. Only an Active framework can be attached to a Grant.

Select Retire to stop a framework or one of its indicators being used.

Versions

Editing an Active framework never changes what it has already collected. Your edit creates the next version as a new Draft (version 2 after version 1), and a framework has one draft version at a time. Activating the new version retires the one before it. Milestone templates bound to the earlier version keep collecting into it, and the Outcomes tabs label every figure with its version.

What Backed refuses

Retiring or removing an indicator a Milestone template in use is bound to: you see A Milestone Template in use is bound to this indicator, so it cannot be retired or removed.
Changing an indicator's unit once actuals are recorded against it: you see Actuals have been recorded against this indicator, so its unit can no longer change.
Activating a framework that is not a draft, or starting a second draft of an active framework: you see Only a draft framework can be activated, and an active framework has one draft version at a time. Edit that draft instead.
Giving a framework a name another framework has: you see A framework with this name already exists.

Attach a framework to a Grant

Open the Grant. On its Details page, find the Framework panel below the Reporting panel.
Choose a framework under Attach a framework and select Attach. Only Active frameworks are offered; you can attach more than one.
For each indicator, enter an optional baseline and target for the whole Grant, then select Save targets.

Each Application's own baseline and target are set on its Outcomes tab; see Outcomes.

Bind to indicator

Binding ties a deliverable to an indicator, so the grantee's answer becomes the actual.

Go to Plan > Form templates, open the Milestones tab and select the template.
In the Bind to indicator panel, each Number and Currency field of the deliverables form is listed. Choose an indicator for each field you want to count. The indicators offered come from the frameworks attached to any Grant.
Select Save bindings.

Only a number or currency field can be bound. When the grantee completes the Milestone they see the indicator's unit, their baseline and their target beside the field, and enter the period's actual. Approving the Milestone records the actual. A Milestone that is unapproved, declined or sent back for resubmission records nothing.

What is recorded

Importing a framework or copying a starter, activating, versioning and retiring a framework, setting a target and recording an actual each leave an entry in your organisation's audit log.