Goals and organizations

An impact program needs a clear organizational home and a defined theory-of-change goal. The Admin maintains the organization code and name. The Impact Measurement Platform Administrator records the goal under that organization. The goal carries its own code, effective dates and policy reference. Program owners can then select that goal when they define a program, keeping the intended outcome visible next to observations and later decisions.

This context matters when several organizations report similar outcomes. A program’s organization and definition are separate references. Reviewers can see both before deciding whether the evidence belongs to the program at hand. An active flag on organizations and goals helps the team distinguish current context from a record kept for history.

• Organization identity. Agree a stable code and name for each organization before program entry starts.
• Goal period. Record when the goal applies and the policy reference that explains its use.
• Program link. Select the intended goal on the program rather than repeating its wording in free text.

The Admin owns organization setup; the Impact Measurement Platform Administrator owns the goal record. Operators read that context while preparing programs. Reviewers and analysts use it to interpret outcomes, not to change the goal after an observation has been submitted.

Choose an organization code that survives a display-name change. Agree whether departments should be distinct organizations or share one owner. Record the goal code, effective period and policy reference used by the reporting team. Decide who can mark a goal active and how a replaced goal will be identified for programs already in progress. These decisions make comparisons by definition meaningful across later reporting cycles.

Prepare a small sample of programs under different goals. Verify that each program’s organization agrees with the organization that owns its selected goal. If an incoming source uses a different goal label, document its field mapping before people import observations. The mapping record has a definition reference and an effective date so its interpretation can be checked later.

A department records a goal for its service program with a stable code, effective dates and policy reference. The operator starts an impact program, assigns its owner and selects the department and that goal. An observation arrives with a source identifier and a measured value. The reviewer checks the goal’s identity alongside the program and the observation before recording a decision against the program revision. The analyst can later group reported values by the goal reference rather than by an informal title typed on each line.

If a second department uses similar language for a different goal, its separate organization and code keep its programs distinct. The operator can still work from the same program screen while the organization reference preserves the reporting boundary.

• Programs in collection — Programs with their organization, goal, owner and observation date.
• Program status board — Program status and goal context for the selected reporting work.

Define and collect starts with the goal reference. Review the revision shows how that context reaches the reviewer.