November 2002

Documenting Local Program Progress

Minnesota Department of Health’s E-Chronicle

Amy Ellestad, MPH

Jennifer Ellsworth, MPH

Minnesota Department of Health

November 2002

Where it all Began: Minnesota Tobacco Use Prevention and

Local Public Health Endowment

Minnesota Youth Tobacco Prevention InitiativeComponents Counteradvertising Campaign Youth Organizing/Youth Development Statewide Support Grants Local Partnership Grants Populations-at-risk Grants

November 2002

Where it all Began: Minnesota Tobacco Use Prevention and

Local Public Health Endowment

Youth Risk Behavior InitiativeBehaviors Addressed Alcohol and other drug use Sexual behavior that may result in pregnancy, HIV and

STD’s Violence Suicide Physical Inactivity Unhealthy Dietary Behavior

November 2002

E-Chronicle Development

Total planning process: approximately 1 year Development of system: 3 months Involved key MDH stakeholders to define

project goals, values, and requirements (several months)

November 2002

E-Chronicle Development

Obtained grantee input through: paper survey teleconference calls face-to-face meetings Competitive RFP and

selected vendor

Definition of requirements and design of database

November 2002

Results of Planning Process

Grantee Needs/Desires Simple, easy-to-use reporting system Not duplicate information for similar

programs Allow subcontractors to use same system

November 2002

Results of Planning Process

Grantee Needs/Desires Tie activities to program objectives View what other grantees are doing and to

make comparisons Use system for program evaluation

November 2002

Results of Planning Process

MDH Needs/Desires Capture summary information about progress made

towards grantee’s objectives Capture high impact activities Create a system that other MDH programs can use

in the future Accountability to the Legislature and other

stakeholders

November 2002

E-Chronicle Features

Generic: other MDH community health promotion programs can use

Flexible: can add programs with their own individualized questions

Link to program objectives: activities are tied to one or multiple program objectives, programs can choose either individualized objectives or standardized objectives

Multiple MDH funding sources: allows and activity to be reported only once when there is more than one funding source

November 2002

E-Chronicle Report Highlights

Grantees will be able to see what other grantees are doing by a particular focus area, region of the state, or grantee name

Grantees will track progress made toward their program objectives

Grantees will have available summary tables that compare their activities to their particular region of the state, and to the state as a whole. Proportion of activities by:

Key collaborators Target audience Focus area Youth involvement

November 2002

Challenges

Not able to use standardized reporting tool for individualized program evaluation

Planning process takes time, involves many people Creating a generic system for multiple programs Buy-in from other programs will be a future

challenge

November 2002

Successes

Simple, easy to use First MDH web-based reporting system for

community health promotion programs Collaboration between programs has created a

system that can be used by multiple programs Ability to document progress towards program

objectives

November 2002

E-Chronicle Website Development

Check it out at:

http://www.go-e-biz.com/mdh

Website will be up until December 2002.

November 2002

Collaborative EffortAcknowledgement

go-e-biz staff:Anand DoshiRyan McCabe

MDH staff:Gretchen GriffinSteve RingPaul MartinezLeAnn SimonsonPati Maier