Annual Reporting

Sami Grimes and Heather Triezenberg Sea Grant Week – New Orleans

October 16, 2010

Outline

• Components of an annual report• How annual report information is used• How do annual reports fit into the planning,

implementation and evaluation (PIE) system• Network concerns• Feedback Results• What to expect for next year’s annual reporting

process• Discussion/Questions and Answers

What are the components of an annual report?

• Program and Project Impacts• Performance Measures• Program Metrics• Project Updates

Dates – follow grant year (2/1 – 1/31)(3) Perf. Measures

(2) ProgramMetrics

(1) Program & Project Impacts

(4) Project Updates

Dates follow grant year (2/1 – 1/31)

Sea Grant Milestones from 2009-2010 Annual Report

4

3,500 jobs and 650 businesses created or retainedSG assisted 160 coastal communities adopt or implement hazard resiliency practices 1,700 undergraduate and graduate students supported 128 peer-reviewed journal articles published Leveraged over $86M186 coastal communities restored degraded ecosystems (nearly 32,000 acres)

Programs now have access to the national information from the National website.

How is annual report information used?

Nationally - • Mandatory reporting to NOAA, Dept. of

Commerce and Office of Management & Budget

• Budget request narratives• Tell the national and state

program stories• Create Hill briefing materials

How is annual report information used? (con’t)

• Assess progress towards program plan (annual self-evaluation)

• Create Performance Progress Reports for NOAA grants online requirement

• Other sea grant program reporting or communication purposes

How do annual reports fit into the PIE system?

• Track and report progress against plans over a one-year period (program self-evaluation)

• The current program annual report goes to members of the Site Review Teams

• Basis for discussion of the program for the NSGO Review (information sharing)

• Beginning in 2015, a collection of annual reports (2010-2014) will serve as the basis for the Performance Review Panel review

Annual Report - Network Concerns

To better serve the network: we listened, we implemented:

• Weekly annual report conference calls• Impact Guidance• Definitions for Metrics and Perf.

Measures• Invited feedback

Methods

• SGA & Advisory Board• Census of programs (via directors)• Online feedback form (surveymonkey.com)• September 17 – October 1.

– 1 invitation, 1 reminder/thank-you – No non-response check

• 18/32 programs completed form (56%)

Results

Results

Results

Results

• Comments on performance measures:• ”Easy to count attendees of workshops; but more difficult to

determine who modified practices. Difficult to determine who implemented practices and how much SG was a factor.”

• “The definitions, and deciding exactly how to count what things, remains a challenge. For example, it is quite subjective and variable to define (a) a coastal community, (b) a sustainable practice, and (c) whether a practice has been adopted or implemented specifically as a result of our program, thus making it difficult to accurately measure that particular performance measure.”

Q10

Results

Results

Results

Results

Q25

Results

• Please describe ideas for how the National Sea Grant College Program can improve planning and reporting processes that best capture the excellence of Sea Grant Programs. (Please type below.)– Align impacts and performance measures reporting with grants

reporting. – Appears to be little relationship between omnibus and PIE.– Administrative burdens have become an enormous drain.– We worry about too much reliance on data output without

analysis or thoughtful synthesis.– Increase capacity of National Office.– We need to get beyond the numbers to the qualitative impacts

on people/communities wherever possible.

Results

• General comments:– Provide feedback to programs on how data were used.– We appreciate the efforts that the NSGO staff are putting in

trying to shift the network into this new system. It's been as difficult for the National Office as it has for the programs. We also recognize that NOAA, OMB and Congress can always add new expectations. We're heading in the right direction, and if we can keep to the path we are currently following for the foreseeable future with few changes, it will benefit the entire network. Thanks!

What to expect for next year’s annual reporting process

• Guidance will be sent out by Feb. 2011• Content of annual report will be similar to

last year, but will also include progress towards your program plan

• Mechanism to collect the information is currently unknown

• NIMS – programs have an opportunity to help shape the system – become a beta-tester!

Discussion/Question and Answers