Monitoring & Evaluation officers naturally deal with a lot of data. It is part of their job to collect and process them, and to prepare them for reporting. Especially when confronted with numbers, most people’s first intuition is to open an Excel file and start a table. This is a smart choice considering that
most people have Excel installed on their computer, it's free (after you have purchased the Microsoft office package – which most organizations have), it's relatively easy to use after some practice, there are a lot of online help pages, manuals and video...M&E
Eight Criteria for Selecting Monitoring Software
Veröffentlicht von Robert Heine am 10.12.2020 - 09:32
This checklist will help you to find the monitoring software that caters best to your program needs and requirements. It is based on our experience in advising development programs on monitoring and evaluation processes and systems.
1 Features
For which step in the monitoring process do you need the software? Reflect on your feature requirements for data collection, data processing or management, the level of aggregation and on features for data output to support reporting and learning. Check what kind of data, quantitative or qualitative, can be handled...
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M&E 
IT for Monitoring and Evaluation – Four questions you should consider to get the right tool
Veröffentlicht von Lisa Feldmann am 30.11.2020 - 10:48
We are happy to introduce you to our new blog series on how to get the right IT tool for your monitoring!
In four different blog posts we address the following questions:
Do I need IT tools at all for my M&E system? For which process in the M&E cycle do I need IT tools? How do I choose the right software approach for my M&E system? Three points to consider How do I get the right M&E tool?Check them out and learn more about the different aspects you should consider before deciding what kind of software support or which tool you need for...
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M&E 
Tricky indicators and how to deal with them
Veröffentlicht von Melanie Uhlen am 28.09.2020 - 09:39
Indicator development can be quite a challenge and far too often, no M&E expert is involved in this process. Consequently, M&E staff often has to work with difficult indicators. Based on my experience as an M&E consultant, in this article I give some examples of tricky indicators and make suggestions on how to report and present their progress.
Ideally, an indicator should cover only one aspect. In that case, it is easy to display its progress in a chart, because there is a clear and unidimensional progress trajectory. For example, if the indicator says "Three...
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M&E How do I get the right M&E tool?
Veröffentlicht von Lisa Feldmann am 01.10.2019 - 12:56
Now that we’ve come to the end of the blog series, the final question for you is How do I get the necessary tool?
Basically, there are three scenarios:
1: Use available software
There are many M&E software tools available and many providers offer free trial versions. Sometimes the complete software is even free. Check if the software fits your requirements and check if the provider is willing to do adjustments for you. Some only sell their software out of the box (love it or leave it) some (like us) are M&E experts as well and can customize the tool (...
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M&E How do I choose the right software approach for my M&E system? Three points to consider
Veröffentlicht von Lisa Feldmann am 01.10.2019 - 12:47
You’re thinking about using IT tools for your monitoring system? Then consider the following three points before taking a decision:
Should it be file-based or web-based? Should it be a database or do Excel tables suffice? Should it be online or offline?1. File-based IT approaches have the disadvantage that data and information is often scattered across different documents with several versions circulating for example via email. Access to the latest information can be difficult within a team. It needs a person who is responsible to consolidate all information...
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M&E For which process in the M&E cycle do I need IT tools?
Veröffentlicht von Lisa Feldmann am 01.10.2019 - 12:41
The answer will depend on your program needs, as all along the M&E cycle there are various steps where software can support your work. For example, there are tools for data collection (online, offline, GIS based), some offer data analysis some don't. You might want to use Excel or programs such as SPSS instead for sound statistical analysis. Visualization software can help show results more clearly than any text description could. You also need to think about how to communicate results and to whom. Are monitoring or evaluation results meant for internal program steering only, or do...
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M&E Do I need IT tools at all for my M&E system?
Veröffentlicht von Lisa Feldmann am 01.10.2019 - 12:32
Are you a beginner with monitoring and evaluation (M&E) or starting a new project or program in the development sector? Then you will probably also think about IT tools, how and where to use them. There are plenty of tools and software out there. Getting an overview is not an easy task.
But wait, before spending your time researching for tools, go a step back and ask yourself if you really need IT tools at all for your M&E system. It may sound a bit heretical since everything nowadays is IT supported. However, it makes sense to be aware of some of it shortcomings. For...
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M&E Results-based Monitoring without Indicators: The Soft Monitoring Approach
Veröffentlicht von Melanie Uhlen am 23.11.2018 - 08:09
Results-based monitoring without indicators? Really? You are probably thinking now: “No way! As M&E consultants we spend so much time and capacity-building efforts to teach people about the importance of well-defined indicators and now you're telling us that indicators are not at all important?” Don’t worry, I don't. Indicators are great. Here is what I mean:
In results-based monitoring we ideally use indicators to measure progress. Provided that they meet the SMART criteria, indicators help us to make the intangible measurable and to systematically and objectively track...
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M&E MERL Tech Jozi Takeaways: Matching Needs and Tools
Veröffentlicht von Melanie Uhlen am 16.08.2018 - 14:12
In the first week of August, I attended the MERL Tech in Johannesburg, where the tech community in the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning space met for an intense two-day conference. I was given the opportunity to present our software WebMo for Monitoring and Collaboration as well as host a session of our unique “The Wikipedia Approach to Monitoring”. However, it turned out that my role at that conference had more faces: As much as I’m a developer of WebMo – I’m also a consultant. In my work I want to make sure that anyone approaching me on the subject “IT for M&E” gets...