Collaboration and Outcomes Monitoring    -   SPIN

Over the past three years MACS have been committed to developing outcomes monitoring systems in order to evidence the quality support we offer to young people accessing our services.

As part of the Supporting People outcomes pilot 2008/2010 we developed a bespoke online  IT database system called SPIN that monitors hard outcomes.  We selected 16 outcome areas to measure which fit into the five higher level strategic areas of the outcomes framework.  The five higher level areas include; Economic well-being, Enjoy and achieve, Be healthy, Stay safe and Make a positive contribution.

The SPIN system is used to record, measure and analyse hard outcomes for young people and it enables us as an organisation to evidence details such as how many young people received the correct benefits, how many maintained their tenancies, how many accessed training and employment etc. 

The SPIN system generates reports that allow the analysis of outcomes information and provide us with an overall picture of service performance, gaps in provision, staff training needs, service strengths and young people’s progress.

During this year our work on outcomes monitoring has been consolidated and strengthened.  Our bespoke online database SPIN has completed its stage two development and we are now able to record both the hard and soft outcomes of the young people we have supported. We have also developed a reporting system which generates the data required by Supporting People to provide quarterly reports monitoring reports to SPOCC.   

We also successfully secured funding from the Building Change Trust and Supporting People in October 2010 to collaborate with four other providers. This pilot has provided the other organisations with the opportunity to use the system for six months with mentoring support from MACS and to allow MACS to develop a plan based on their experience for a stage three development which will make it universally adaptable for any Supporting People provider. MACS hope to develop a social enterprise project and sell the SPIN outcomes monitoring system to other organisations next year. The pilot will be completed in October 2011 and a showcase event is planned for December 2011.

Our Outcomes work continues to enable us to develop and improve our services to young people in order to meet their needs and enables us as an organisation to clearly evidence the impact of our interventions.