All the administrative and professional staff in your family planning program will need to use information to make better decisions. Once you have decided the kind of information each person or unit needs, you must determine the most efficient way to obtain and report information. The movement of information within your organization is called information flow.

Information flow depends on several factors:

• Who needs the information. Detailed information on the project bank account should go to the finance manager.
• How the information is used. The program director may need to combine clinical and financial data to assess the cost-effectiveness of the services provided at different clinics.
• What level of detail is needed. The family planning provider may need very detailed information on the status of each client.
• What format should be used to present the information (tables, charts, reports). The regional program director may require tables summarizing information on continuing users by district, in order to compare family planning coverage among providers in his region.

As information moves from one user to another, the amount of detail provided and the format in which the information is presented will change. These changes in detail and format (words, numerical tables, charts, or graphs) should correspond to the needs of the user and the level at which the information will be used.

To ensure that the information is moving as needed, you can prepare an information flow table. This table shows the staff who will need to use the information, how the information will be used by each staff member, how detailed the information needs to be, and what reporting needs to be done with the information you plan to collect.

This table will help you to verify whether the information is circulating appropriately, to discover what information flow problems exist, and to decide what to do to improve the situation. You can continually update this table to see how your information flow changes as the program evolves and information needs change. In the following example, the information flow chart has been filled out for a community-based distribution program.

After you have selected the appropriate indicators, identified the sources of information, and considered how the information will flow among your staff, you are ready to review the instruments and procedures for collecting data. A great deal of effort often goes into routine information collection, so it is important to ensure that the information is easy to collect and use.

Routine data are obtained from different sources using different types of data collection instruments. The types of instruments required will depend on the information you need to collect.

Common types of service-related data collection instruments include:

• Individual client record;
• Clinic contraceptive service register;
• Village contraceptive distribution register;
• Contraceptive service delivery register for private providers;
• Client log of family planning clinics;
• Registration and mapping of potential family planning users.

In addition, a family planning program requires administrative data, which can be collected using the following instruments:

• Contraceptive inventory form;
• Record of a supervisory session.

All data collection instruments should be thought of as a package of inter-related tools that help managers to obtain the information that they need in order to make good management decisions.

Tools and Techniques - Common Routine Data Collection Instrument and Their Uses

When records, registers, and forms cannot be modified right away, make the best of the forms that you have by aiming for accuracy, legibility, and ease of tabulation.

After you have identified the key indicators you wish to use, you may find that all the information in the current forms and registers is useful now that you know how and why to use it. If the instruments provide more information than is necessary, prepare a supplementary tabulation sheet to obtain daily summaries of the information you require. Daily summaries will ensure that you have access to the key indicator information as it is needed.

When all data collection instruments are in final form, it is advisable to prepare a short manual on how to use each instrument. The manual should describe who should fill out the forms and how often and under what circumstances they need to be filled out, and it should provide detailed instructions on how the forms should be filled out. In addition, the manual should describe the reporting format and indicate how frequently and to whom the report should be sent. The manual should also indicate examples of how the information could be used.

Example from Indonesia - Data Colection Forms

Sometimes managers will need information that is not available from the records, registers, or forms that are used routinely. Examples of non-routine information include special characteristics of clients and providers and the way family planning services are delivered. Special survey and research methods can be used to obtain this type of information. These methods may involve added expense and may require specialists to design and carry them out.

Your role as family planning manager is to identify times that you need additional information and to contact an expert to help you design and conduct these special investigations. You should ensure that both you and your staff are involved in the design and implementation of these special investigations, as well as in the analysis and interpretation of the results.

Tools and Techniques - Non-Routine Information for Decision-Making

Tools and Techniques - Rapid Assessment Of The Quality And Care At Clinics