Data in records, registers, and forms are extremely difficult to use in themselves. Data in client records will tell the provider what she or he needs to know about the individual client, but program managers will need a summary of this data to be able to make decisions concerning the client population as a whole rather than individual clients.

Registers with long columns of data usually are not useful unless the individual items are synthesized into one or two numerical measures that provide information on the program indicator being studied.

The ability to summarize data is extremely important. The first steps in summarizing data are known as tabulations, which means adding numbers and using the tools to calculate percentages and averages. A high level of accuracy is required, and those who are responsible for this task need to have basic arithmetic skills. Since poorly designed records, registers, and forms can lead to mistakes, it is important, as noted before, to make sure that the data collection instruments help rather than interfere with the process of tabulating the data.

Tabulations of data present the first step in analyzing data. Totals, percentages, and averages usually give you basic information for your indicator measures. In many cases these summaries may be all you need to make decisions. Often totals, percentages, and averages provide sufficient information about the performance and operation of individual sites in a clinic-based program, a community-based distribution program, or a specific component of a program such as information, education, and communication.

However, as a manager of a family planning program that covers a variety of sites for several types of program activities, you may need to examine the results from other perspectives in order to get the kind of information which will help in interpreting the meaning of the indicators and in making decision.

After tabulations, the main types of data processing are aggregation, disaggregation, and projection. These methods involve a variety of sorting techniques and mathematical skills. Small projects with few service delivery sites may be able to conduct these analyses manually. Larger projects may requires some professional assistance or the help of a computer to do the analyses.

At the very least, family planning managers should always aggregate, or combine, the data if there is more than one site where activities are taking place, in order to get an overview of the program.

In aggregating the summarized data from different sites, you need to:

• Make sure the data you are aggregating come from the same type of site. Data from clinic-based programs should only be combined with data from other clinic-based programs. Similarly, data from community-based programs should only be combined with data from community-based programs.
• Make sure the aggregated information corresponds to the type of information that has been summarized from individual records, registers, or forms. If you summarize the numbers of new clients, continuing users, and contraceptive methods for each group from a clinic or community-based distribution register, you should include the exact same information from each site on the form you use to aggregate this information from the different sites. In other words, forms for aggregating information from the various program sites should be clearly related to the original information collection forms. When the forms do not match, vital information necessary for decision making will be lost.

Every time you tabulate or analyze information for your own or someone else's use, you are preparing a report. You have to plan your reporting method carefully so that the information is easily understandable and clearly relates to program performance or operational indicators. Carefully planning the tabulation and aggregation of data from the different project activities is the first step in preparing appropriate and useful reports.

In general, plan every report carefully. Using the checklist presented below will ensure that the major characteristics of a good report are present.

Preparing a Report

When you prepare reports, try to use charts and graphs to present the most important information. Charts and graphs can make the information easier to understand, especially when looking at changes that occur over time (such as with the contraceptive prevalence rate) or when making a comparison, such as the use of various contraceptive methods or the acceptance of family planning among different target groups.

Being able to understand the information easily has important benefits:

• It generates interest in the information, which promotes decision making;
• When staff members are interested in the information, they collect the data with greater attention and care and are therefore more accurate.

Reports constitute the memory of the program and the organization, so you need to make sure that everyone in your organization has easy access to them.

No reporting is complete without feedback. By letting the staff know how well the reporting has been done and how useful the information is, the manager shows appreciation of the effort which the staff have made to collect and present the information. Feedback also demonstrates the value and importance of the reports to the manager. It is one of a manager's most powerful tools for motivating staff. For example, reports can be circulated in a newsletter that presents comparisons of performance or operational achievements of the different sites in a family planning program. This newsletter can be used to motivate staff to improve their work or to maintain performance levels.

Feedback is the way to have the management information system provide complete, timely, and accurate information for decision making. The MIS will work best if all staff members are involved in its development, if everyone is clear about its objectives, and if everyone knows that the information is being used. You, as the manager, as well as every supervisor who receives a report, must recognize the effort of the family planning workers who maintain the information system by regularly acknowledging the effort they put into this task and by providing professional assessments of the results of these efforts.

Feedback is best when it is done systematically. It is of critical importance to come full circle in the reporting process. This means that the manager must check that appropriate decisions or actions have been made based on the information provided.

Has information been reported on all the key indicators?
Have all gaps or insufficiencies been identified?
Is the information in the reports accurate and reliable?
Have the data been interpreted and have the conclusions been included in the report?
Does the report indicate decisions or actions that have been taken based on the reported information?

As the family planning program evolves over time, you as the manger will have to revise the performance and operational indicators and modify the data collection instruments. If you can make changes in light of the following principle, your management information system will continue to meet your needs: Make sure you have a reason for collecting each item of information, and make sure the information you collect is up-to-date, reliable, and accurate.

Managing and Using Information