What to monitor

 

Intelligent monitoring requires good decisions on what to monitor.  When considering what information you require under these headings, think carefully about why it is needed.  You should be able to relate the information you ask for to the objectives of your fund.  If you have designed your funding programme following the Decision Support Tool, you will have done this at Stage 2 [1].  Think too who will use it and what for.  You should consider whether there are any alternative ways of getting the information that do not involve getting it from the provider, with the burden that involves.

 

Remember too that your fund must pay the provider for the work involved in collecting and submitting every item of information.  This is part of full cost recovery.

 

We approach this by examining what needs to be monitored:

• Before the award [2] of public money
• During the operation of the agreement.

 

We then also describe a small number of other types of monitoring.

 

We then offer examples of these types of monitoring in practice.

 

What to monitor - before the award

 

At this stage, you should carry out:

• Risk analysis
• Checks for due diligence.

These are discussed in Before the Award.

 

What to monitor - during the operation of the financial agreement

 

During the operation of the financial agreement, you should carry out two types of monitoring:

• Performance monitoring
• Support monitoring.

These are discussed in During Operation.

 

What to monitor - other types of monitoring

 

Funders may need information for four further purposes:

• Process assurance
• Evaluation of the policy
• Further policy development and maintenance
• Parliamentary accountability.

In many cases, funders can obtain this information from elsewhere than providers: for example, much of this information may be obtained through separate contracts with a research organisation.  However, sometimes the information may best be obtained from providers.  We therefore discuss each in turn in Other Monitoring.  We also give examples of how these types of monitoring may be put into practice.

1. Stage 2: Strategic Decisions – Establish specific purpose, Financial relationships with third sector organisations, NAO 2006
2. An award may follow a procurement or be an award of grant or grant-in-aid