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KOBOTOOLBOX

Integrating Kobotoolbox Offline Data with Impact Data Analytics

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KOBOTOOLBOX FOR IMPACT MEASUREMENT

KoBoToolbox is a popular and free open-source tool for mobile data collection. It allows you to collect data in the field using mobile devices such as mobile phones or tablets and paper or computers. The real challenge begins once data are collected.  Impact Cloud and Kobotoolbox integrated solution simplifies data analysis and puts monitoring and evaluation on a faster impact evaluation path.

Kobotoolbox and Impact Cloud is an innovative impact measurement platform designed to provide real-time data collection and analytics to the frontline manager.

WHY USE KOBOTOOLBOX?

It is alarming to see so many organizations still collect stakeholder data on a piece of paper! As the smartphone becomes widely used, Kobotoolbox provides one the best alternative for data collection at no-cost
Benefits:
  • Build data collection forms in a short time
  • No cost
  • Get faster results
If you want to set up a continuous impact measurement and management process right from the data collection then you are at the right place.
Then manually transferring the data to Google or excel spreadsheets. Additionally, they have to take this data to analytical tools so that they can prepare a report for their funders.
Increased errors through transcription and late detection of inaccuracies lengthen the reporting time and make the process complex and unreliable. While we empathize with various different ground realities that might have forced the organization to paper-based data collection, we believe that there are better ways! You can make data collection efficient, reliable, and less energy-consuming.
Before we dig deeper, WHY organizations use paper-based data collection?
  1. Lack of internet infrastructure at the data collection sites
  2. Lack of awareness of offline data collection tools
  3. Lack of expertise to collect data on specialized tools
  4. Lack of resources
  5. Lack of intention
If the reasons are between 1 and 4, we strongly believe that we have a solution but if your reason is 5, then it is beyond the scope.
  • 01 What data are you collecting?
  • 02 Need Offline data
    collection?

What data are you collecting?

Before selecting a data collection tool, understand the type of data you need. This crucial step will impact what tool to select, how to analyze, and learn from the data.

Stakeholder Data:

who are your stakeholders and how are you reaching them?
  • Are you collecting data from different types of stakeholders? (for example, students, families, and teachers)
  • Do you need a separate survey for each of them?
  • Do all of them need an offline solution?
  • Are there any language, technology, or resource barriers?

Progress Data:

  • Do you want to measure progress over time?
     To demonstrate the change, organizations want to measure progress over time. In this case, it makes perfect sense to have stage questions.

For example, the baseline, mid-point, and post-pivot indicating what happened before, during, and after the intervention.

Multi-locations:

  • Are there many people collecting data on the same survey at different locations? If this is the case, is there a need for multiple data storage locations or all of the data come and resides in the same location?
  • For simple use cases, collect data in a common location to make life way easier in terms of learning from your data.

Need Offline data collection?

Are your stakeholders residing where the internet is not reliable? If you need off-line data collection, there are many applications to choose from. Depending on your specific needs in terms of the capacity of your staff, the budget, volume of data you can choose a tool.
We at Sopact, recommend KoboToolBox. We love it because it is simple, easy to use, and is completely free. If you are cost-conscious, we would highly recommend KoboToolBox.

How to move from paper-based data collection to KoboToolBox?

Most organizations think that they need to buy expensive tablets to collect data in an offline mode. That is a wrong assumption. There are two fundamental ways,

  • Using Mobile or Tablet devices.
  • Using your web browser.


For offline collection,

  1. Create an account on KoboToolBox
  2. Create a form based on your paper-based survey
  3. Generate an offline browser link to the survey
  4. Use that link to start collecting data

If there is no internet connection, the data gets cached in the browser, and once the internet is available the data can be safely transferred to your kobo account.
If there is an internet connection the data seamlessly gets stored in your KoboToolBox account.


It is as simple as that!

 

 

 

THE SOLUTION

KoboToolBox + Impact Cloud

Now that you simplified your data collection, what is stopping you from learning your impact?

At Sopact, we believe learning from the data should be equally easy.

Introducing a better way to measure and manage the impact from data collected through KoboToolBox. Impact Cloud™ now integrates with your KoboToolBox account and makes it really easy for you to establish an impact measurement and management process for one or more of your projects. All of this without breaking a sweat. If you think it’s a struggle to analyze data collected on Kobo, if you have been using cumbersome excel sheets with multiple tabs, pivot tables, and other tools to analyze the collected data, and you think this is many struggles, then you have come to the right place.

With our new integration in place, you could easily start your impact management journey in these easy steps.
 
  1. Signup for an account on Impact cloud
  2. Connect Impact Cloud™ to your Kobo account using your kobo API token
  3. Select the project for which you want to fetch data
  4. Straightforwardly analyze the data with our auto insights capability that analyzes data automatically
  5. And you could seamlessly create your Impact Framework to keep track of Outcome metrics in the easiest manner possible
Impact Measurement Done Right

MAKING KOBOTOOLBOX VALUABLE

  • CONTINUOUS LEARNING AND IMPROVEMENT can be challenging
  • POST COVID we need more agile and faster remote data collection
  • Longitudinal analysis can become complicated and time-consuming
  • Integration with PowerBI, Tableau can be time-consuming as significant data codification needed
  • Real-time dashboard not possible as every time analyst must clean up and transform data

  • PowerBI, Tableau, and Excel-based approach are more geared toward output analysis. 
  • Designing a scoring based approach can be time-consuming
  • Aligning with SDG and Impact Management based Five Dimensions can be tricky
  • Requires expensive Tableau or PowerBI experienced users
  • Requires a separate license/subscription of Tableau or PowerBI

NEW WAY OF IMPACT MEASUREMENT

Get started on a continuous learning and improvement approach
REAL-TIME IN POST-COVID 19

PATH TO FASTER DATA COLLECTION

As human suffering is increasing during COVID-19 time, many nonprofits (if not all) on the frontline are stretched too thin. If you are focusing on relief work such as food for the needy, safety masks for the first-line workers, mental health counseling, etc. have an increased need to listen to their stakeholders.

  • How can we remain connected with our stakeholders while socially distancing?
  • How about if we can rapidly put together front line data collection from the stakeholders and understand the changing need daily, weekly, or monthly?

These results can help all nonprofits to change intervention methodologies based on their learning.

Watch Full Video
  • Developing Country Data
  • Developed Country Data

Developing Country Data

Enumerator: responsible for collecting data from the beneficiary

  • The beneficiary has a stable internet or wireless plan - The enumerator can send via WhatsApp or Facebook. Follow-up by phone.
  • If the beneficiary does not have a phone - Use Kobo With Voice Base Recording and Decode
  • None feasible - Door to door data collection using Kobotoolbox

Developed Country Data

Email Address: Send using Impact Cloud™

Benefit: Real-time tracking, analytics, and dashboard

Phone Number: Send using Impact Cloud™ using Twilio.

Email or Phone Number Not Available: Create virtual events for training, education or awareness. During pre-survey ask email, phone and demographic information.

Rapid Return on Social Impact

While Kobotoolbox has in-built data analysis, most of the analysis is limited question to question level.  To improve the data 

This analysis:

  • Do not provide deep analysis similar to the pivot table
  • Let you compare results with additional results
  • Broad reporting requires results from multiple sources

Limited Impact Learning

Data collected from Kobotoolbox is often used for justifying results rather than real-time decision making.  

This analysis:

  • Often takes a long time
  • Requires offloading to other statistical packages or visualization tools such as Tableau or PowerBI
  • Reliance on the technical team to do most of the reporting which can take a long time

Aggregation form different data sources

While the survey provides important dimensions, most organizations keep data in multiple systems to truly understand comprehensive impact data analysis

Sources:

  • External data such as Salesforce, NetSuite, Google Spreadsheets, Excel, etc
  • Third-party, external systems for comparison or benchmark
  • On-premise beneficiary data collection
  • Program data
  • Operation data
  • Finance data
  • Offline survey
  • Online Survey
IMPLEMENTATION

Program Comparison

Geolocation, Countries, and Programs

Large organizations looking to see how different programs are comparing requires a systematic data collection, aggregation, and scoring approach.

Impact Framework:

  • Multi-dimensional poverty alleviation framework
  • Consistent data collection and scoring
  • SDG Scorecard

 

Real-time data collection and reporting

As human suffering is increasing during COVID-19 time, many nonprofits (if not all) on the frontline are stretched too thin. If you are focusing on relief work such as food for the needy, safety masks for the first-line workers, mental health counseling, etc. have an increased need to listen to their stakeholders. How can we remain connected with our stakeholders while socially distancing? How about if we can rapidly put together front line data collection from the stakeholders and understand the changing need daily, weekly, or monthly? These results can help all nonprofits to change intervention methodologies based on their learning.

 

 

Integrated Solution

KOBOTOOLBOX AND IMPACT CLOUD - CASE STUDY

Food For The Poor works to uplift poor children, families, and communities in need by providing basic essentials, and opportunities for long-term development. They work in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries. How are they managing their Outcomes?

SoPact Impact Cloud simplifies impact data challenges for collecting offline data through mobile data collection, aggregating results from multiple countries, rolling out a survey and managing changes, and calculating results that align with Food For Poor’s SDG Impact Framework.

CONCLUSION

Kobotoolbox is one of the free and well supported offline data collection tool.  There are thousands of trained monitoring and evaluation practitioners.  Integrated Kobotoolbox and Impact Cloud are taking to a faster impact management journey.