Build your Theory of Change

This builder is for managers and admins, using their own view. If you are looking at the system as someone else, it asks you to switch back first.

Steps

1. Open Half-term reports, then Theory of Change. Five columns show Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Outcomes and Impact.
2. Press the plus button above a column to add a node. Type its label when asked.
3. Press Edit details on a node to give it a fuller name and a description.
4. Press from on one node, then link on another, to draw an arrow between them. Press cancel to stop.
5. Press metric on a node, choose a saved report and press Save report to tie the node to a figure.
6. Press delete on a node to remove it, and confirm. Its arrows go with it.

If it goes wrong

• If a message says a change could not be confirmed, reload the page and check the diagram before you try again.
• If the page says the Theory of Change could not be loaded, use the Reload link. Your existing diagram has not been changed.
• If a node has no report to choose from, save a report in the builder first.

What a Theory of Change is

It is a map of how your work leads to change. Inputs are what you put in, such as staff and funding. Activities are what you do. Outputs are what you deliver. Outcomes are the difference made, and impact is the long-term change. The arrows show how one leads to the next.

Adding and editing nodes

Each column has its own add button. The label you type is the text shown on the node. Edit details lets you change the label and add a longer description. A check makes sure your entry is saved before the node changes on screen.

Drawing links

Press from on the node an arrow should start at. A message asks you to click the destination. Press link on the node where it should end. Arrows run left to right, so link a node in an earlier column to one in a later column.

Tying a node to a report

Press metric to choose one of your organisation's saved reports. The node then shows the report name as its metric. This is how you show the evidence for an outcome. Build and save the report first.

Who sees the diagram

The diagram belongs to your organisation. Managers and admins can edit it.

How it links together

Nodes are your own words. The metric button ties a node to a saved report, so the evidence is the same live figure shown elsewhere. Changing the report changes what the node points at. The diagram is kept per organisation and does not alter any child's record.