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Evaluation of Community Futures (CF) Program Management Response and Action Plan

Recommendations Action Plan Responsibility Expected Completion Date
The department should clarify CF activities that count as community economic development.
  • Clarity in community economic development is needed for better performance reporting in this activity. Interview results indicate that respondents were not very familiar with the CF activities that count as community economic development.
  • Given the broad nature of community economic development, evaluation advisory committee members indicated that reporting on indicators is very subjective.
The department has recently carried out a review of performance indicators and definitions, in consultation with CFs. As a result of this review, WD has clarified the definition of the CED performance indicators and this has been communicated through WD information sessions and Common Goals training sessions. The department will continue to ensure consistency in the definition, approaches and measurement of related performance reporting. ADM, Policy and Strategic Direction and ADM, Saskatchewan August 29, 2014
The department should examine the effectiveness of the CF reporting system to report on outcomes and ensure better integration with departmental systems.
  • The Evaluation Team faced challenges in importing data from the CF database into a format that integrates with departmental systems.
  • CFs indicated that retrieving information for the client survey was a huge burden on their limited resources.
  • This issue regarding the database system was recognized in the 2008 Evaluation but action on it was deferred by the department.
The department is currently implementing the transition to CRM for CF Reporting, to allow for better integration with departmental systems and reporting on outcomes. This is being done through collaboration between WD’s Policy and Strategic Directions Branch and WD’s Information Management and Technology (IMT) Branch. The CF Performance Measurement Strategy identified the need for CFs to establish and maintain a contact list for community-based projects. The department will communicate this requirement to CFs to facilitate future Evaluation surveys. ADM, Policy and Strategic Direction March 31, 2015
The department should continue to work with other Regional Development Agencies on enhancing analysis of long-term outcomes using Statistics Canada data runs. The department may want to explore using this method of assessing long-term outcomes for other departmental programs.
  • This evaluation relied to a great extent on the analysis of the Statistics Canada data runs to report on ultimate outcomes for the CFP.
The department will continue to work with and examine other opportunities to use Statistics Canada data runs to support the analysis of longer-term program outcomes where possible, in collaboration with other RDAs. ADM, Policy and Strategic Direction March 31, 2016
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