Project Mapping Template

File

http://evalu-ate.org/downloads/resources/CTCTemplateForConduit_(1)1.xlsx

Author

Helen Sullivan

Summary

Helen Sullivan, of the Convergence Technology Center, shared this resource as a tool to map out a project’s activities. She says, “Managing the work of a project or center can be overwhelming with all the activities to coordinate. A project plan template provides a straightforward solution to the challenge. At Convergence Technology Center, our project plan helps us stay on top of our goals and objectives, show evidence of activities and outcomes, develop our yearly report, and gather information for grant proposals or renewals.

“We use Excel to create our project plan, with a separate spreadsheet for each goal. An excerpt from our 2009 project map appears below. First, we explicitly state Goal 2 and Objective A. Then each activity gets a row on the map, starting with a description (Activity); the people working on it, with the leader’s name underlined (Prime); specific deliverable(s) and what constitutes evidence of success (Deliverables/Evidence); when to expect and gather evidence and deliverables (Timeline); insights and information to discuss at project review meetings (Comments/Suggestions); and a record of progress by quarter (Status).”

Amy Gullickson, who studied the Center, added this about the map’s relationship to evaluation, “Involving your staff, partners, and evaluators in creating (and/or updating) the project plan generates a shared understanding about the purpose and process of your work and the evidence you need to collect for yourselves and your funders. As a small or large group, you can have a conversation about when that evidence is likely to show up, what kind of tools you’ll need to capture the information, and who is responsible for collecting it.”

ATE Topic

• Program development and improvement

Evaluation Task

• Evaluation Design