11 Ways for Demonstrating ROI on a Shoestring

Most agree there is significant merit to measuring and evaluating training programs. But how do you get this done when budget resources are limited?

“If an organization is running on a shoestring budget, there are still ways to demonstrate results in monetary terms,” notes Patti Phillips, author of CEP’s new one-day The Bottomline on ROI Workshop. “We have proven, cost-saving approaches organizations can take to show financial accountability. It’s just knowing where to start.”

Phillips recommends the following11 ways to reduce accountability costs:

1. Take shortcuts when evaluating participant reaction, learning, and application
Measuring participant reaction to a program as well as the level and use of knowledge gained are important steps in implementing a comprehensive evaluation process. “When your resources are limited, it pays to reduce emphasis on these measures, and place greater emphasis on collecting and analyzing impact data such as improvements in output, quality, cost, and time,” Phillips suggests.

2. Fund measurement and evaluation activities with savings from the use of ROI
Phillips notes, “Even with limited funding, the ROI data you collect can be used to pinpoint efficiencies that can improve program development and delivery processes or to actually eliminate certain programs entirely. The resources you free up can then be used to further enhance and fund the measurement and evaluation process.”

3. Plan for evaluation early in the process
“ We find that all too often, program evaluation occurs as an afterthought. You can reduce costs by avoiding having to backtrack. The ideal solution is to build evaluation into the training and performance improvement process from the outset. Your investment in planning will reduce the required investment in execution,” says Phillips.

4. Share responsibilities for evaluation
By assigning evaluation responsibilities to performance consultants, program designers and developers, facilitators, participants, management, and subject matter experts, you can eliminate the need to invest in personnel specifically assigned to evaluate programs. Distribution of responsibility helps conserve important resources and enriches the process by generating active involvement of all stakeholders.

5. Use shortcuts for major steps
One shortcut Phillips recommends is to establish baseline data for the improvements you anticipate from a program. Phillips adds, “These baseline measures can be derived from existing sources like organizational goals or mission statements, marketing plans, budgets, production volume, benchmarking studies, process diagrams, performance records, and quality reports.

Also, you can shortcut post-program data collection. One of the most often-used shortcut methods is a simple questionnaire. The questionnaire can ask a few pertinent questions to help you generate an ROI calculation.”

6. Use estimates in data collection and analysis
“ People find this recommendation to be controversial-- but estimates are often used in accounting and finance practices, so the financial executives are comfortable with this practice,” says Phillips. “In calculating training and performance improvement ROI, we often use estimates to isolate the effects of a program and to convert data to a monetary value. The key is ensuring that the most credible source is used for the estimates – and typically, participants are the best source for this data as they are well aware of the impact their performance is having on certain key measures.”

7. Use sampling to select the most appropriate programs for ROI analysis
Patti Phillips suggests that you consider criteria such as the life cycle of the program, your organization’s objectives, the cost of the program, the size of the audience, the visibility of the program, and management’s interest. Once you have a list of candidate programs, prioritize them and allocate ROI resources to the extent they are available.

8. Develop internal capability to implement the ROI methodology
While the use of consultants is valuable when only one or two studies are conducted in a year, if you are interested in fully implementing ROI into the training and performance improvement process, you will save money by building internal capabilities.

“This is a fundamental reason why I developed the Bottomline on ROI Workshop,” says Phillips. “The one-day workshop gives participants a chance to become familiar with all the levels of evaluation, including the most sophisticated level, ROI. Participants quickly assess in one day how their organization can make measurement and evaluation part of the department’s operating process, and they leave with an action plan. To find out more and to enroll, click here or call CEP Client Services at 800-558-4237.

For individuals who want all the skills to fully implement the Phillips ROI methodology, there is a 5 day certification workshop. For more information on certification, click here.

9. Streamline the reporting process
“ A complete ROI impact study report (including the purpose of the program, the purpose of the evaluation, the data collection and analysis methodologies, results, conclusions, and recommendations) can be as long as 150 pages,” explains Phillips. “However, once key stakeholders are familiar and comfortable with the ROI methodology you can streamline your reporting to a one-page document that focuses on the results of the program.”

10. Use technology to reduce time
Technology use in evaluation continues to flourish. Automating data collection using products such as Survey Pro or Metrics that Matter may allow you to reduce both time and costs.

11. Build on the work of others
Phillips notes, “While there are unique challenges in each organization, when it comes to training and performance improvement programs, organizations are often quite similar. You can access the experience of others by participating in internal, local, and global networking opportunities, and by reading published case studies. This is the purpose for creating the ROI Institute, so that practitioners could have a credible, single-source for the latest research and thinking around measurement and ROI.”

ROI is a comprehensive approach to evaluating training and performance improvement programs. Yet while comprehensive, it can also be conducted using cost-saving approaches that will maintain its credibility. If your organization is on a shoestring budget, one or more of the above approaches will help you save time and money in developing your next ROI impact study.

Patti P. Phillips, Ph.D., is a consultant, author, and researcher on the ROI methodology, as well as president of the ROI Institute. Patti can be contacted at patti@roiinstitute.net.

The Bottomline on ROI Workshop is based on Patti Phillips’ award winning book of the same name. Patti Phillips will lead all the workshop sessions. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about measurement, evaluation and ROI from the co-architect, along with Dr. Jack J. Phillips, of the Phillips ROI Methodology.

To enroll and for additional information, contact CEP Client Services at 800-558-4237 or email clientservices@cepworldwide.com.