Data Issues in 100-Day Challenges
Data Issues in 100-Day Challenges
Baseline Information
In order for the team to be able to set a meaningful 100-Day Goal that represents significantly higher performance, it would be useful for them to know the baseline performance of the Impact Indicators they are being asked to focus on.
Building on the work done in the 100-Day Challenge, Challenge Strategists and Team Coaches might be able to help the Team by gathering as much of this information as possible before the Start up Workshop.
In addition to gathering baseline information on the targeted Impact Indicator, it would be useful to gather baseline information on related performance areas that the team’s work may impact.
For example, if the focus is on improving response time to calls to the police related to gender-based violence, it would be useful to have baseline information on response times to other types of requests. These can be tracked during the 100 days to see if they are negatively impacted by the attention placed on GBV-related calls.
These possible unintended consequences could be flagged to the team in the Challenge Note.
For example… “We would like you to focus on improving response time to gender violence-related calls to the police departments. And we would like you to do this in ways that do not adversely affect the response time to requests for help from the police on other serious crimes.”
Frequently Asked Questions about 100-Day Goals
Here are typical data questions that come up during 100-Day Challenges. For each question, we will offer some thoughts on how these might be handled.
What if there is no baseline?
For example, what if we want to set a goal related to increasing the response time of police to emergency calls related to sexual assaults, but we do not know the current response time (no one has been tracking it). We just know it is an issue because survivors have complained about the delay, so we want to improve this.
Here are two possible ways to handle the situation:
a) Set a goal as a percentage improvement in the last month of the 100 days compared to the average in the first month of the 100 days. The rationale is that very little will be impacted in the first month as the team would not have started implementing its actions. So, the first month can be a surrogate for the baseline (current or past performance). The key is to quickly put a system in place to track the response time so the team can generate this baseline.
b) The team can decide that by the end of the 100 days, the goal is to get to a response time of less than ____ minutes. In this case, the team sets a standard, irrespective of the current performance.
How often should we track progress against the 100-Day Goal?
As often as possible, ideally once a week, so the team can review progress against the goal in their weekly team meetings.
What if those with the data do not share it with us?
For example, the police are not releasing the number of reported sexual assault cases?
Police have specific procedures that sometimes prevent them from sharing information before it is reviewed at a more senior level. If this is the case, having a policeman on the team may be helpful, or you can change the goal to related information that you can collect.
From the example, you should be able to track how many sexual offense cases are handed over to the courts and put on the court roll or how many more survivors/victims receive support after reporting to the police. This information would be from the Department of Social Development or NGOs providing these services.
Bottom line, do not give up easily when getting information. You could speak to the Police commissioner and explain the 100-Day Challenge process. If all fails, then move on to a different measurement of your focus area.
If our goal, for example, is to reduce the withdrawal rate of domestic violence cases in half, what rate do we use as a baseline? The average monthly withdrawal rate in the past 12 months? The withdrawal rate in the past 100 days? Some other time frame?
This depends on a few variables.
a) If the withdrawal rate has been varying somewhat randomly from month to month, than taking an average of a large number of samples (e.g. the last 12 months) is advisable.
b) If the rate has been trending up or down in the past year, then taking the most recent months as a baseline would be advisable. You might even assume that the trend will continue regardless of the team’s work during the 100 days, so the baseline may be the projected withdrawal rate during the 100 days.
In the graph below, for example, months 10, 11, and 12 are the 100-Day Sprint. Given the trend in the three months preceding the 100 days, an argument can be made that the baseline is the projection of this trend into the three months of the 100-Day sprint (30 withdrawals during the 100 days).
c) If there is a seasonal variation, for example, the withdrawal rate tends to be higher in winter, as women fear becoming homeless in cold weather. The baseline could be set based on the comparable three months of the year prior. So if the 100 days of the Challenge are May, June and July of 2025, then it would be best to use May, June, and July of 2024.
What if the team’s goal is related to an impact that does not occur regularly, like cases being reported at a TVET college, which may only be one a year.
a) If the reporting rate is low, and everyone knows it should be much higher, and national statistics show it should be, then you should stick to the goal. For instance, we know only 1 in 9 cases gets reported each year. To set an “unreasonable” goal, this could mean that there should be at least 1 or 2 cases per month.
b) The team could also conduct an anonymous survey in the first two weeks to determine the actual number of instances and then set the goal for the remaining time of the 100-Day Challenge.
c) Find a related impact indicator to measure the goal, such as the number of students who asked for help or sought support at different referral points on and off campus.
d) Find other sources of information, such as cases reported at the police station or hospital/clinic, instead of on campus.
