Rodney John Sample data

Framework · Sample data

The Improvement Roadmap

A performance framework I built for a national nonprofit with 30+ sites. It turned one annual target into a monthly pace each site could act on, then paired wherever a site landed with written guidance instead of a color code. This page rebuilds the framework with invented data so it can be looked at.

Everything on this page is invented. The organization, the sites, the numbers, and the guidance were written for this demo. No real data from the original appears here in any form.

[ 01 ] The pacing

One annual number, twelve monthly ones

An annual goal tells a site almost nothing in March. Divide it by 12 and multiply by the months elapsed, and the site gets a number it can be measured against today. The ratio of what happened to what should have happened by now is the whole basis of the scale.

Monthly Goal = Annual Goal / 12 · YTD Goal = Monthly Goal × months · Ratio = YTD Total / YTD Goal Change any figure and watch the tier move.

Program area

Annual goal

Month of the year

Year-to-date total

Monthly goal--

Year-to-date goal--

Ratio--

--

[ 02 ] The scale

Six tiers, not three

A site at 68% of pace and a site at 51% are both behind, and telling them the same thing wastes the first one and understates the second. Six bands are enough to change the conversation and few enough that people remember where they sit.

Ratio of year-to-date total against year-to-date goal.
Tier	Rule	Ratio	Plumb band
Proficient	At or above the year-to-date goal	100% and above	sustain
Performing	Within 20% of the goal	80 to 99%	sustain
Practicing	Within 30% of the goal	70 to 79%	recover
Progressing	Within 40% of the goal	60 to 69%	recover
Developing	Within 45% of the goal	55 to 59%	urgent
Needs Improvement	Within 50% of the goal	50 to 54%	urgent

Below 50% the scale bottoms out. The bottom tier still applies, and the gap is now large enough that the number itself should be checked first.

The direction problem

The ratio only means what it appears to mean when higher is better. A site running double its no-show target would score 200% and read as the top tier, which is exactly backwards. Metrics where lower is better divide the other way round. Any scale like this needs that flag per metric, or it quietly lies about half of them.

[ 03 ] The guidance

What a site is actually told

This is the part that mattered. A tier on its own is a grade, and a grade changes nothing. Each tier and program area pair with 3 written pieces: a message that says where the site stands, an inquiry that asks the question worth asking next, and a solution that names the action to take. Every site at the same tier gets the same words, so guidance stops depending on which manager you have.

Tier

Program area

All 36 combinations are listed below.

Clients served · Proficient

Message: At or ahead of the year-to-date goal for clients served.
Inquiry: What is working here that the other sites have not copied yet?
Solution: Write down what changed and send it to the regional lead, so somewhere else can try it.

Clients served · Performing

Message: Slightly behind, and close enough to catch up inside a month.
Inquiry: Was this one slow month, or the same small gap every month?
Solution: Add the missing clients to next month's target rather than spreading them across the rest of the year.

Clients served · Practicing

Message: Behind the pace, and the gap is now bigger than one good month can close.
Inquiry: Are fewer referrals arriving, or are referrals arriving and not turning into appointments?
Solution: Count referrals and first appointments separately for a month, so the drop-off point is visible.

Clients served · Progressing

Message: Well behind. The year-end number is at risk without a change to how the work runs.
Inquiry: Has anything changed in staffing, opening hours, or partner referrals since the goal was set?
Solution: Agree a realistic monthly number with the regional lead and work to that, rather than to a total nobody believes.

Clients served · Developing

Message: Far enough behind that the shortfall is structural rather than seasonal.
Inquiry: Is there enough staff time booked to see the number of clients the goal assumes?
Solution: Put the capacity in writing: hours available, appointments possible, and what the goal actually requires.

Clients served · Needs Improvement

Message: At the bottom of the scale. This needs attention now, not at the quarterly review.
Inquiry: Is the number wrong, or is the work not happening?
Solution: Check the last 3 months of entries against the record first, then take what you find to the regional lead.

Housing screening · Proficient

Message: Screening is happening for nearly everyone who is eligible.
Inquiry: Is the screen holding up on the busiest days, or only on the quiet ones?
Solution: Check a week of high-volume days on their own, so a good average does not hide a bad Monday.

Housing screening · Performing

Message: Most eligible clients are being screened, with a small group missed.
Inquiry: Do the missed screens cluster with one worker, one shift, or one referral route?
Solution: Break the number down by worker and by day of week before deciding anything.

Housing screening · Practicing

Message: Enough screens are being missed that some clients who need housing support are not being found.
Inquiry: Is the screen being skipped because of time, or because staff are unsure when it applies?
Solution: Ask 3 workers to walk through a recent intake out loud. Where they hesitate is the fix.

Housing screening · Progressing

Message: The screen is being missed more often than it is completed on time.
Inquiry: Is the screen a required step in the intake, or something a worker has to remember?
Solution: Make it a required step before an intake can be closed, so remembering is not part of the job.

Housing screening · Developing

Message: Screening is happening for barely half the people it should.
Inquiry: Was there a change in the intake form, the system, or who does intake?
Solution: Trace when the drop started and what changed that month, then fix that rather than retraining everyone.

Housing screening · Needs Improvement

Message: At the bottom of the scale. Assume clients who need housing support are being missed.
Inquiry: Are screens being done and not recorded, or not done at all?
Solution: Pull 20 recent intakes and check the paper against the system. The answer decides whether this is a recording problem or a practice problem.

Follow-up within 30 days · Proficient

Message: Nearly everyone leaving the service is being contacted inside the window.
Inquiry: Who is holding this together, and what happens the week they are away?
Solution: Write down how the list gets worked so the practice survives one person being out.

Follow-up within 30 days · Performing

Message: Follow-up is happening for most clients, with some falling outside 30 days.
Inquiry: Are the late ones late by days or by weeks?
Solution: Sort the misses by how late they were. A 3-day slip and a 3-week slip have different causes.

Follow-up within 30 days · Practicing

Message: A quarter of clients are leaving without a follow-up inside the window.
Inquiry: Is there a working list of who is due, or is it being reconstructed each week?
Solution: Build one list of who is due and when, visible to the whole team rather than to one person.

Follow-up within 30 days · Progressing

Message: More follow-ups are being missed than the goal allows for.
Inquiry: Is the call being made and not recorded, so the real rate is better than it looks?
Solution: Give staff somewhere to record the call in under 10 seconds, then read the number again next month.

Follow-up within 30 days · Developing

Message: Follow-up is reaching about half the people it should.
Inquiry: Does anyone own this task, by name?
Solution: Put a name against it and a fixed time in the week. An unowned task competes with everything urgent and loses.

Follow-up within 30 days · Needs Improvement

Message: At the bottom of the scale. Most clients are leaving without contact.
Inquiry: Is this capacity, ownership, or recording?
Solution: Answer that one question before changing anything. The 3 causes have 3 different fixes and guessing wastes a month.

Staff certification · Proficient

Message: Nearly all staff in post hold a current certification.
Inquiry: How many of those certifications expire in the next 6 months?
Solution: Book the renewals now. This number falls fastest when nobody is watching the expiry dates.

Staff certification · Performing

Message: Most staff are certified, with a small number outstanding.
Inquiry: Are the uncertified staff new starters, or people who have been in post a while?
Solution: If they are new starters this is an onboarding gap, so fix the start-of-job checklist rather than chasing individuals.

Staff certification · Practicing

Message: Enough staff are uncertified that shift cover is affected.
Inquiry: Is training available when this team can actually attend it?
Solution: Compare the training dates offered against this site's rota before assuming it is a willingness problem.

Staff certification · Progressing

Message: A third of the team is working without a current certification.
Inquiry: Did a group of certifications lapse at the same time?
Solution: Plot the expiry dates on one page. Clusters mean the site hired in waves and should renew in waves.

Staff certification · Developing

Message: Close to half the team is uncertified.
Inquiry: Is there a record of who holds what, or is this being assembled from memory?
Solution: Build the record first. Nothing else can be planned from a number the site cannot back up.

Staff certification · Needs Improvement

Message: At the bottom of the scale. Treat this as a compliance risk, not a training statistic.
Inquiry: Which shifts are currently running with nobody certified on them?
Solution: Cover those shifts first, then tell the regional lead the same day. This one does not wait for a monthly cycle.

Days to first appointment · Proficient

Message: Clients are being seen at or faster than the target wait.
Inquiry: Is the average hiding anyone who waited a long time?
Solution: Look at the longest 10% as their own group. A good mean and a bad tail is a common pattern and the tail is where harm sits.

Days to first appointment · Performing

Message: The wait is a little longer than the target and moving in the right direction.
Inquiry: Is the wait steady, or growing month on month?
Solution: Plot the last 6 months rather than reading this month alone. Direction matters more than position here.

Days to first appointment · Practicing

Message: Clients are waiting noticeably longer than the target.
Inquiry: Is the delay in offering an appointment, or in the client taking one up?
Solution: Measure those 2 gaps separately. They look identical in this number and have nothing in common.

Days to first appointment · Progressing

Message: The wait is long enough that clients are likely dropping out before they are seen.
Inquiry: How many people booked in this period never attended at all?
Solution: Pull the no-show and cancellation numbers next to this one. A long wait usually shows up there first.

Days to first appointment · Developing

Message: The wait has roughly doubled against the target.
Inquiry: Has appointment capacity changed, or has demand?
Solution: Count appointments offered per week for the last 3 months. If capacity is flat and demand is up, no amount of chasing fixes it.

Days to first appointment · Needs Improvement

Message: At the bottom of the scale. The wait is long enough to be a risk to clients, not just to the number.
Inquiry: Is anyone triaging the waiting list for urgency?
Solution: Triage the current list this week, then raise capacity with the regional lead. Do not wait for the monthly review.

No-show rate · Proficient

Message: Attendance is at or better than the target.
Inquiry: What is this site doing about reminders that others are not?
Solution: Write it down and pass it on. This is one of the easiest practices to copy between sites.

No-show rate · Performing

Message: Attendance is close to target with a small share missed.
Inquiry: Do the misses cluster on a particular day or time?
Solution: Break the number down by day and by slot before changing anything about reminders.

No-show rate · Practicing

Message: Enough appointments are being missed to waste real staff time.
Inquiry: When do reminders go out, and is that early enough to arrange childcare or transport?
Solution: Move reminders far enough ahead that a client can still act on them, then read the number again in a month.

No-show rate · Progressing

Message: Missed appointments are consuming a significant share of capacity.
Inquiry: Are people missing the first appointment, or later ones?
Solution: Split first appointments from repeat ones. A first-appointment problem is usually about the wait, not the reminder.

No-show rate · Developing

Message: Close to half of booked time is going unused.
Inquiry: Are cancellations being recorded as no-shows?
Solution: Separate the 2 before drawing any conclusion. A cancellation that was rebooked is not the same failure at all.

No-show rate · Needs Improvement

Message: At the bottom of the scale. Most booked time is not being used.
Inquiry: Is this a booking practice problem or a recording problem?
Solution: Sit with one day's bookings end to end and watch what actually happens. The number cannot answer this on its own.

[ 04 ] The rollup

Five sites, one page

The same maths across a region. This is the view that replaced a stack of separate spreadsheets, and the one leaders used to see direction rather than a fixed number.

Harbor Community Services, a fictional organization. Clients served, month 7 of 12. A fictional nonprofit running 5 sites across 3 regions.
Site	Region	Annual goal	YTD goal	YTD total	Ratio	Tier
Harbor North	North	480	280	291	104%
Harbor East	North	600	350	312	89%
Harbor West	North	240	140	104	74%
Harbor Central	Central	360	210	137	65%
Harbor South	South	180	105	58	55%

[ 05 ] What came next

Where this went next

The roadmap was a spreadsheet, and a spreadsheet cannot ask who owns the fix or whether it worked. Plumb is the same idea built as an application: the tiers collapse into 3 situations, the written guidance becomes a maintained playbook, and the recommended action turns into a tracked piece of work with an owner and a due date.

Open the Plumb demo

Six tiers, three situations

Proficient → sustain

Performing → sustain

Practicing → recover

Progressing → recover

Developing → urgent

Needs Improvement → urgent