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Consulting
Services in Indiana Region
| Community supported projects deserve clear accountability
regarding the outcomes of an initiative. Actually,
strategic planning and development of an initiative are closely
related to (1) the management of the project towards outcomes
and (2) periodic evaluation. Determining how a project
should work, how it is actually working
and how (or whether) it achieved desired outcomes can be
facilitated within a unified framework that uses a
Theory of Change
model coupled with Management
Indicators and a Theory Based
Evaluation.
Foundations are not only requiring use of these tools, but
also investing in their development.
See Links.
Evaluation that is part and parcel of the management process,
and not left behind as a static document when the consultant
leaves town, will serve the long-term interests of a new
initiative. It will empower the board to guide the project
toward ongoing success. |
| GIS services can be regarded in the first instance as "mapping"
of information. But GIS is generally much more involved since it
often involves "data analysis" that includes the geographic
dimension. In the Health Safety-Net analysis report on the
Documents page, for example, one might look for connections
between populations, health resources and health outcomes merely
in terms of geographic proximity. However the factors
underlying the geographic features of these different components
are much more complicated. For example the geographic
distribution of physicians between urban and rural areas is
linked to specialty, the distribution of technology inside and
outside of hospitals, the relative "densities" of payment
sources (Medicare, Medicaid, Private coverage, etc.) and the
distribution of built-up places in the form of cities, towns and
villages.
Another kind of health analysis involves analysis of
geographic origins of patients using hospital resources - these
define the market area of hospital outpatient and inpatient
services.
In addition to the health studies, we are engaged in ongoing
studies of the implications of different regional frameworks
used for economic development planning. Some examples of these
regional frameworks will be illustrated
See GIS
studies discussed here.
Our GIS studies are conducted using the Manifold GIS system (www.manifold.net) |
| The tools of the economist can serve litigation purposes when a
dispute turns on economic values. Sometimes those economic
values are determined by statistical models by either the
plaintiff or defendant. The role of the expert witness is either
to produce such a statistical study, or to evaluate one that has
been previously provided. In a recent case, ProDev staff
evaluated an econometric model of projected revenues that
figured in a business acquisition case. This work involves
analysis of the market context of the acquisition as well as the
application of statistical modeling. Another role of an
economist is to value the lost value of earnings in wrongful
death suits, divorce cases or other events that interrupt
income. The analysis involves computation of the value of the
lost earnings prior to and following the trial period in order
to determine the appropriate value of the settlement if the
plaintiff prevails. This work involves establishing the
parameters governing the expected flow of future earnings as
well as the proper means to reduce that stream to a single value
dated at the time of the trial. ProDev staff created Visual
Basic® application operating within the Microsoft
Excel® spreadsheet system that facilitates both the calculation
and presentation of results for economists engaged in such
cases. |
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Project Documents |
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Issue Papers:
Strategic Plan Development:
Evaluation / Management
Models
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