5.26 Once the policy objectives, intended outcomes, evaluation approach, and data and governance requirements have been established there are a large number of ongoing project management decisions and tasks to be undertaken to ensure that the evaluation is delivered effectively. Typical considerations might include (see also Table 5.C above):
• deciding whether the evaluation be externally commissioned or conducted in-house;
• developing a specification for the evaluation - see below;
• tendering the evaluation, including agreeing the nature and price of any contract with an external provider;
• providing day to day project management support;
• advising any contractors and reacting to issues that develop;
• identifying project risks and mitigating actions;
• budget management;
• agreeing when any primary data collection needs to take place;
• ensuring appropriate quality standards are met;
• deciding whether or not piloting or cognitive testing of research instruments is required;
• agreeing input to and overseeing quality assurance of evaluation processes and products, for example field work activity, research instruments, data set preparation (e.g. cleaning and weighting), data analysis, presentations or reports;
• ensuring any baseline data is collected;
• agreeing when the evaluation will start;
• agreeing and ensuring delivery against key milestones;
• reporting back to stakeholders and steering groups; and
• agreeing when the evaluation will end.