Chapter 5: Navigating Data Systems Selection: Tools to Ease the Journey

An out of school-time (OST) program can often feel like a ship lost at sea when it comes time to choose a system to track the progress of its youth. With challenges like staff’s failure to agree on needs, their varying levels of “tech-spertise,” and differing demands from funders, programs need navigation aids to help them stay focused when choosing a data system that best serves their needs. This chapter offers seven practical strategies to help programs address these challenges and support their journey to becoming more data driven. This advice is mostly geared towards small- to midsized-programs (generally with a budget of $5 million or less) that aim to better manage information about the services they provide. While focused on selecting or replacing an existing data system, the guidance here is equally relevant to organizations that are adopting a formal data system for the first time, or to others looking to optimize the system they already have in place.