Pilot study
Anonymised pilot: employment outcomes before an annual report
A community-sector program tested draft claims intended for board reporting against messy service and survey data, with limits visible before publication.
Client and program names are withheld. Metrics reflect one agreed pilot scope; your results depend on evidence quality and governance context. Product screenshots are illustrative unless labelled otherwise, see current status.
6 weeks (restricted scope)
Pilot length
12
Outcome statements reviewed
3
Blocked from external use
Executive Impact Summary (redacted)
Primary output
The challenge
A multi-site employment support program was preparing an annual report for its board and a place-based funder. Draft copy stated that the program had "transformed employment outcomes across the community." Survey exports, attendance logs, and case notes did not support population-wide or causal wording, but the narrative was already in slide decks.
What CIIS did
- Imported CSV survey and service extracts for the agreed reporting period.
- Structured twelve outcome statements with linked measures and evidence types.
- Ran evidence-support and shareability review with program leads and an external reviewer.
- Produced a CIIS Executive Impact Summary where evidence and review supported external use.
Before and after
Before
Weak claim
The initiative transformed employment outcomes across the community.
- Population-wide wording
- Causality implied
- No limitation on record
After CIIS review
Evidence-governed wording
Available survey and service data suggest improved employment-related indicators among participants who completed the program in the reporting period, with limits on comparability and coverage.
- Public use: Limited, caveats retained in board pack
- Key limitation: No comparison group
- Next action: Add follow-up wave or matched comparison where feasible
The impact
- Three statements marked internal-only or blocked before external release.
- Board pack used governed wording aligned to source extracts.
- Pilot recommendation: continue with narrowed scope on two sites; expand evidence collection for causal claims.
What this is not
This case study does not describe large-scale unstructured media analytics (news, social feeds, global policy corpora). That work sits under Impact Intelligence (separate consultancy). Impact Intelligence Lab focuses on CIIS, program evidence and defensible reporting for boards, funders, and public-purpose teams.
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