Intended audience: DataKind Volunteers
As a final deliverable, consider writing an Insight Report for the partner organization. This report explains the project in a clear and succinct manner, so that your Project Champion can share it with colleagues and/or senior management to promote your recommendations. This document will be more technical and include graphs and visuals, alongside supporting text. Whether you decide to document the project results for the partner organization in a report or a presentation, make sure to include the following sections:
Executive Summary (short, 300 words max)
- Summarize the organization’s business challenge and how your project addressed it
- Give an overview of the deliverables, methods, and results
- Answer the “so what?” of the project - why does this work matter?
Introduction and Background
- Summarize the organization’s mission and business challenge
- Outline the project objectives
Data
- Summarize the data sources - which were used and why, as well as which were rejected and why
- Note any limitations or challenges that are relevant to project
- Share learnings, as well as recommendations for future improvements
Process
- Describe your team’s approach (e.g., methods, preprocessing, etc.)
- Depending on your project, this may be the most valuable part, especially if this is something the organization should continue doing after you’re gone.
- Note any methodological challenges, including moments where you had to rescope the work, etc.
Findings
This section will vary by project type. Some examples may include that you have:
- confirmed the organization’s hunches
- disproved a hypothesis
- uncovered insights that lead to further questions
- answered a question
- helped them make a decision
- discovered something DIDN’T work (remember - negative findings ARE findings. Frame accordingly! This helps educate the organization about what paths to try next and why this didn’t work.)
Recommendations
- Instructions on how to maintain or implement your team’s work and what is entailed
- Future project ideas or next steps the organization should consider
- General data upkeep ideas or improvements to be made
Conclusion
- Repeat the “so what” - why does this project matter? What does it allow the organization to do now that it couldn’t before?
- Outline key findings and recommended next steps
Appendix
- Github links
- Literature referenced
- Team Bios
- Final presentation
- Data audit
- Any additional technical documentation
Contributer(s): Caitlin Augustin, Benjamin Kinsella, Caroline Charrow, Nathan Banion, Rachel Wells
Contact us
If you would like to learn more about us, partner with us, or get in touch, email us at community@datakind.org
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