Reporting and data analysis for small organisations

Reliable reports, and the analysis that makes them useful — for charities, training providers and alternative provision in Dorset and across the UK.

Most small organisations produce the same figures several times over: for funders, for trustees, for commissioners, for inspection. Each time, someone rebuilds a spreadsheet, chases missing numbers and hopes the totals agree. I turn that into one checked, repeatable process that runs on the systems you already use — and then use the data to show you something you didn't know.

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What you get

Charities and community groups

  • One pack for funders and trustees, built from your existing spreadsheets, with figures that add up back to your activity records.
  • One set of definitions — what counts as a participant, a session, an outcome — used for every funder, so your numbers stop disagreeing.
  • Evidence for your next bid or renewal: trends by project, site and month; reach against target; cost per participant or outcome; volunteer hours and their equivalent value.

Apprenticeship and training providers

  • A pre-submission check every month: learners whose planned end dates, breaks in learning or off-the-job hours don't match across your systems, listed before the ILR goes in.
  • Funding forecast against actuals: expected and actual earnings by month and standard, with learners drifting past planned end dates flagged early.
  • Retention and achievement analysis: where withdrawals concentrate by standard, employer, cohort and caseload, compared with national rates — ready for your self-assessment.

Alternative provision and tuition providers

  • A ready-made summary for each commissioning school or local authority: attendance, sessions delivered and progress, built from your existing registers.
  • Early flags: placements where attendance has dropped for three weeks or more, and missing registers, spotted before a review rather than during one.
  • Analysis for commissioning conversations: which referral routes and placement patterns go with sustained attendance and successful moves on, and hours delivered against hours commissioned and invoiced.

How it works

1. Reporting & Insight Review

£295, five working days

We look at one recurring report together. You get a map of where the figures come from and where they go wrong, a short analysis of your own summary data (the main trend, where the variation sits, and one early warning worth watching), and three prioritised improvements.

If the Review doesn't give you at least three improvements you'd act on, I refund it in full.

2. Reporting & Insight Build

From £950 for founding clients (standard £1,750–£2,400)

I build the process: a report that produces itself from your existing files, with built-in checks, an insight page of trends, comparisons and a simple forecast, plain-English definitions, a short how-to guide and a training session so your team can run it without me.

3. Quarterly Insight Briefing

From £450 a month (optional)

I keep the report accurate as things change, and each quarter write a two-page briefing for your trustees, board or funders: what changed, why, and what to watch next.

Founding clients

I'm taking on three founding clients at reduced rates in exchange for feedback and an anonymised case study, which you approve before anything is published.

Focused analysis

Fixed-price pieces of analysis, each answering one question.

Your data

I work from summary figures and anonymised records. I don't need names or personal details to start, and I never need them for the Review. If a Build does need record-level data, we agree exactly what, how it's handled and when it's deleted, in writing, before anything is shared. Two of the focused analysis pieces, the self-assessment data pack and the commissioner outcome report, work from pseudonymised records (codes, not names); that is still personal data, so they run only under a written data processing agreement, and the data is deleted when the work ends.

I use the tools you already have — Excel, Google Sheets, your MIS or CRM exports — rather than asking you to buy new software.

See an example

Each example is built entirely on made-up data. Read it on the page, or download it as a one-page PDF.

Free resources

Practical checklists you can use straight away. Free to use and share; no sign-up.

About

I'm Stephen Dorman, based in Dorset. I combine a mathematics and statistics background with years of hands-on work in education and in managing multi-site teams, including specialist SEND support in schools and coordinating volunteers for a national charity. I know what it is to produce figures under deadline and to be on the receiving end of them.

My research on this site looks at how statistics has shaped the way poverty is measured. The same principle runs through this work: numbers that decide things about people should be counted carefully and explained plainly.

Common questions

Do we need to change our systems?

No. I work with what you already use and make it reliable.

How much of our time does it take?

For the Review, a 60–90 minute conversation and some summary figures. For a Build, a few short check-ins and one training session.

What if our data is messy?

That's normal and it's usually the point. The checks I build show you exactly where the gaps are, so they get fixed at the source.

Can we fund this from a grant?

Many charities include this kind of work in applications for organisational development or core costs. I can give you a costed paragraph for your application. Check your funder's criteria first.

How do we pay?

The Review is invoiced when you book and paid before the report is delivered. Builds are 50% at the start and 50% on handover.

Get in touch

Tell me which report takes the most effort, who uses it, and when it's next due. I'll reply within two working days with whether I can help.

stephen@zktheory.org
Dorset and remote across the UK

How I handle personal information is set out in the privacy notice.