Measuring What Matters in Business Support Programs

The U.S. federal government operates a myriad of programs aimed at assisting businesses, typically small and midsized firms, to improve their performance. This commentary focuses on nonfinancial business support programs and how these programs use logic models to guide data collection efforts. The first step is to capture robust data supporting the need for information as the foundation for effective performance management by program staff and other stakeholders. The second step requires that program managers outline the intermediate outcomes they track and the program’s ultimate impacts. The final step requires blending data that captures program outputs, intermediate results, and ultimate program outcomes.