DCA Request For Proposal, Consultancy for Designing an Integrated Programme Performance Tracking Dashboard for DCA South Sudan Using PowerBI

Consultancy for Designing an Integrated Programme Performance Tracking Dashboard for DCA South Sudan Using PowerBI

Introduction

DanChurchAid (DCA) is a Danish Humanitarian and Development Organization, which primarily works with both local and international NGO partners, and it’s a strong member of international networks/alliances including churches. DCA is headquartered in Copenhagen and has offices in 19 countries worldwide. It seeks to assist the most marginalized populations through its three global goals – Save Lives, Build Resilient Communities, and Fight Extreme Inequalities with a cross-cutting focus on Gender Equality, Youth Engagement, and Environmental responsibility. DCA works with local communities and is increasingly involved in building the capacity of partners, communities, and local government institutions as well as its staff. DCA’s South Sudan’s office is based in Juba and implements programmes through its partners in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Eastern Equatoria, and Central Equatoria states.

This Terms of Reference (ToR) for Consultancy describes DCA South Sudan’s plan for Designing an Integrated Programme Performance Tracking Dashboard- a One-stop center for tracking the programme and strategy progress and inform evidence-based decision-making. The ToR outlines the background to the assignment and the expected deliverables. Guidance has also been provided for the competitive bidding and sourcing of the Consultant.

Project Background

Annually, DCA Country Offices report on their contributions to global results framework indicators. However, DCA South Sudan Country Office is faced with significant gaps in systematic mechanisms for tracking the performance of key output and outcome indicators. Accordingly, the DCA South Sudan MEAL team is working on creating a centralized database to aggregate and visualize data from the various partners and projects under HRMA and EAT Programmes. This will provide a mechanism for tracking activities, output and outcome indicators as well as budget performance. The data visualization will be leveraged on PowerBI platform.

Objectives of the assignment

The primary objective of creating an integrated PowerBI dashboard is to offer a centralized platform for monitoring project and strategy progress in real-time, enabling informed decision-making through timely access to relevant information.

Specifically, the dashboard will integrate the following:

• Process monitoring: Focusing on monitoring activities, and tracking the quality of services delivered by DCA partners to the rights holders
• Context monitoring: Focusing on the market price monitoring, especially for the cash-based interventions
• Results monitoring: Focusing on monitoring project indicators against targets and KPIs at output and outcome levels, disaggregated by project, partner and location etc
• Finance monitoring: Integrating budget performance monitoring vs the activity implementation.
• Use of the existing information management systems for beneficiary data management, reporting and data visualization e.g seamless integration with Kobo and RedRose platforms
• Evidence and learning: Focusing on the integration of data from project reviews, documentation of change stories and program accountability mechanisms.

Scope of the assignment

The design dashboard of the PowerBI dashboard will aggregate data from two programmes of HRMA and EAT implemented by DCA South Sudan. Specifically, data for over 20 projects including activity, output, and outcome indicators as well as strategic indicators will be integrated into the dashboard. The PowerBI dashboard will synchronize data from the existing data collection platforms such as Kobo Collect, RedRose and financial reporting systems.

The following modules will be integrated into dashboard design.

• Beneficiary data management: A master beneficiary database has been designed to capture beneficiary data for activities at project level. Currently, an excel template is used to register and store beneficiary data and enrol them into different activities based on the vulnerability and selection criteria; this process will be automated and integrated into PowerBI. The primary beneficiary profile data, including age, sex, location, vulnerability, support received, and composition of other household members are captured at the time of registration.
• Routine Activity Monitoring: The routine monitoring data collection process will be automated using Kobo mobile data collection platform. The reach and distribution of inputs will be tracked based on the beneficiary lists. Additionally, training and awareness raising sessions will be tracked using a standard checklist developed and integrated into Kobo platform. Routine monitoring will also involve real-time monitoring and verification visits, on-site distribution monitoring conducted by the MEAL and partner volunteers. The monitoring data collected through Kobo will automatically synchronise with PowerBI platform for visualisation.
• Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM): The PDM data is collected on the project participants’ utilization, timeliness and satisfaction with cash, emergency shelter/NFI and seed distributions. The PDM uses mixed methods, including a quantitative survey, key informant interviews (KII), and focus group discussions on measuring the key questions. The key objective of the PDM is to reinforce accountability, improve programming, and identify and prevent any protection risks. The primary quantitative data collection will be leveraged on Kobo mobile data collection platform and synchronized with the PowerBI platform for indicator tracking and visualisation. Manual paper-based tools will be used for qualitative data collection and the final analysis results are integrated within the dashboard.
• Outcome Monitoring: Outcome monitoring is critical to understanding if activities are achieving or on track to achieve the stated outcome(s) and the project objective. Annual strategy outcome monitoring will be conducted. Regarding the interventions and the indicators that will be tracked, outcome monitoring will use several data collection methods, including primary quantitative beneficiary-based survey and qualitative data collection through key informant interviews, focused group discussions and case studies. A review of the project reports and other secondary data sources, including context monitoring reports, will also be used to triangulate and validate the findings before integrating into the dashboard.
• Context Monitoring: DCA partners collect market price data from local vendors to understand the availability and the prices of key food commodities, wage labour rates and fuel. The market price monitoring tool is leveraged on Kobo platform. The market price monitoring tools have been aligned with the REACH Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) tool. With the proposed dashboard, market price information will be integrated into PowerBI and the dashboard refreshed on bi-weekly places. The visualisation will include the local market information such as currency exchange rates, daily labour rates, and the availability and pricing of food commodities, including the minimum expenditure basket (MEB).

The market monitoring data collected will be used to guide the cash value, ensuring that the program is not having adverse effects on the local market prices. The markets to be surveyed will include the major domestic market areas in the respective partner project locations. The number of markets to be monitored will be determined by the partners’ presence.

By monitoring the price trends, the survey allows the prediction of how the external situation might influence the projects and vice versa. Price increases above an unacceptable threshold or lack of supply may be used to trigger remedial actions, including those identified at the planning stage. The specific objectives of the market monitoring are to:

• Monitor and map of commodity price trends
• Assess the level of food availability in the local markets
• Assess the effects of aid interventions on the markets and participating traders.

1. Accountability to the affected population (AAP): DCA-Partners have been provided with an excel template to aggregate and track all the feedback received from the different feedback mechanisms, including community meetings, suggestion boxes, phone calls as well as direct feedback received through staff, among others. The feedback data will be integrated into PowerBI for visualisation and reporting. Specially, the number of feedback received, types of feedback, mechanisms used, and the status of each feedback are some of the common indicators that will be integrated in the PowerBI dashboard.

Approach

The design and implementation of the integrated project performance monitoring dashboard will adopt a participatory approach involving consultations and input from the MEAL, Programmes, Senior Management Team (SMT), Finance and other key support teams. This process will be led by the MEAL-Manager in collaboration with the MEAL Specialists for HRMA and EAT-Programmes and Finance team. The dashboard will fully align with the DCA Global MEAL standards, and results framework and donor requirements. The activity, beneficiary data and budget will be synchronized to enable timely data collection, visualization, learning and adaptation.

The Consultant will hold an inception meeting with the project core team to better understand and define the user-requirements specifications. Any technical guidance or modifications shall be agreed at this stage. The design of the dashboard will adopt a progressive approach, with an opportunity to incorporate new projects, indicators and activities and updating the indicator targets. The Consultant will also need to develop a step-by-step guide for maneuvering the dashboard. This will be used to guide and train the users on how to access and view the different modules.

After a successful design, deployment of the dashboard and training of users, the Consultant will be required to provide an orientation to the core team on updating the data using the data forms, uploading the data for analysis and visualisation. The Consultant shall be required to provide technical backstopping during the initial stages (3 months) of implementation after deployment, troubleshooting and refining the application where necessary.

Data privacy and protection

The Consultant is expected to sign an understanding to ensure protection of personal data collected during this assignment. The consultant in the (inception report) needs to elaborate on how participant data will be collected and protected; what equipments will be used to store the data, and how long this data will be stored.

Management of the assignment

The DCA MEAL Manager will be the main contact for the assignment. DCA will manage the contract and engagement with the Consultant in accordance with the terms of the contract. The Consultant will be responsible required to provide weekly updates on the progress with the implementation of the key milestones.

Expected deliverables

• Inception report: The Consultant will prepare an Inception Report (IR) 5 days after the Inception meeting with DCA. The IR should provide a clear description of the implementation approach, including the work plan with clear deliverables.
• User requirements specifications: The Consultant shall be required to present detailed user requirements specifications and conceptual model 5 days after the approval of the IR. The user requirements specifications and the prototype shall be presented to DCA team for approval.
• User manual: The Consultant shall prepare a step-by-step guide for accessing and maneuvering the dashboard. This shall also include the instructions for logging in, uploading and linking data from sharepoint, access to reports and refreshing the dashboard
• Functional PowerBI dashboard: At the end of the assignment, the Consultant will be required to hand over a fully functional integrated PowerBI dashboard with all the data components updated and refreshed
• Completion report: The Consultant will prepare the assignment completion report that shall be submitted to DCA. This should include the tasks carried out, training of users and any recommendations proposed.

Duration of the assignment

• The Consultant will be required to implement all the deliverables and hand over the dashboard within 45 days from the date of signing the contract.
• The assignment will run from 11 November to 16 December 2024.
• After service technical backstopping 90 days.

Qualifications of the Consultant

This assignment is Open to Qualified Individuals or Companies.

• Education background, The Individual or Lead Consultant (in case of Company) must have a University Degree in IT, Computer Science, Information Science, Demography, Statistics, Economics or a related field
• Minimum of five years proven professional experience in data management and visualisation using PowerBI in reputable organisations
• Certification in Microsoft PowerBI package
• Proven experience in providing Advanced PowerBI instructor-led training
• Proven experience in designing and integrating data into PowerBI from third-party applications such as Kobo Collect, RedRose, sharepoint and excel integration
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of emergency and development projects in international NGOs
• Knowledge and experience of South Sudan political and cultural contexts.

Technical and Financial Offer

The Consultant shall be required to submit the following:

1. Technical and Financial offer
2. The technical proposal should among others detail the following:
   1. Consultants understanding of the assignment with specific attention to the objectives of the assignment and how the objectives will be measured
   2. Methodology: A clear description of the approach and timelines for implementing the assignment.
   3. Proposed team with CVs of the Individual Consultant or Consulting team that will be involved in the assignment.
   4. The Consultant may be required to provide a demo session of one of their recent projects as part of the review process.
   5. References including names and contact information from the previous clients who can be conducted regarding the relevant experience.
3. The financial proposal shall include the following:
   1. Proposed budget for the assignment
   2. Detailed breakdown of the Consultancy fees in USD. This shall include the professional charge and any logistical or travel expenses where necessary.
   3. Proof of professional registration, taxation and other relevant documents may be required for the companies.

Consultant Evaluation Criteria

The following ranking criteria will be considered for the contract granting:

Technical Expertise of the Consultant

1. Relevant academic and professional qualifications of the Consultant in line with the requirements of the assignment (5 points).
2. The Lead Consultant has Microsoft PowerBI Certification (10 points)
3. Demonstrated experience in the integration PowerBI with third-party applications such as Kobo Collect, RedRose, sharepoint and excel among others (10 points)
4. Evidence of providing similar services in the recent past in reputable organisations (10 points).

Understanding of the assignment and Methodology

1. The technical proposal clearly describes the understanding of the ToR, user requirements and technical specifications (15 points).
2. The description of the tasks to meet the requirements of the ToR have been presented in sufficient detail (5 points).
3. The Consultant presents a clear methodology/approach for implementing the assignment (15 points).
4. Comprehensiveness of the work plan with realistic time estimates of each major segment of the work plan (10 points).

Financial Proposal

1. The budget is clear and realistic, aligned with the work plan (Include all the professional fees, travel and other logistical expenses) – (20 points).

8. Payment Terms.

40% payment will be made after successful presentation of the user requirements specifications and prototype report of the PowerBI Dashboard to DCA. The remaining 60% payment will be made after submitting the Consultancy Completion Report. The payment will be subject to local or national tax laws.

How to apply

f interested in applying for the aforementioned consultancy, please send your CV along with a written technical and financial proposal, outlining a plan and approach for executing the consultancy in line with the points mentioned in section 2 to viona@dca.dk with agym@dca.dk and kamm@dca.dk in cc.

The deadline for application is 04-11-2024 @ 15:00 PM CAT. The subject of the application letter or e-mail should read Application for Consultancy for Designing an Integrated Programme Performance Tracking Dashboard Using PowerBI – DCA South Sudan.