| Term | Definition | Regional railway example |
|---|
| Activity | Tasks within the project to realise project outputs (synonymous with measure) | Run a railway workshop |
| Appropriateness | Appropriateness measures “Does the project address the needs?” Is it appropriate for the target group and the issue or problem under development? | A faster rail service will reduce the travel time and presumably increase the attractiveness for passengers. |
| Effectiveness | Effectiveness measures “Does the project achieve the desired objectives?” | A faster rail service has reduced the travel time on a line by 20 % |
| Efficiency | Efficiency measures “Is the project cost effective? What human, time and financial resources did it use? | The increased profit through growing passenger numbers is higher than the investment costs in a faster rail service |
| Goal | A statement of the overall aim of a project or programme, describing what difference the initiative is expected to make. To be manageable, an initiative should only have one goal. | Improve marketing for a railway link |
| Impact | The immediate effects of a project. Impact can be considered as short-term outcomes of a project. Changes that result from the outputs being completed. | More people on the train, more participating citizens |
| Measure | Implemented project activity in order to realise predefined objectives | Improve a station |
| Milestone | A deliverable, measurable output that results from a sub-objective indicating project progress. | The ticket sale increased by 5% after the webpage relaunch of a public transport association (as first step of a large marketing campaign) |
| Needs | The difference between the desired and actual state of an issue. | New rolling stock should replace out of date trains |
| Qualitative | Draws mainly on ‘soft‘ data (text) and analyses individual insights | Interviews with rail experts |
| Quantitative | Draws mainly on ‘hard‘ data (numbers) and aims for representativeness | Passenger surveys |
| Outcome | (intangible) an mostly long-term effects of the project that should meet the project’s objectives Intended result of delivering an output. | Changed participation behaviour because of more workshops with citizens´ / Growing passenger satisfaction because of convenient ticket system |
| Output | (tangible) Services or products delivered through the project | New station, new services, brochures, webpage |
| Performance indicator | A measurable item used to monitor and report changes; used to assess the extent to which Outcomes are being achieved. | passenger satisfaction |
| Programme | A group of planned activities that contribute to a common strategic objective. A programme is usually further subdivided into sub-programmes or projects. | Implementing a new marketing campaign |
| Project | A set of small-scale planned activities that contribute to meeting the objectives of a larger programme. | webpage relaunch of a public transport association as part of large marketing campaign |
| Resources | Time, money, support, facilities and knowledge used to carry out an action, and not to be confused with ‘Needs’. | employees, funding, … |
| Stakeholders | Relevant people or groups that are interested or even involved in the project and its evaluation | Train operating company, local authorities |
| Sustainability | Aims at a continuous change and maintaining generated achievements, also after the project’s end | |
| Target group | Specific group of interest that is focused by the assessment approach | Passenger, non-user |
| Monitoring1 | Continuous analysis of (project) progress, mostly based on quantitative data | progress of station construction |
Evaluation is a structured process of collecting data and accessing a project success with regard to the content of the project substantiated in specified objectives It´s a way to assess outcome, impact, relevance and sustainability of a project. Usually evaluation takes place at completion. But it can also be placed at different stages of a project life cycle e.g. mid-term, ongoing, ex-post and even ex-ante when you design a project. Therefore you need indicators that allow you to render a ‘qualitative’ judgement of a project. The goal is to estimate the value and benefits of a project and to transfer lessons learned and provide recommendations (identified errors, success mechanisms) to other projects, project managers or stakeholders. Evaluation can also be an obligatory task defined by the sponsor of your project subsidies.
In contrast to evaluation the term monitoring means a continuous analysis of project progress or delay and achievements. You collect data and compare the effective project progress with a plan e.g. defined milestones. In others words you compare input and output in an ongoing assessment activity. The goal is to continuously update the project workflow, control the project progress and implementation stage and if necessary correct the project setting.
Monitoring is an internal project management assignment whereas evaluation usually is more outward-orientated focussing on the intended project targets and how they influence stakeholders and clients (impact evaluation). Monitoring is a short term assessment and does not take into consideration the outcomes and impact unlike the evaluation process which focusses on the outcomes and sometime longer term impacts.