In the File toolbar, click on the Basic button in the Mode section.

Use the Basic view mode:

• if you don't have a lot of experience with project design and management;
• if you have a relatively simple or small project;
• if you are not yet familiar with Logframer.

This view mode:

• Limits the tabs in the bottom part of the Project Information window
  • Description of the project
  • The identification of your target groups
  • The identification of your partners
  • The planning of your monitoring and risk monitoring deadlines
• Hides detail panes at the bottom of the logframe, planning and budget. You can still show the detail panes using the Lay-out toolbar or by pressing <Ctrl><D>
• Hides certain fields, options and lists that are used to include more detailed information

In the File toolbar, click on the Advanced button in the Mode section.

Use the Advanced view mode:

• if you already have experience with project design and management;
• if you're working on a more complex project or programme;
• if you are already familiar with Logframer.

This view mode:

• Shows all tabs in the bottom part of the Project Information window, except the IATI tab
• Shows detail panes at the bottom of the logframe, planning and budget. You can still hide the detail panes using the Lay-out toolbar or by pressing <Ctrl><D>

In the File toolbar, click on the IATI activity button in the Mode section.

Use the 'IATI activity' view mode:

• to create an IATI activity file based on your project;
• to include IATI specific information that you can't add in Advanced mode.

This view mode:

• Shows all tabs in the bottom part of the Project Information window
• Adds some IATI specific fields and lists to Project Information tabs
• Shows detail panes at the bottom of the logframe, planning and budget. You can still hide the detail panes using the Lay-out toolbar or by pressing <Ctrl><D>

In the File toolbar, click on the IATI organisation button in the Mode section.

Use the 'IATI organisation' view mode:

• to create an IATI organisation file;

This view mode:

• Shows only the following tabs in the Project Information window:
  • The Project description tab
  • The IATI specific tab
• Hides the Logical framework window
• Hides the Planning window
• Shows the Budget window where you can register the main budget lines of your organisation's budget for the next (three) years, in accordance with IATI guidelines
• Shows the Expenses window where you can register the main expenses of your organisation of the previous (three) years, in accordance with IATI guidelines

This toolbar is always available and allows you to:

• create, open, save and close documents;
• switch between projects;
• import logical frameworks or budgets from Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel
• create IATI activity and organisation files; or open existing IATI xml files
• switch between view modes: basic; advanced or IATI (activity or organisation)
• complete information about your organisation and add your logo, to add this information to new projects and to customise your reports
• change the settings of your current project or the default settings for new projects as well as general Logframer settings
• change the language of the interface
• show on-line or off-line help, as well as information about Logframer

When you type or edit text you can:

• copy or paste text;
• change the typeface (font) or size of the text; make the text bold, italic; change the (background) colour of the text etc.;
• change the alignment of the text
• find and/or replace text
• select text of a certain type to change it all at once
• translate text

The Text toolbar is only visible when you're working in a text box. There is also a difference between ordinary text boxes for data entry and for instance the cells of the logical framework. In the case of ordinary data entry, you can't change the font of the text or make it bold for instance. You will see that certain options in the text toolbar are not enabled.
 

The items toolbar is available when you work in the logical framework, the planning, the budget and a number of list views. This toolbar allows you to:

• Cut, copy or paste items;
• Add, insert or remove items;
• Insert parent or child items: these options are only enabled when you work with activities (processes) and indicators
• Move items up or down
• Level up or level down (sub-)activities and (sub-)indicators (not enabled for other items)
• Translate items

The lay-out toolbar allows you to modify the appearance of the logical framework, the planning or the budget. The options that are available in the toolbar will vary according to the window you work in.



The Logical framework lay-out toolbar allows you to:

• Hide or unhide columns. Click on the Project Logic column button to make all the other columns disappear or reappear
• Hide or unhide sections: the logframe has four sections (goals, purposes, outputs and activities) which you can show or hide
• Show the entire logframe: click this button to make all hidden columns and sections visible
• Show purpose(s) only: click this button to hide all information except the main purposes of your project
• Show/hide the Details pane at the bottom of the logframe: in this pane you can see and add more detailed information about the project, its target groups, key moments and the planning of processes and activities. It also allows you to select different options for your indicators and set targets. You can also include detailed information about your verification sources and the risks, assumptions and dependencies of the project.
• Show/hide empty cells: make the logframe more compact by hiding the empty cells that allow you to add new objectives, indicators, assumptions, etc.
• Determine the structure of the logframe: in the Activities section (bottom section), you can choose between viewing indicators (process indicators) or the resources and (approx.) amount needed for each resource. You can complete both types of information in your logframe and switch views between the two.

The Planning lay-out toolbar allows you to:

• Hide or unhide the Dates column.
• Hide or unhide the key moments and/or the activities (processes)
• Show the planning by years, months, weeks or days
• Show or hide the links between key moments and other key moments or activities
• Show or hide the links between activities
• Show/hide the Details pane at the bottom of the planning: in this pane you can see and add more detailed information about key moments and processes or activities.
• Show/hide empty cells: make the planning more compact by hiding the empty cells that allow you to add new key moments or activities.

The Budget lay-out toolbar allows you to:

• Hide or unhide the Duration and Local Currency columns.
• Show or hide the Exchange Rates pane
• Show/hide the Details pane at the bottom of the budget: in this pane you can see the list of activities and resources that refer to a budget item. You can also turn a budget item into a ratio item and change its settings.
• Show/hide empty cells: make the budget more compact by hiding the empty cells that allow you to add new items.
• Choose between a simple one-page budget and a more advanced multi-year budget
• Select one of the budget templates

The Collaboration toolbar only appears when you click on a project partner or a contact. It allows you to:

• Send an e-mail to your contact (opens your e-mail application and fills out e-mail address)
• Send a letter to your contact (opens MS Word and inserts the address, title and name of your contact)
• View the website of your contact (opens your browser and navigates to the contact's website)
• Start a conversation over Skype

The Reports toolbar is always available and allows you to:

• create project management tools;
• print reports;
• export reports to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word

The Project Information window allows you to complete basic information about your project such as the project's title, when it will start and its duration.

In the top part you can include:

• The project's title
• The project's short title: often a project's official title is too long to be used in daily conversation, so organisations tend to use a shorter and more technical indication
• The code that your organisation uses as a unique identifier of the project. You can also use this field to register the identifying code provided by the main donor
• The financial code: sometimes the accountancy department uses a specific accountancy code for the project
• The duration of the project, in days, weeks, months or years
• The start date and the end date of the project

You can use the various tab pages below to include additional information:

• Description: what is the project's current status; what type of project is it; in what sectors does it fit? You can also provide a narrative description of the project and of the context in which it will take place.
• Target groups: identify your different target groups, their characteristics and where they are located on a world map. Indicate which information you need to gather from your beneficiaries.
• Intervention zones: in what countries, regions or locations will you work? Identify the different zones and indicate them on a world map.
• Partners: which organisations will assist you in the project (partners, donors, suppliers…) and who are the people you are in contact with?
• Funding: who will provide funding for your project? What transactions are planned or have been made?
• Monitoring deadlines planning: this allows you to determine when and how often monitoring of results and risks should happen.
• IATI specific information: if you want to create an IATI activity file for your project, you need to complete some additional information (IATI identifier; international aid type; budget status...)

Note that certain tabs may not be visible in some view modes.

The Logical framework window allows you to design the structure of your project:

• Determine the outputs, the main purpose and the long-term goals of the project (intervention logic or project logic)
• List the activities and processes you need to do to achieve your objectives.
• Assess risks, assumptions and dependencies and create the tools to follow them up.
• Design your monitoring and evaluation system to track your project and assess its success and impact.

Create a clear planning of your project's main activities and processes using a drag-and-drop enabled Gantt chart.

The Budget window allows you to create your project's budget.

You can choose between making a simple (one page) budget or a multi-year budget.

To make things easier, you can choose one of the budget templates and modify it to your needs.

The Expenses window is only visible when you work in IATI organisation view mode. It allows you to register your organisation's overall expenses.

As with the budget you can choose between listing your expenses as a simple (one page) overview or a multi-year overview.

In the Lay-out toolbar, click on the Show Details button in the View section to show the Details pane on the bottom of your screen.



The content of the Details pane depends on which item you've selected

Logframe:

• Goal: project information (title, duration…)
• Purpose: add, edit and remove target groups. Double click on a target group to edit its name and the number of women/men you expect to reach. You can also determine which fields you want to include on the Target Group Information Form
• Output: add, edit and remove key moments or milestones on your planning
• Activity: set the activity's starting date and duration, who will organise it and where, the preparation and follow-up period and optionally when and how often it will be repeated
• Indicator: choose the type of indicator (value, multiple choice, yes/no…), the unit (items, kg, persons…), how it will be scored etc. You can also set the baseline and identify targets to be achieved over the course of the project. If you measure at the level of each beneficiary you can also determine how these data should be aggregated (sum, average…). Finally if the indicator has sub-indicators you can see how their values or scores add up and set the way the scores of the sub-indicators should be totalled.
• Verification source: describe who will collect information, how often and from what information sources
• Risks, assumptions and dependencies: manage the information from the fourth column and specify them according to the RAID principle. Describe how they can influence your project, how you will monitor them and what your strategy is should things go wrong.
• Resources and estimated budget: once your budget is established, you can select different items from you budget and indicate the percentage that you will need as a resource for a particular activity (and output). Alternatively, you can just enter a ballpark figure as an estimated total for a particular resource.

Planning

• Activity: set the activity's starting date and duration, who will organise it and where, the preparation and follow-up period and optionally when and how often it will be repeated

Budget

• Budget item: get an overview of which activities/outputs will make use of this item and to what degree (percentage). If the budget item's total is a percentage of another item or total, you can set the ratio (percentage) here.

You can access the Clipboard pane either from the Text Toolbar or from the Items Toolbar. Both have a Clipboard section on the left. Click on the More… icon in the bottom right corner of the section to show the respective clipboard.

• Text clipboard: If you cut or copy pieces of text, they will be listed here.
• When you cut or copy an item (goal, purpose, output, activity, indicator, assumption, budget item…) it will be added to this list.

When you paste (using the Paste button or by pressing Ctrl+V), the top item from the list will be pasted. Alternatively, you can select an item from the list and then press Paste or Ctrl+V.

It is possible you have to work with many different currencies and you want to calculate prices in the original currency and then get a total in your project's main currency.

The exchange rates pane allows you to set the exchange rate for every currency you use that is different from your project's main currency. Once you've set the exchange rate, the totals will be calculated automatically.

Also, if you have to update this exchange rate you don't have to change each individual budget item. Instead you change the rate in the Exchange pane, and then all the items that use this currency will be updated automatically.

The Target Group Identification Form is a report that you can either print or export to MS Word. You can make a specific form for each target group.

To add a new partner, click into the top list. This will select the Items toolbar. Then press the Add button. You will get the following pop-up window:

Here you can register:

• The name of the organisation (mandatory)
• The organisation's acronym
• Select the type of organisation (not-for-profit, company, medical institute…)
• The role of the organisation in the project: is it the lead organisation, a (implementing) partner, a donor, a supplier, an auditor…
• If the organisation has a IATI identifier (International Aid Transparency Initiative) then you can register it as well
• Whether the organisation provides funding or not. If you indicate that it does, you will be able to include additional information such as budget lines, calls for proposals, etc.

Click OK to add the organisation to your partner list. When you return to the main window you can add the organisation's address(es), telephone numbers, (general) e-mail address, website, contacts, etc.

When you click on the name of an organisation in the top list, you will see its detailed information in the bottom.

On the Description tab you can modify the organisation's name and acronym, it's role in the project and provide a short description of the organisation.

When you click on the name of an organisation in the top list, you will see its detailed information in the bottom.

On the Contacts tab you add people or see their details. To add a contact click in the list and then press on the Add button in the Items toolbar. This will open the following pop-up window:

Here you can add personal contact information, such as:

• Mail addresses
• Skype account
• Telephone numbers
• E-mail addresses
• Web pages

The toolbar above this information allows you to create a new e-mail message or start up a Skype conversation (see also the Collaboration toolbar).

For IATI activity reports, the contact information of the people in your list will not be included by default. If you do want a person to be included as a contact person in an IATI report, go to the IATI tab and check the 'Include this contact in the IATI report' box.

When you click on the name of an organisation in the top list, you will see its detailed information in the bottom.

On the Contact information tab you can add:

• Mail addresses
• Telephone numbers
• E-mail addresses
• Web pages

When you click on the name of an organisation in the top list, you will see its detailed information in the bottom.

On the Location tab you can indicate the precise location of the organisation's offices on a map. You can only pinpoint the location, you cannot indicate an area on this map like you would for a target group.

When you click on the name of an organisation in the top list, you will see its detailed information in the bottom.

On the Financial information tab you can register bank details if you want. You can also indicate whether this organisation provides funding (if you haven't done so already when adding the organisation to your project).

If the organisation provides funding, you can add budget lines and calls for proposals (CfP-s). You can use this information later in the Funding tab.

To add a new budget line, click into the list. This will select the Items toolbar. Then press the Add button. You will get the following pop-up window:

To add a call for proposals, choose the second tab and click into the list.

Then press the Add button. You will get the following pop-up window:

When you click on the name of an organisation in the top list, you will see its detailed information in the bottom.

On the IATI tab you can register the organisation's unique IATI identifier code if you know it. For each partner you can choose whether you want to include this organisation in the IATI report.

If you produce an IATI activity file about a project, you can do so as the primary reporter. This means that the file will be published with your own organisation's reference as the author of the document. But you can also report on a project if you are not the lead organisation but a secondary reporter. In this case you should check the 'Secondary reporter' box.

For each funding source in the top list, you can add contractual deadlines. These include things like intermediary and final reports, financial reports, evaluations and audits.

To add a contract date, click into the bottom list. This will select the Items toolbar. Then press the Add button. You will get the following pop-up window:

Here you can set the deadline, select the type of contractual obligation and give a short description.

Transactions are transfers of funds from one partner organisation to another. There are two main types of transactions: planned transactions and actual transactions.

To add a transaction, click into the list on the Transactions tab. This will select the Items toolbar. Then press the Add button. You will get the following pop-up window:

To make this a planned transaction, choose 'Planned' from the Transaction type list. You will then be able to determine in which period the transaction will take place. Below, you can indicate the (approximate) amount of the planned transaction and the partner organisations that will make and receive the transaction.

For actual transactions, you can also click in the list and then press the Add button to open the same window. You can either have a completely new transaction, or change the Transaction type from 'Planned' to any of the following options:

• Incoming funds (for instance when you received a payment from a donor)
• Disbursement (for instance when you transfer money from the main project account to the account of a partner organisation or a local office)
• Expenditure (when you actually buy something or pay for services)
• Interest repayment
• Loan repayment
• Reimbursement
• Purchase of equity
• Sale of equity
• Credit guarantee
• Incoming commitment

In most cases you will use the first three. The idea here is not to list every single small purchase, but to focus on the transfer of important sums. In other words, this is not meant to do (or replace) your accountancy but to enhance transparency. Transactions are therefore very important in the framework of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

Transactions are central to the idea of international aid transparency. If you want to create an IATI activity file of your project, it is important that you pay sufficient attention to transactions. Overall, the idea behind IATI is that you can trace the money that donor countries give to recipient countries through transactions. Transactions allow people to see how money flows from one organisation (agency) to the other until it finally arrives in the recipient countries and is spent in the form of investments, delivery of goods and services, provision of credits, etc.

If you want to support the IATI initiative you have to make sure that the transactions that you include in your project file make it clear how the money you received from various sources makes it way to the target groups/beneficiaries it is intended for. IATI asks you to provide certain information for each individual transaction. You must provide this information on the IATI tab of the pop-up dialogue:

This image shows the default settings of Logframer for individual transactions. They are optimised for aid delivery by Non Governmental Organisations:

• Official Development Assistance
• via aid grants (donor grants)
• implemented through projects or programmes that have a specific purpose (specific objective/outcome)
• expenses are made through partially tied procurement, which generally means that for expenses above a certain amount you need to follow a procurement procedure inviting suppliers to make offers and then make a selection based on open criteria (organise a market).

On top you can enter the code of the Sector for which this transaction is destined, although a typical NGO project will focus on one specific sector, which you can also indicate in the Project Description. You can indicate whether this transaction concerns humanitarian assistance - again something that you can also indicate in the Project Description. The Channel field is more suited for assistance from one government to the other (not set by default).

If you want to publish the information of your project as an IATI activity file, you have to get a valid IATI identifier. Once you have this code, you must enter it in the Project identifier field:

The hierarchy level is used for complex programmes to indicate at what level this current project is situated. For instance, you may have a regional programme for West-Africa (hierarchy level 1) with sub-programmes for Senegal and Guinea (hierarchy level 2). How you structure your programme (hierarchy) is up to you.

Next you can list the programmes to which this particular project is linked. To do so, click in the top list and press the Add button in the Items toolbar.

In this dialogue window, you can provide the title of the related programme, its specific IATI indicator code and the type of relationship it has (parent project, child project, sibling project, co-funded project or third party project).

In the bottom list, IATI asks you to indicate to which DAC (Development Assistance Committee of the OECD) policies your project makes a contribution. Click in the bottom list and press the Add button in the Items toolbar to create a new item.

The DAC policies your project can contribute to are:

• Gender equality
• Aid to environment
• Participatory Development/Good Governance
• Trade Development
• Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity
• Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Framework Convention on Climate Change - Mitigation
• Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Framework Convention on Climate Change - Adaptation
• Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Convention to Combat Desertification
• Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH)

For each topic you select, you can indicate how significant it is for your project:

• Not targeted
• Significant objective
• Principal objective
• Principal objective AND in support of an action programme(desertification-related aid only)
• Explicit primary objective

On the International aid streams tab, you need to indicate under what type of aid your project falls (see also Transactions where you can specify this for every financial transaction you make). The default settings of Logframer (shown before) are optimised for aid delivery by Non Governmental Organisations:

• Bilateral funding
• Official Development Assistance
• via aid grants (donor grants)
• implemented through projects or programmes that have a specific purpose (specific objective/outcome)

Below you can indicate the status of your financial figures: is this the original budget? Is the budget already committed or just indicative? Are procurements dependent on a tied procedure, a partially tied procedure or untied?

Finally you can list any conditions that may apply to the project as a whole. These conditions may be imposed from a certain policy or can be financial or performance related.

Once your IATI activity or organisation file is ready, you have to publish it on your website and register it in the IATI registry. But there may be other documents that are relevant to your project. You can also publish these on your website and indicate their specific location in the Document links table.

To add a document link, click into the list. This will select the Items toolbar. Then press the Add button. You will get the following pop-up window:

Here you can provide the title of the document and its location on your website (or another publicly accessible site). It's also important to indicate the language of the document. This also means you can include multiple versions of the same document in different languages for instance.

The logical framework allows you to design the structure of your project, containing the following logframe items:

• Project logic items are arranged in the first column, in four sections:
  • Goals (top section) or long term objectives: these are the broad objectives on the level of the (local) society that your project contributes to. This means you don't expect them to be achieved entirely by your project, but it will help advance the local society towards these objectives. As such, this means you don't have these objectives fully under your control.
  • Purposes: a purpose explains why your project exists in the first place. It is the main objective of your project, which you hope to achieve by its completion (medium-term objective). It is often recommended to have no more than a single purpose in your project, but Logframer can handle more than one purpose. If you do have more than one purpose, your outputs and activities will be grouped per purpose.
  • Outputs: these are the direct and tangible results of the activities and processes of the project. For each purpose, you can have as many outputs as you want.
  • Activities: to achieve each output, you can include one or more activities designed to create this output. You can even split up larger processes (activities) into sub-activities (or smaller processes split up into sub-sub-activities and so on).
• Indicators are listed in the second column. For each objective (goal, purpose, output) or activity you can identify as many indicators as you want. Indicators can also have sub-indicators (and sub-sub-indicators etc.) You can design indicators to follow up each type of objective:
  • Impact indicators to follow the evolution of the goals
  • Effect indicators to follow up the progress towards the purpose(s)
  • Output indicators to follow up the delivery of outputs
  • Process indicators to follow up the progress of activities and processes
• Verification sources are listed in the third column. For each indicator you can include one or more verification sources
• Risks, assumptions and dependencies are listed in the fourth column. For each objective you can list as many risks, assumptions and dependencies as you want
• Resources are only available in the Activities section at the bottom. Here you can switch the view from listing indicators and verification sources for each activity, or the resources and budget. For every (sub-)activity you can list as many resources as you want. In the Budget column of the logframe (bottom of the Verification Sources column) you can specify an indicative total for the resources. Alternatively, you can calculate this amount by selecting items from the budget.

Using the Lay-out toolbar, you can hide columns and sections; hide everything but your project's main purpose(s); switch between viewing the process indicators or the resources; and show or hide the Details pane.

This enables you to make custom versions of the logframe, which you can then print or export to MS Word or MS Excel. It also allows you to hide the columns or sections that you are not working, making it easier to focus.

The Lay-out toolbar has the following ribbon panels and buttons:

• Columns ribbon panel: hide or show the Indicators, Verification Sources and/or Assumptions column. The Project Logic column will always remain visible, but if you click this button the three other columns will hide or show.
• Sections ribbon panel: hide or show the Goals section, the Purposes section, the Outputs section and/or the Activities section
• View ribbon panel:
  • Show the entire logframe
  • Show the project's main purpose(s) only
  • Hide or show the Details pane at the bottom of the screen
  • Hide empty cells: click this button to hide the empty cells at the bottom of each group of items. This will make the view of the logframe more compact. You can still insert or add items using the Items ribbon.
• Structure ribbon panel: in the Activities section (bottom section of the logframe), you can choose between viewing process indicators and their verification sources (columns 2 and 3), or the resources and (estimated) cost necessary for each activity.

You can print the logical framework, export it to MS Word or to MS Excel. When you print or export the logframe, you can customise its appearance:

• You can show or hide columns
• You can show or hide sections (goals, purposes, outputs, activities)
• In the activities section, you can choose between showing the performance indicators and their verification sources, or the resources and budget necessary for each activity.

This way you can easily produce different versions of the logframe for your funding applications, for training purposes, for communication purposes, for project management, etc.

The planning window allows you to plan the different activities and key moments (milestones) of your project. It contains the following items:

• Key moments such as deadlines, milestones, external events, etc.
• Processes, which consist of several activities
• Activities, which can exist on their own or as part of a larger process. If you add sub-activities to a parent activity, it becomes a process.

Activities, processes and key moments are grouped per output of your logical framework. Key moments are always ordered by date.

You can use the Details pane to specify the date of a key moment or the start date and duration of an activity. However you can also change this by dragging the activity/key moment around in the main window.

Key moments:

• Click and hold the key moment with the left mouse button. Drag it in the direction of the date you want to place it. You will see a date appearing next to the key moments symbol (the red diamond shape), allowing you to release it exactly on the right date.
• Notice that the key moments are listed according to date. So if your key moment comes before or after other key moments, it will change its place in the list (going up or down in the list).

Activities:

• To change the starting date of the activity: click and hold the left side of the activity bar and then drag it in the direction of the date you want to place it. You will see a date appearing next to the activity bar, allowing you to release it exactly on the right date. This operation will not change the duration of the activity

• To change the end date of the activity: click and hold the right side of the activity bar and then drag it in the direction of the date you want to place it. You will see a date appearing next to the activity bar, allowing you to release it exactly on the right date. This operation will change the duration of the activity.
• To move the activity without changing the duration: click and hold somewhere inside the activity bar and then drag it in the direction of the date you want to place it. You will see two dates appearing next to start and end of the activity bar, allowing you to release it exactly on the right date. This operation will not change the duration of the activity.
• A shorter/longer preparation period: click and hold the left side of the thin preparation bar before the activity and then drag it in the direction of the date you want to place it. You will see a date appearing next to the preparation bar, allowing you to release it exactly on the right date. This operation will change the duration of the preparation period but will not change the start date or duration of the activity.

• A shorter/longer follow-up period: click and hold the right side of the thin follow-up bar on the right side of the activity and then drag it in the direction of the date you want to place it. You will see a date appearing next to the follow-up bar, allowing you to release it exactly on the right date. This operation will change the duration of the follow-up period but will not change the start date or duration of the activity.

Using the Lay-out toolbar, you can hide certain columns; hide or show key moments and/or activities; select the level of detail of the Gantt chart; hide or show links between key moments and activities; and show or hide the Details pane.

The Lay-out toolbar has the following ribbon panels and buttons:

• Columns ribbon panel: hide or show the Dates column. The Descriptions column will always remain visible.
• Items ribbon panel: hide or show the key moments and/or the activities.
• View ribbon panel:
  • Set the level of detail of the Gantt chart to days, weeks, months or years
  • Show or hide the links between key moments and/or activities
  • Hide or show the Details pane at the bottom of the screen
  • Hide empty cells: click this button to hide the empty cells at the bottom of each group of items. This will make the view of the planning more compact. You can still insert or add items using the Items ribbon.

A budget has:

• Budget items: a budget item calculates the cost for a specific item. You can enter:
  • The description of the item
  • Its duration and duration unit: for instance to calculate wages: 12 months
  • Its quantity: for instance ‘5 items ‘or ‘3 persons’. You can select an existing unit from the drop-down list or enter a new one.
  • Its unit cost:
    • Unit cost expressed in the default currency: simply enter the unit cost of the item
    • Unit cost expressed in a local currency: enter the number and select a currency from the Currency drop-down list. If the currency you need is not available, use the Exchange rates window to add new local currencies.
• Budget headers: these group a series of budget items. A budget header can also group other budget headers and you can create as many levels as you like. Logframer automatically calculates the totals of the budget header:
  • The total duration: a total will only be made if the duration unit of all the items is the same
  • The total quantity: a total will only be made if the number unit of all the items is the same
  • The total local currency: a total will only be made if the local currency of all the items is the same
  • The total cost

You don't have to fill out all the cells for a budget item. You can:

A special kind of budget item is the Ratio budget item. With a Ratio item, you can specify that one cost equals to a certain percentage (ratio) of another item or budget header. To create a ratio item:

• Make sure the Details pane is visible (if not, go to the Lay-out toolbar and in the View section click on Show Details).
• On the Type tab of the Details pane, set the Type to ratio using the drop-down list
• In the table that appears, select the reference row that will be the source for your item
• Specify the ratio as a percentage of the amount you're referring to

A ratio item is practical if you have for instance administration costs that are a fixed percentage of the total working costs, or if you want to calculate an amount for contingencies as a percentage of other costs.
 

Using the Lay-out toolbar, you can hide certain columns; view the Exchange rates pane; show or hide the Details pane; switch between simple/multi-year budgets and use one of the pre-defined budget templates.

The Lay-out toolbar has the following ribbon panels and buttons:

• Columns ribbon panel: hide or show the Duration/Duration unit columns and the Local currency columns.
• View ribbon panel:
  • Show or hide the Exchange rates pane
  • Hide or show the Details pane at the bottom of the screen
  • Hide empty cells: click this button to hide the empty cells at the bottom of the budget items of each budget header. This will make the view of the budget more compact. You can still insert or add items using the Items ribbon.
• Structure ribbon panel:
  • Switch between simple budget and multi-year budgets
  • Use one of the budget templates

The Risk Register is a report that you can either print or export to MS Word or MS Excel. The print version and the MS Word version give you an overview of the risks and what you will do in response; the objectives they may influence and the risk level at the onset of the programme.

You can select if you want to view all risks or the risks of a specific category (operational; financial; objectives; reputation risks)?

If you export the Risk Register to MS Excel, you will get an interactive tool to assess the likelihood and possible impact of each risk over the course of your project. This will allow you to see how each risk evolves over time and what measures you must take to deal with them.

The Assumptions Table is a report that you can either print or export to MS Word. It provides an overview of the assumptions of each objective.

In print preview, you can select if you want to view all assumptions, or only the assumptions of a certain level (goals, purposes, outputs, activities).

The Dependencies Table is a report that you can print. It provides an overview of the dependencies of each objective.

In print preview, you can select if you want to view all dependencies, or only the dependencies of a certain level (goals, purposes, outputs, activities).

For each type of indicator you can register a baseline value. The baseline is the measurement you make before your project (or at least any of the project's activities) starts.

Some types of indicators use targets, while others have none. If you use targets, you can specify different targets according to the calendar of the Monitoring Deadlines.

Some information can be found or registered centrally, for instance impact indicators that take information from government statistics. These can be entered by someone at your office.

In other cases you may have different teams in the field that register information about their beneficiaries or intervention zone. To get the total results at project level you may have to make a total of the numbers of the various teams.

It's also possible that you need to register information for every beneficiary (or a sample of the group of beneficiaries). The total number/score for that indicator at project level is then calculated as the total sum of the beneficiaries.

In the Indicator Details pane, select the Registration tab. Use the Registration drop-down box to select one of these three options:

• Programme level: one (periodic) measurement for the whole programme
• Team level: measurements of different teams can be aggregated on programme level
• Beneficiary level: information is measured with the/a sample of beneficiaries and then aggregated

Select the target group for which the indicator will be used. You can also use an indicator for all target groups
Use the Aggregate drop-down list to choose how you want to aggregate the information from the different teams or beneficiaries:

• Sum
• Average
• Minimum value
• Maximum value
• Spread
• Distribution

For value-based indicators, you can choose how you will define your targets:

1. As a simple target value
2. As a value range, for instance:
   • Minimum number of patients of a local health-care centre: x > 250 / month
   • Maximum delinquency percentage of loans (non re-imbursement): x <= 7%
   • Number of children per teacher: 20 <= x <= 35
3. As a formula, for instance
   • Target year 1 = 2 x baseline value
   • Target year 2 = 3 x baseline value
   • Target year 3 = 4 x baseline value

In the Indicator Details pane, select the Scoring tab and go to the Targeting box (on the right). Select one of the three options.

To set the actual targets, go to the Targets tab.

If you use a simple target value, you can enter it directly in the cells

If you use a value range, a pop-up window will appear (double-click on the cell if it doesn't) where you can set a minimum value and/or a maximum value. To do so, select the sign (<; >; <=; >=) and enter a value. If you don't select a sign, the min/max value won't be used:

• For x < 10: do not select a sign or enter a value for Minimum value, only for Maximum value
• For x > 10: do not select a sign or enter a value for Maximum value, only for Minimum value
• For 5 < x < 10: select a sign and enter a value for both Minimum and Maximum value

For questions with targets, you can choose which (total) value the indicator will produce:

1. With value-based indicators, you can opt to simply use the value you enter. For instance: 10 pieces or 30 items or 100 tonnes…
2. You can also choose to give a score to a certain result:
   • With value based indicators: you can indicate that a total production of more than 50 tonnes get a score of 1, a production of more than 100 tonnes gets a score of 2 and production of more than 500 tonnes get a score of 3
   • With multiple options questions, ordinal questions, opinion scales etc. you can accord a score to the different options. For instance: yes = 1 and no = 0
3. Finally, you can express the result as a percentage of the total.
   • For value-based indicators, if the target was 400 participants to a training and you actually had 374 participants, the percentage of the indicator is 93.5%
   • For multiple options questions, ordinal questions, opinion scales etc. a score of 2 on a maximum of 5 gives a percentage of 40%

To set the actual scores:

• For value-based indicators, select the Targets tab:
  • If you use a simple target value, you can enter it directly in the cells
  • If you use a score, set the score directly in the cells below the target values
  • If you use a percentage, the target value will always be 100%. If you use the Monitoring tool in Excel, the measured value will be transformed into a percentage of the target value
• For multiple options questions, ordinal questions, opinion scales etc., select the Scoring tab:
  • If you use a score, you can specify the scoring value of each option or statement in the list
  • If you use a percentage and you use the Monitoring tool in Excel, the value of the option/statement you select will be transformed into a percentage of the maximum score that can be achieved.

Set the amount of white space that you want to give to the respondent/interviewer on the questionnaire.

On the Scoring tab:

• Enter the options that the respondent can choose from in the Statements list
• Give a scoring value for the ‘Best option’, for instance 100. The ‘Not selected’ option will always be 0 and the 'Worst option' is the inverse of the Best option (-100).
• You can change the text for Best and Worst option in the Choices box.

On the Baseline tab:

• Click on Open document icon next to URL to select the picture that you want to open
• You can add a description of the picture

On the Scoring tab:

• Number box: indicate the precision (number of decimals) and select a unit from the list, or enter a new unit. If you enter a custom unit it will become available for all indicators in the current project (but not in other projects).
• Value range box: You can limit the value range that the respondents can give by specifying a minimum value and/or a maximum value. This means that you can’t enter target values that lie outside this value range.
• Scoring and Targeting: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• Specify the target values in the cells of the first row
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total values for the target population.

With scoring:

Beneficiary level monitoring:

Beneficiary level monitoring with scoring:

On the Scoring tab:

• Number box: indicate the precision (number of decimals). The unit is ‘%’ by default.
• Value range box: You can limit the value range that the respondents can give by specifying a minimum value and/or a maximum value. This means that you can't enter target values that lie outside this value range.
• Scoring and Targeting: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• Specify the target percentages in the cells of the first row
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total values for the target population.

Beneficiary level monitoring:

To calculate a ratio, the respondent has to answer to two questions. For each question, you can specify the number of decimals, unit and value range.

On the Scoring tab:

• For the first and second question:
  • Enter the question in the first question / second question box
  • Number box: indicate the precision (number of decimals) and select a unit from the list, or enter a new unit. If you enter a custom unit it will become available for all indicators in the current project (but not in other projects).
  • Value range box: You can limit the value range that the respondents can give by specifying a minimum value and/or a maximum value. This means that you can’t enter target values that lie outside this value range.
• Scoring and Targeting: these options concern the total value/score of the indicator, not the individual questions. For more information, see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• Specify the target values for the first question in the cells of the first row
• Specify the target values for the second question in the cells of the second row
• Logframer will calculate the ratio in the third row
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. Because the ratio is a kind of average, you won't see another row with total values as you have in other types of indicators.

With scoring:

Beneficiary level monitoring:

Beneficiary level monitoring with scoring:

On the Scoring tab:

• Enter a series of questions or statements in the Questions box.
• For each question you can specify the number of decimals, the unit and a value range (with a minimum value and a maximum value)
• Formula: here you can enter the formula to calculate the total. By default, Logframer will construct an addition of the rows (A+B+C+D…), but you can create your own formulas more or less like you would in Excel:
  • Allowed operators: A+B; A-B; A*B; A/B
  • Numbers are allowed: A*10
  • Brackets are also allowed, for instance: (A+B)/(C+D)
  • Excel functions such as SUM, AVERAGE, etc. are NOT allowed
• Number box: specify the precision (number of decimals) and the unit for the result of your formula. Logframer will attempt to determine the unit based on the units of the questions and your formula. For instance: if the unit of question A and question B is ‘kg’ and the unit of question C is ‘m²’ and the formula is (A+B)/C then the resulting unit will be kg/m². However, you can also select a unit from the drop-down list or enter a new unit.
• Scoring: see the page on this topic
• Targeting: for the Formula question type, you can only use values for your targets, not scores.

On the Targets tab:

• Specify the target values for the questions in the ‘Baseline’ and ‘Target’ columns
• At the bottom, the resulting total will appear according to your formula
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total values for the target population.

With scoring:

Beneficiary level monitoring:

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter a value for ‘yes’ and ‘no’ (typically ‘yes’ would be 1 and ‘no’ would be 0). If you want to use values with one or more decimals, use the Number box to set the number of decimals
• Scoring: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• For the baseline and targets, click in the checkbox next to Yes or No
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

Beneficiary level monitoring:

With the Multiple Options question type, the respondent (or interviewer) can select one or more options from a list. If you want to ensure that he/she can only select a single option, use the Multiple Choice question type.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the different options that the respondent will be able to choose from. Then enter a scoring value for each option. If you want to use values with one or more decimals, use the Number box to set the number of decimals
• Scoring: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• For the baseline and targets, click in the checkbox next to the relevant options
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

Beneficiary level monitoring:

With the Multiple Choice question type, the respondent (or interviewer) can select only one option from a list. If you want to ensure that he/she can only select a one or more options, use the Multiple Option question type.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the different options that the respondent will be able to choose from. Then enter a scoring value for each option. If you want to use values with one or more decimals, use the Number box to set the number of decimals
• Scoring: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• For the baseline and targets, click in the checkbox next to the relevant options
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

Beneficiary level monitoring:

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the different options that the respondent will be able to choose from.
• Scoring: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• For the baseline and targets, use the drop-down list of the cells to select the order of preference of the respondent. You can select a value between 0 and the number of options you specified on the Scoring tab. For the targets it can be difficult to precisely predict the order in which the respondent will answer. So you may just focus on the most important item (target item) and show how it will evolve over time.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, you cannot specify the percentage of the target group as you would for other types of questions.

The difference between the Likert-type scale and a full-blown Likert scale is that the Likert-type scale only uses a five-point (or seven-point, or whatever you prefer) to answer on a single question. A full-blown Likert scale on the other hand uses a series of statements that explore different dimensions of a subject.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the different Likert scale options that the respondent will be able to choose from. A typical Likert scale has five or seven options (five-point Likert scale or seven-point Likert scale), which means that there is a neutral option in the middle. But you can also use an even number of options and use more or less options than five or seven. For example:
  • Strongly disagree – disagree – neutral – agree – strongly agree
  • Very good – good – bad – very bad
• Enter a scoring value for each option. If you want to use values with one or more decimals, use the Number box to set the number of decimals
• Scoring: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• For the baseline and targets, click in the checkbox under to the relevant option. You can only select one option.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target in the column on the right. In the far right column Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

Beneficiary level monitoring:

A semantic uses pairs of adjectives to measure a person's attitude towards something. For instance: ‘The workshops on sustainable organic fertilizers were:’

• Not interesting – Interesting
• Not to the point – to the point
• Not practical – Practical
• Not participatory – Participatory
• Difficult to put into practice – Easy to put into practice

To answer, the respondent can use a series of options that allow him/her to express different degrees of agreement with one of the two extremes. If you use an uneven number of options you can use a ‘Neutral’ option in the middle.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the items (degrees) of the scale that the respondent will be able to choose from. These items specify the adjectives that the respondent can choose from and mirror each other, for example:
  • Extremely – quite – slightly – neutral – slightly – quite - extremely
  • Very – a bit – neutral – a bit - very
• Enter a scoring value for each option. If you want to use values with one or more decimals, use the Number box to set the number of decimals
• Scoring: see the page on this topic

On the Targets tab:

• The Targets tab is divided in another series of tabs: one for the baseline and one for each target
• Add statements by entering the adjective pairs in the first and last column (Statement columns). When you enter or modify statements in the Baseline tab they will automatically be copied to the targets.
• Select one of the checkboxes for each statement.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

Beneficiary level monitoring:

The method of equal-appearing intervals or the Thurstone scale is used to measure attitudes of people. Logframer allows you to use a Thurstone scale to measure an indicator, but developing such a scale is not so simple.

This kind of scale is used to measure people's attitude towards a fairly clear and unidimensional concept, using a number of statements that vary in how they express a positive or negative opinion about the main concept. We'll briefly explain the steps of developing a Thurstone scale:

1. Determine the focus: what concept are you going to measure (see what people's attitudes are toward it)?
2. Ask a group of people (or a person) to write down different statements about this concept, reflecting different opinions or attitudes about the subject. Make sure you have a large number of statements, making sure that people can either degree or disagree with them (no - open - questions for instance).
3. Rating the scale items: the next step is to have your group rate each statement on a 1-to-11 scale in terms of how much each statement indicates a favourable attitude towards the concept. The members of the group must not express their own opinion, they must only indicate how favourable they feel each statement is. You can use a scale with 1 = extremely favourable attitude towards the subject (focus) and 11 = extremely unfavourable attitude towards the subject.
4. Compute the median and interquartile range for each statement. Create a table with these values and sort by the median.
5. Select the items for the actual scale: you should select statements that are at equal intervals across the range of medians. Within each value, you should try to select the statement that has the smallest Interquartile Range. This is the statement with the least amount of variability across judges. You don't want the statistical analysis to be the only deciding factor here. Look over the candidate statements at each level and select the statement that makes the most sense. If you find that the best statistical choice is a confusing statement, select the next best choice.
6. For a detailed example, see http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/scalthur.php

You can now use the scale to measure attitudes 'in the field': enter the list of statements and use them to interview people or present them in a document. For each item, they should express whether they agree or disagree. The total score of a person is calculated by making the sum of the values of all the statements they agreed with, divided by the number of items he agreed on (in other words, the average of the statements they agreed with).

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: list the different statement to which the respondent can agree or disagree. Then enter a scoring value for each statement.
• Scoring: see the page on this topic
• Number box: select the number of decimals for the total scoring value of the baseline/targets. Since this total score is a division (the sum of the values of the agreed statements divided by the number of statements agreed on), you may want to choose for 1 or 2 decimals.
• Choices box: By default, agreement is expressed by ‘Agree’ and disagreement with ‘Disagree’, but you can change these options here.

On the Targets tab:

• For each statement, click in the checkbox of the ‘Agree’ or the ‘Disagree’ column. The total scoring value is shown at the top of the column.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

The difference between a full-blown Likert scale and a Likert-type scale is that the Likert-type scale only uses a five-point (or seven-point, or whatever you prefer) to answer on a single question. A full-blown Likert scale on the other hand uses a series of statements that explore different dimensions of a subject.

The Likert scale can also be used to measure attitudes of people. When responding to a Likert questionnaire item, respondents specify their level of agreement or disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale for a series of statements. Thus, the range captures the intensity of their feelings for a given item. As with the Thurstone scale, the development of a Likert scale takes some effort.

A Likert scale uses a number of Likert items, which are statements to which a respondent expresses his agreement or disagreement. Generally, a five-point or seven-point scale is used, for instance:

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neutral
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

As you can see, each item is bipolar: it measures either someone's agreement or disagreement to the statement and allows you to give some measure of how much you agree or disagree. There is a variety of possible response scales (5-point; 7-point; 4-point…). All of these odd-numbered scales have a middle value is often labelled ‘Neutral’ or ‘Undecided’. It is also possible to use a forced-choice response scale with an even number of responses and no central neutral choice. In this situation, the respondent is forced to decide whether they lean more towards the agree or disagree end of the scale for each item.

The basic steps of developing a Likert scale are:

1. Determine the focus: what concept are you going to measure (see what people's attitudes are toward it)?
2. Ask a group of people (or a person) to write down different statements about this concept, reflecting different opinions or attitudes about the subject. Make sure you have a large number of statements, making sure that people can express their degree of agreement or disagreement on a five or seven-point scale.
3. Rating the scale items: the next step is to have your group rate each statement on your five-point (or seven-point, or 10-point) scale in terms of how much each statement indicates a favourable or unfavourable attitude towards the concept. The members of the group must not express their own opinion, they must only indicate how favourable or unfavourable they feel each statement is. All statements (Likert items) in the Likert scale must use the same number of points on the scale (so either a 5-point scale, or a 7-point scale, but not a mix of the two).
4. Select the items for the actual scale: The next step is to compute the intercorrelations between all pairs of items, based on the ratings of the judges. In making judgements about which items to retain for the final scale there are several analyses you can:
   • Throw out any items that have a low correlation with the total (summed) score across all items
   • For each item, get the average rating for the top quarter of judges and the bottom quarter. Then, do a T-test of the differences between the mean value for the item for the top and bottom quarter judges.
5. Correlation between the items and the total score: In most statistics packages it is relatively easy to compute this type of Item-Total correlation. First, you create a new variable which is the sum of all of the individual items for each respondent. Then, you include this variable in the correlation matrix computation (if you include it as the last variable in the list, the resulting Item-Total correlations will all be the last line of the correlation matrix and will be easy to spot). How low should the correlation be for you to throw out the item? There is no fixed rule here -- you might eliminate all items with a correlation with the total score less than .6, for example.
6. T-test: Higher t-values mean that there is a greater difference between the highest and lowest judges. In more practical terms, items with higher t-values are better discriminators, so you want to keep these items. In the end, you will have to use your judgement about which items are most sensibly retained. You want a relatively small number of items on your final scale (e.g., 10-15) and you want them to have high Item-Total correlations and high discrimination (e.g., high t-values).
7. For a detailed example, see http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/scallik.php

You can now use the scale to measure attitudes in the field: enter the list of statements and use them to interview people or present them in a document. For each item, they should express to what degree they agree or disagree.

The final score for the respondent on the scale is the sum of their ratings for all of the items (this is why this is sometimes called a summative scale). On some scales, you will have items that are reversed in meaning from the overall direction of the scale. These are called reversal items. You will need to reverse the response value for each of these items before summing for the total. That is, if the respondent gave a 1, you make it a 5; if they gave a 2 you make it a 4; 3 = 3; 4 = 2; and, 5 = 1.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the different Likert scale options that the respondent will be able to choose from. A typical Likert scale has five or seven options (five-point Likert scale or seven-point Likert scale), which means that there is a neutral option in the middle. But you can also use an even number of options and use more or less options than five or seven. For example:
  • Strongly disagree – disagree – neutral – agree – strongly agree
  • Very good – good – bad – very bad
• Enter a scoring value for each option.
• Scoring: see the page on this topic
• Number box: select the number of decimals for the total scoring value of the baseline/targets.

On the Targets tab:

• The Targets tab is divided in another series of tabs: one for the baseline and one for each target
• Add statements in the first column (Statement column). When you enter or modify statements in the Baseline tab they will automatically be copied to the targets.
• Select one of the checkboxes for each statement. The total score for the baseline or target is displayed in the tab header.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

The cumulative scale or Guttman scale measures to what degree a person has a positive or negative attitude to something. It makes use of a series of statements that are growing or descending in how positive or negative a person is towards the subject. If for instance on a scale with seven statements the respondent agrees with the fifth statement, it implies that he or she also agrees with the first four statements, but not with statement number six and seven.

To create a Guttman scale, you need to:

1. Determine the focus: what concept are you going to measure (see what people's attitudes are toward it)?
2. Ask a group of people (or a person) to write down different statements about this concept, reflecting different opinions or attitudes about the subject. Make sure you have a large number of statements, making sure that people can either degree or disagree with them (no - open - questions for instance).
3. Rating the scale items: the next step is to have your judges rate each statement, indicating whether the statement expresses a positive (favourable) or negative (unfavourable) attitude towards the concept. The members of the group must not express their own opinion about the concept, they must only indicate whether the statement is favourable or unfavourable.
4. Developing the scale: construct a matrix or table that shows the responses of all the respondents on all of the items. Then sort this matrix so that respondents who agree with more statements are listed at the top and those agreeing with fewer are at the bottom. For respondents with the same number of agreements, sort the statements from left to right from those that most agreed to those that fewest agreed to.
5. If there are lots of items, you need to use a data analysis called scalogram analysis to determine the subsets of items from our pool that best approximate the cumulative property. Then review these items and select the final scale elements. There are several statistical techniques for examining the table to find a cumulative scale.
6. Because there is seldom a perfectly cumulative scale you usually have to test how good it is. These statistics also estimate a scale score value for each item. This scale score is used in the final calculation of a respondent's score.
7. For a detailed example, see http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/scalgutt.php

You can now use the scale to measure attitudes 'in the field': enter the list of statements and use them to interview people or present them in a document. For each item, they should express whether they agree or disagree. Each scale item has a scale value associated with it (obtained from the scalogram analysis).

To compute a respondent's scale score we simply sum the scale values of every item they agree with.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: list the different statement to which the respondent can agree or disagree. Then enter a scoring value for each statement.
• Scoring: see the page on this topic
• Number box: select the number of decimals for the total scoring value of the baseline/targets.
• Choices box: By default, agreement is expressed by ‘Agree’ and disagreement with ‘Disagree’, but you can change these options here.

On the Targets tab:

• For each statement, click in the checkbox of the ‘Agree’ or the ‘Disagree’ column. The total scoring value is shown at the top of the column.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

If you interview a whole group of people at a time or you work with total numbers of different groups (classes) of something, you may want to work with this version of the Likert scale. It works exactly as the Likert scale, but you enter numbers instead of checking options.

On the Scoring tab:

• Score values box: enter the different Likert scale options that the respondent will be able to choose from. A typical Likert scale has five or seven options (five-point Likert scale or seven-point Likert scale), which means that there is a neutral option in the middle. But you can also use an even number of options and use more or less options than five or seven. For example:
  • Strongly disagree – strongly agree – neutral – agree – strongly agree
  • Very good – good – bad – very bad
• Enter a scoring value for each option.
• Scoring: see the page on this topic
• Number box: select the number of decimals for the total scoring value of the baseline/targets. You can also select a unit from the list, or enter a new unit. If you enter a custom unit it will become available for all indicators in the current project (but not in other projects).

On the Targets tab:

• The Targets tab is divided in another series of tabs: one for the baseline and one for each target
• Add statements in the first column (Statement column). When you enter or modify statements in the Baseline tab they will automatically be copied to the targets.
• For each statement and each point on the scale, enter the number (frequency). The score for the statement is the median class (indicated in dark green). Logframer will also show the first and third quartile in light green, which means you can see the spread in the form of the Interquartile range.
• The total score (median and spread) for the baseline or targets is shown at the bottom of the table. The score is also displayed in the tab header.
• When you measure at beneficiary level, specify which percentage of the target group you expect to reach that target. On the bottom row Logframer will calculate the total scores for the target population.

On the Targets tab:

• The baseline and targets are on separate tabs
• Click on Open document icon next to URL to select the picture that you want to open
• You can add a description of the picture
   

The Monitoring tool is a very powerful and interactive tool. It allows you to monitor your project for its entire duration, using the different types of indicators you've selected. Basically, you'll get a complete monitoring and evaluation system at one click of a button.

The Monitoring tool is a report that you can export to MS Excel. In the Import/export section of the File toolbar, click on the Create Monitoring Tool button.

You can select if you want to view all indicators or the indicators of a specific level (goals; purposes; outputs; activities). You can also select a specific target group, or the indicators for all target groups.
Note that it may take some time to export this report, especially if you have many indicators. When Logframer opens Excel, don't do anything in Excel (clicking in a cell etc.) because this will terminate the exporting process.

One final remark is that the different scales (Thurstone, Likert, Guttman) are only partially included, in the sense that you can only register the total scores. The actual tables with the statements and response scales are not included. The idea here is that you print the list of indicators, fill the forms out in the field and then you enter the results in this table.

Underneath the usual settings of the Print Settings bar, you can set different options to select what information you want to include in the questionnaire.

You can select:

• Which indicators you want to include, meaning from which level of your logframe: impact indicators, outcome indicators, output indicators, activity indicators (progress indicators) or all indicators.
• To which target group the indicators belong: when designing indicators, you can set to which specific target group each indicator belongs. This way you can create different documents (questionnaires) for different target groups, only showing the relevant indicators for that specific group. Using the Target group setting, you can select any of the target groups you've identified, or else choose to include all target groups.
• Which type of information to include in the document:
  • Purposes and outputs: if you uncheck these options, you will only see the actual questions (indicators) on your form. If you check them, they will be used as headers.
  • Responses: if you check this option, you will get the options lists and space to enter the responses to the questions. If you uncheck this option, only the actual indicators will be listed.
  • Value ranges and targets: if you check this option, the value ranges and targets will be included in curly brackets {}. If you include the value range, the person completing the list will be able to see what minimum and maximum values he or she has to respect. Including the targets is more for internal use - you probably don't want the respondents to know what the 'right' answer is.
     

The Performance Measurement Framework is tool used for Results Based Management. It is a table that presents an overview about:

• The expected goals, purposes or outputs
• How you will follow-up progress (indicators)
• The target type: score/beneficiary or of the whole target group
• The baseline and targets
• What data sources (verification sources) you will use
• How you will collect data
• At what frequency
• Who's responsible for the data collection.

The Performance Measurement Framework is a report that you can either print or export to MS Word or MS Excel.

You can select if you want to view all indicators or the indicators of a specific level (goals; purposes; outputs; activities).

To link activities / key moments using the planning window (drag-and-drop):

• In the Items toolbar, click on the Link button on the far right.
• Hover the cursor over a key moment, or over the start or end of an activity bar. The cursor will turn into a cross.
• Left-click and drag from the key moment/activity you want to refer to, towards the target key moment or activity (start/end of the activity). While you drag, you will see an arrow.
• Release your left mouse button. You will see a blue or black arrow to indicate that the two items are linked.
• If you check the Details pane, you will see that the first option is selected and that the fields are completed to ‘1 days after the activity or key moment in question’.

To unlink activities / key moment using the planning window (drag-and-drop):

• In the Items toolbar, click on the Unlink button on the right.
• Click on the target activity/key moment. You will see that the blue / black arrow disappears. The location of the activity/key moment will not change however.
• If you check the Details pane, you will see that the second option is selected and that the relative date has been changed into an exact date.

To set a relative date using the Details pane:

• Key moment: click on the key moment in the Planning window and in the Details pane make sure that the first option is checked. Then:
  • Enter the number of days, weeks, months, years…
  • Select the time unit from the drop-down list
  • Use the drop-down list to indicate if the key moment comes before or after the referenced activity/key moment
  • Use the last drop-down list to select a key moment or activity. You can reference to the project's start or end date, or any other key moment or activity.
• Activity: click on the activity in the Planning window. Select the Duration tab if it's not visible in the Details pane. Make sure that the first option is checked (‘At this exact date’). Then set the period between the activity and the other activity or key moment in the same way as described above.

To set an exact (absolute) start date:

• Key moment: click on the key moment in the Planning window and in the Details pane make sure that the bottom option is checked (‘At this exact date’). Then use the date selector to set the date of the key moment.
• Activity: click on the activity in the Planning window. Select the Duration tab if it's not visible in the Details pane. Make sure that the bottom option is checked (‘At this exact date’). Then use the date selector to set the date of the Activity.

Duration tab settings:

• Select a relative date or an exact (absolute) date using the radio buttons
• To set a relative date:
  • Select the top radio button
  • Enter the number of days, weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years
  • Select ‘days’, ‘weeks’, ‘months’, ‘trimesters’, ‘semesters’ or ‘years’ from the left drop-down list
  • Select ‘After’ or ‘Before’ the key moment in question using the centre drop-down list
  • Select a key moment or activity from the right drop-down list
• To set an absolute date:
  • Select the bottom radio button
  • Enter the date or use the date selector (press on the little downward facing arrow) to choose the date
• Duration:
  • Enter the number of days, weeks, months or years
  • Select ‘days’, ‘weeks’, ‘months’, ‘trimesters’, ‘semesters’ or ‘years’ from the left drop-down list
  • You can check the ‘Until end of project’ box on the right. Logframer will then calculate how many days/weeks/months/years remain until the end of the project and set the number. Note that only whole numbers can be used, so if you've selected weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years the activity may not take until the very last day of the project. If you want to make sure the activity lasts until the very last day, make sure to select ‘days’ from the drop-down list.

The actual start date will and end date of the activity will appear in the top-right corner of the pane, as well as on the bottom of the Duration tab.
 

Organisation tab settings:

• Choose an activity type from the drop-down list. The colour of the activity in the Gantt chart will change according to this setting.
• Organised by: select one of your partners from the drop-down list, or type the name of another organisation or person.
• Location: select a location from the drop-down list or type a new one.

Preparation and follow-up tab settings:

Preparation and follow-up periods can be identified for every activity, but they are totally optional.

• Preparation:
  • Enter the number of days, weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years
  • Select ‘days’, ‘weeks’, ‘months’, ‘trimesters’, ‘semesters’ or ‘years’ from the drop-down list
  • Check the ‘From start of project’ box to make sure that the preparation period starts as soon as your project start. Note that only whole numbers can be used, so if you've selected weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years, the preparation may not start on the very first day of the project. If you want to make sure the preparation starts the very first day, make sure to select ‘days’ from the drop-down list.
  • If the activity will be repeated, check the Repeat box if you want to repeat the preparation as well. If you only need to prepare for the first time alone, leave this box unchecked.
• Follow-up:
  • Enter the number of days, weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years
  • Select ‘days’, ‘weeks’, ‘months’, ‘trimesters’, ‘semesters’ or ‘years’ from the drop-down list
  • Check the ‘Until end of project’ box to make sure that the follow-up period ends when the project ends. Note that only whole numbers can be used, so if you've selected weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years, the follow-up may not end on the very last day of the project. If you want to make sure the follow-up does end on the very last day, make sure to select ‘days’ from the drop-down list.
  • If the activity will be repeated, check the Repeat box if you want to repeat the follow-up period as well. If you only need to follow-up after the first time, leave this box unchecked.

Repeat tab settings:

If you have a repeating activity, you can make use of these settings. Repeating an activity is optional, so in most cases you won't have to fill out this information.

• Repeat every: enter a number of days, weeks, months, trimesters, semesters or years
• Select ‘days’, ‘weeks’, ‘months’, ‘trimesters’, ‘semesters’ or ‘years’ from the drop-down list
• Enter the number of times you want to repeat the activity
• If you want the activity to be repeated until the end of the project, check the ‘Until end of project’ box

Once you've set the repeat settings, the Dates list will give you an overview of how many times and when exactly the activity will take place.
 

You can use this tab to add, edit or remove child activities, using the Items toolbar (click into the list view first).

Once you've added a child activity, the activity becomes a process. This means that its duration will be determined by the duration of the child activities. As a consequence, the Duration, Preparation & Follow-up and Repeat tabs will not be visible any more.

You can also add, edit or remove child activities using the main planning window.

In the Lay-out toolbar, click on the Exchange rates button to show the Exchange rates pane on the right of your screen.

On top of the pane, you can select the default currency for the project. Logframer uses ISO 4217 currency codes.

Use the table below to add additional local currencies:

• Select the name of the currency in the first column using the drop-down list
• Enter the exchange rate in the second column. When you leave this cell you will see conversions between your default currency and the local currency.

You can add as many local currencies as you want.

In the Lay-out toolbar, click on the Local currency button in the Columns section.

The Currency column will become visible to the right of the Cost/unit column. For each unit cost, you can specify the local/default currency to use. Next you'll find the Total in local currency column and finally the Total cost column with the amount in the default currency (using the exchange rate you set in the Exchange rates pane).

If you use a multi-year budget these additional columns will be visible on the tab pages of the different budget years, but not in the Total budget. All amounts in the Total budget are expressed in the default currency.

For each activity or process, you can specify one or more resources. To do so, click in the empty cell next to the activity (in the Resources column) and describe the resource.

If you merely want to give an indicative cost for this resource, you can click in the cell to the right (in the Budget column) and enter the cost of that resource.

Alternatively, you can work in a more precise way and select items from the budget.

If you want to calculate a more precise total amount for the resource in question, you can use the Resource Detail pane.

Before you can select items from your budget, you (naturally) have to establish your project's budget first.

In the logframe, click on the resource in question. In the Resource Detail pane, you will get the following table:

• In the Budget items column, select a budget item or heading from the drop-down list. Note: if you have a multi-annual budget, you can only select items from the Total budget page.
• In the Percentage column, enter the (approximate) percentage of the budget that you will need to use for this resource. You will see the final amount in the Amount column.
• Alternatively, you can enter the amount in the Amount column and then Logframer will calculate the percentage.

Select as many budget items as you want. The total amount will be shown in the Budget column of the logframe. If you've entered an indicative figure there, it will be replaced by the calculated total of the budget items that you selected.

This way you can establish a clear link between your activities, objectives and budget. This will allow you to show for each output how much money you intend to spend. You can do this by printing the Resources table.

The Resources Table is a report that you can print and that gives you an overview per purpose, output and activity of the resources you will need, how much they cost and how they are linked to the different headings and items of your budget.

For an IATI organisation file, additional fields will appear in the Project Information window next to the start date and end date of the project (or in this case the organisation file).

IATI guidelines stipulate that for the organisation file, you would specify the expenses of the last three years and the budget forecast for the next three years. When you create a new IATI organisation file, Logframer will automatically set the following duration settings:

• For the duration of the project: project start date three years before the current year (on the first of January) and end date on the 31st of December of the year two years from now (see example). So the duration of the project is a period of six years.
• Start date expenses: three years before the current year
• End date expenses: end of the previous year
• Start date budget: beginning of the current year
• End date budget: three years later (this year + 2)

You are not obliged to follow the 3-year rule, but it is recommended by IATI. If you want to change the default settings you can.

IATI asks you to present your organisation's total expenses over the last three years. You can make do with a total figure, or you can add some detail according to your own liking. The idea here is to be transparent about your main expenses, but it's not necessary to go into much detail or replicate your bookkeeping here.

On the Total Expenses page, you can specify which main expenses you want to calculate. Apart from filling out the Description column you don't have to do anything else. Logframer will calculate the numbers for you.

Next go to the first year and detail the costs. How far you go is entirely up to you and depends on your transparency policy. You can provide lump sums or detail duration, quantities and unit costs.

Once you've completed the first year you move to the next. If the costs are more or less the same you can start by copying the headings and values from the previous year. Go to the Items toolbar and click on the button that says Copy values from the previous year. This will save you some manual labour, all you have to do now is to update values where necessary.

IATI asks you to present your organisation's budget for the next three years. Unlike the expenses, there are a number of different figures that you need to specify:

1. Your organisation's total budget for each year
2. The total budget that will go to recipient organisations
3. The total budget foreseen for each recipient region (as in international regions)
4. The total budget foreseen for each recipient country

On the Total Budget page, you have to do nothing. Logframer will generate the necessary budget headings and calculate the numbers for you.

Next go to the first year and detail each budget header. How far you go is entirely up to you and depends on your transparency policy. You can provide lump sums or detail duration, quantities and unit costs.

Contrary to the expenses, where you can make do with giving a global figure if you want to, you have to pay some extra attention to the detail you provide for

• The recipient organisations
• The recipient regions
• The recipient countries

IATI requires you to use the correct codes for each partner organisation, country or region that you add to the list. You do this using the Budget's Details pane. If this pane is not visible at the bottom of your screen, press <Ctrl><D> or click on the Show Details button in the Lay-out toolbar.

For a recipient organisation:

• Click on the name of the organisation in the Description column of the budget.
• In the Details pane, click on the Organisation tab
  
• Enter the partner organisation's IATI reference

For a recipient region:

• Click on the name of the region in the Description column of the budget.
• In the Details pane, click on the Region tab
  
• Select the region using the first drop-down list. If you want to use another list of regions you can use the Vocabulary drop-down list. If you use your own coding system for regions, select 'Reporting organisation' from the second list and enter your own code in the Code field. However, in that case you have to make sure that your organisation's code list is also published on your website (add URL link). For more information, see the IATI website.

For a recipient country:

• Click on the name of the country in the Description column of the budget.
• In the Details pane, click on the Country tab
  
• Select the name of the country using the drop-down list

Once you've completed the first year you move to the next. If the costs are more or less the same you can start by copying the headings and values from the previous year. Select the budget headers that you want to update (drag with the mouse to select), go to the Items toolbar and click on the button that says Copy values from the previous year. This will save you some manual labour, all you have to do now is to update values where necessary.

Creating the IATI organisation file (xml file) is very easy. Once you've completed all the information simply go to the File toolbar and in the Import & export section click on the IATI drop-down button.

Select the second option: Create an IATI file (xml)

Give your document a name and click Save.

To make sure you can see all the IATI-specific fields and lists in Logframer, select the IATI activity view mode in the File toolbar. Most IATI specific settings can be found in IATI tab of the Project information window.

Other IATI-specific information can be found in other locations:

• For each partner organisation, you need to include its IATI registry code (if it has one). Make sure your own organisation is listed as well in the partner list (once you've completed the information in the My organisation dialogue Logframer will add your organisation to each new project). Every organisation in the list is included as a partner organisation, unless you don't want to (see IATI settings). Contact persons are not included by default, so if you want to include someone as a contact person you should indicate this in their IATI settings.
• Make sure to include your intervention zone(s). Logframer will automatically create coordinates and country codes. For regional information or specific locations you need to specify a number of things on the IATI tab of the Intervention zone dialogue.
• Transactions are a key concept in aid transparency and you should pay special attention to them

Whatever you do, do not forget to include the IATI registry code of your project in the IATI tab of the Project information window.

Apart from these special attention points, the only thing you have to do is design your project and press the Create IATI file button. Logframer will turn all the information of your project in a IATI activity file. However, do note that IATI activity files contain less information than Logframer files, so not all the information of your project will be included. For instance, IATI activity files do not register verification sources, risks, assumptions or dependences (third and fourth column of your logframe). Likewise IATI doesn't support the number of sub-activities or sub-indicators that Logframer does, so you will only find the top-level indicators and activities in your activity file.

Speaking of indicators, IATI activity files can only handle indicators with values or percentages - see the next topic for more information.

IATI activity files are limited in that can only handle indicators with values or percentages. Logframer transforms other types of indicators (yes/no indicators, multiple-choice, response scales, etc.) to value-based indicators, using the scores as values.

On the other hand IATI requires you to indicate both target values and actual values for each indicator. When you've selected the IATI activity view mode, you will therefore see that there are additional columns on the Targets tab where you can register the actual values:

This option is only available for indicators of question type 'Value' or 'Percentage', because these are the only indicator types that IATI supports. For other types of indicators you can't register an actual value for now.

Once your project is complete you can create the IATI activity file (xml file). Go to the File toolbar and in the Import & export section click on the IATI drop-down button.

Select the second option: Create an IATI file (xml)

Give your document a name and click Save.

You can also create an IATI activity file that contains multiple projects. All you have to do is open the Logframer projects that you want to include in this file. Then you click on the Create an IATI file (xml) button again, but because more than one project is opened, you will get to see the following dialogue:

Choose the second option if you want indeed to create a file containing all the opened projects. Below you can choose in what order the activities will be included in the file: ordered by start date, title (alphabetically), country (idem) or simply in the order in which they have been opened.

For each report, you can set page headers and footers. To do so, press the Headers... or Footers... button in the Print Settings Bar.

There are three text areas: on the left, the centre and on the right side of the page. You can use all text options (bold, italics, text colour...)

Insert project title

To insert the title of the project, click on the Project title button in the bottom toolbar

Insert organisation info and logo

If you've used the My organisation dialogue to provide details about your organisation (name, address, logo, etc.), you can use three buttons to insert this information directly in your header:

• Organisation name
• Organisation info: name of your organisation plus main address, main e-mail address and website
• Logo: inserts the logo of your organisation if you've loaded it in the My organisation dialogue

Insert page numbers and the total number of pages

To insert page numbers and/or the total number of pages, you can use the buttons on the right of the toolbar. Simply click with the text cursor on the place where you want to insert the page number, and then click on the Page number button.

A place-holder text will appear {&Page} that will be replaced by the actual page number in the preview or printed document. You can format this place-holder like you would any other text.

Copy the header/footer to all other reports

If you want the exact same header or footer on all your documents, you can check the Copy this header to all reports option (or Copy this footer to all reports option) on the bottom left of the dialogue. When you press the OK button, all other reports get the same outlook.