A2.6.3 Monitoring process

January

Entities are sent their monitoring forms biannually. In odd years, Review Groups are fully monitored, whereas Centres, Fields, and Methods Groups are financially monitored. In even years, Centres, Fields and Methods Groups are fully monitored, whereas Review Groups are financially monitored. As the Collaboration needs basic information each year for planning and reporting purposes, entities not being fully monitored in a particular year will still be required to complete a financial form which should be returned to the Secretariat. It is hoped that the inclusion of this form will provide a ‘safety net’ to ensure that the Monitoring and Registration Group does not fail to notice a threat to an entity’s existence in the two-year interval between full monitoring.

March

Entities are expected to return their monitoring forms to the Secretariat.

April

The Monitoring and Registration Committee support person allocates the monitoring forms to pairs of Monitoring and Registration Group members; one person is the Lead, the other is the Checker. The Lead is responsible for reviewing the response against last year’s self-set targets for the entity, and for writing the first draft of the entity’s report. Once the Lead has completed the report, she/he sends it to the Checker in time for the review of the current year’s entity monitoring form. The Checker is responsible for commenting on the draft report prepared by the Lead. Both the Lead and the Checker read all parts of the form, although it is usual that only comments on parts A and B are included in the report that is sent to the entity.

May

The monitoring teams complete the first drafts of the monitoring reports. The Leads return these draft reports to the Monitoring and Registration Committee support person.

June

The Monitoring and Registration Committee meets face-to-face to review all draft entity reports. Amendments are made, common themes are identified and, where necessary, new policy suggestions are drawn up for presentation to the Steering Group at its next meeting. Each entity about which the Monitoring and Registration Committee is concerned will be assigned a member of the Monitoring and Registration Committee to stay in regular contact with the entity to offer support, and this member of the Monitoring and Registration Group will provide a verbal report on the entity’s progress in the non-monitoring year.

June - July

The Monitoring and Registration Committee support person incorporates the changes made at the face-to-face meeting, and circulates the final draft reports to the Monitoring and Registration Committee. The Leads and Checkers are responsible for ensuring that the comments made at the meeting have been incorporated into the draft final reports. When these drafts have been finalized the reports are e-mailed to the entities concerned, with a letter inviting a response.

August/September

Entities respond to the monitoring reports if there are questions to be answered, and agreed reports are sent to the relevant Centre Director(s).

October

The Monitoring and Registration Committee meets briefly face-to-face during the annual Cochrane Colloquium. Also, the Convenor(s) present the Monitoring and Registration Committee’s report to the Steering Group at their meeting during the Colloquium. Extracts from the report may be included in the Steering Group’s progress report to The Cochrane Collaboration’s Annual General Meeting.

December

If necessary, the Monitoring and Registration Group revises the monitoring forms in response to the comments made by entities during the annual monitoring process.