Simple data collection planning is a process to ensure that the data you collect for performance improvement are useful and reliable, without being unnecessarily costly and time-consuming to obtain.

Simple data collection planning has a variety of benefits:

• It helps to ensure that the data gathered contain real information, useful to the improvement effort.
• It prevents errors that commonly occur in the data collection process.
• It saves time and money that otherwise might be spent on repeated or failed attempts to collect useful data.

Adapted for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s "Methods and Tools for Breakthrough Improvement" course, simple data collection planning is a tool that has been used by hundreds of health care organizations.

Download the tool for complete instructions.