Krystal OSTrack attendance per session, against one record per person, and define the outcomes for each program before it starts. Sessions held and attendance are outputs; certifications, assessment gains and placements are outcomes. Keep the two apart, record each once at the point it happens, and the numbers a funder asks for add themselves up.
What to capture at each session
Less than most organizations think. Four fields per session cover nearly every funder report.
- The program and the date.
- Who attended, checked against the enrolled list, so attendance rate is a real number.
- Staff time delivered, so program cost includes people and not just supplies.
- Anything that counts as an outcome reached that day, recorded on the participant.
One record per person
The single biggest source of bad numbers is a participant who exists in three program spreadsheets. Served counts inflate, attendance rates split, and nobody can answer "how many unique people did you serve this year" without a weekend of de-duplication. One record per person, enrolled in as many programs as they attend, fixes this at the source.
Outputs versus outcomes
Outputs are what you did: 96 sessions, 82 percent attendance, 318 enrolled. Outcomes are what changed: 87 certifications earned, a two-grade reading gain, 41 internship placements. Funders fund outcomes and check outputs. A report that offers only outputs reads as activity without result.
Set targets before the program starts
Enrollment target, attendance target and outcome target come from the award. Recording them alongside the actuals turns every dashboard into a progress bar rather than a pile of numbers, and it is how you know in the third month, not the twelfth, that a cohort is behind.
How Krystal does it
Programs in Krystal have sessions, sessions have attendance, and every participant is one record across every program they touch. Enrolled against target, attendance rate and outcomes met appear as computed values, and staff time and spend attach to the funding line that pays for the program, which is what makes cost per outcome a number you can read.
Should we track attendance on paper first?
If that is how sessions run, yes, but enter it the same day. Attendance recorded a month later is an estimate, and estimates are what break the report numbers.
How do we count someone who dropped out?
As enrolled, with their attendance and any outcomes they reached before leaving. Dropping them from the record erases real work and makes retention look better than it was.
Is program and attendance tracking free in Krystal?
Yes. Full program and attendance tracking is included on both Free and Pro.