Monitoring and
Registration Group Report
Prepared by: Sally Green and Steff Lewis, Co-Convenors
Date: 24
February 2005
1.
How
many meetings, and of what type (e.g. face-to-face or by teleconference), has
your Advisory Group had since October 2004?
The MRG held two teleconferences (one in November
2004 and one in March 2005), and other teleconferences held as necessary
relating to monitoring (with appropriate MRG members and members of
entities). The activities of the MRG
have continued with adequate consultation by e-mail as necessary.
Is this what you expected when you set your budget for the year?
2.
Supply
an up-to-date list of the members of your Group.
Godwin Aja, Lorne Becker, Sylvia Bickley (non-elected
member), Jon Deeks, Jodie Doyle (non-elected member), Zbys Fedorowicz, Sally
Green (Co-Convenor), Sally Hopewell (non-elected member), Steff Lewis
(Co-Convenor), Heather Maxwell (non-elected member), Karen New (non-elected
member), Rob Scholten, Mingming Zhang (non-elected member).
3.
Summarise
any significant actions taken by your Advisory Group since your last report
(for the Steering Group meeting in Ottawa in October 2004), and significant
actions planned for the next six months until the next meeting of the Steering
Group in Melbourne in October 2005.
3.1
In the last
six months:
a.
Actions taken in monitoring
entities for January to December 2004: Monitoring
forms were sent to CRGs, and a request for financial information (see Appendix
1) was sent to other entities on 20 January 2004.
b.
Improving communication about the outcomes of monitoring: The MRG communicated the
common themes resulting from themes identified in the 2004 monitoring round to
the entity representatives to encourage discussion at appropriate entity
meetings.
c.
New entities: One new Methods Group was registered: Information Retrieval
(Co-Convenors: Steve Pritchard and Carol Lefebvre).
d.
Proposed new entities:
Rob Scholten attended the meeting of
the proposed Diet and Nutrition Field (proposed Convenor: Jaap van Binsbergen),
at which it was agreed the group would be a sub-group of either the Primary
Health Care Field, or the Health Promotion and Public Health Field. We continue to work with the proposed Equity
in Health Care Field (proposed Convenor: Peter Tugwell), the proposed Childhood
Cancer CRG (proposed Co-ordinating Editor: Leontien Kremer), and the proposed
Behavioral Medicine Field (proposed Convenor: Karina Davidson).
e.
Recruitment
of new members: The
MRG has recruited a TSC representative (Sylvia Bickley). Attempts to recruit a Co-ordinating Editor
have not been successful, but we do have an editor member and are continuing to
work on facilitating better communication with Co-ordinating Editors.
f.
Time
expectations/roles of editorial base staff: The registration criteria for new CRGs state that
there should be 1.0 combined FTE for a RGC/TSC role, and 0.1 for a
Co-ordinating Editor. After discussions
by Co-ordinating Editors, the MRG will ask them to discuss the appropriate FTE expectations
for different sized groups at their meeting in Melbourne and registration will
be considered in light of this.
g.
Satellites
of CRGs, Branches of Centres and Sub-Groups of Methods Groups and Fields: As increasing numbers of entities
are establishing ‘outposts’, generally in a different country to the entity
base, the MRG is faced with keeping track of these and deciding on the best way
in which to effectively monitor them.
The MRG has written a paper proposing a model for this and put it to the
RGCs’, TSCs’, Co-ordinating Editors’ and Centre Directors’ meetings during the
Ottawa Colloquium for feedback.
Unfortunately due to time constraints this was not discussed, but will
be discussed during meetings being held during the Melbourne Colloquium. We will revise the paper in light of this
feedback and then will submit it to the Steering Group for approval. (See Appendix 2 for amendments made to the
‘Changes to entities’ document made after the Steering Group meeting in Ottawa
2004.)
h.
Follow
up of entities about which we are concerned: We have continued to
communicate by phone and email with many of the entities about which we were
concerned following last year’s monitoring process. Many of the issues have
been resolved, and in the case of one entity that has been experiencing
difficulties for some time, a new convenor is being sought.
i. Sending
Monitoring reports to Branches of Centres: Permission was granted from
Centre Directors for the MRG to send copies of future Centre monitoring reports
directly to Branches.
3.2
In the next six months:
a.
Actions to be taken in monitoring
entities for January to December 2004: Completed
monitoring forms will be discussed at the face-to-face meeting in June 2005,
and reports will be written for CRGs.
CRGs will then be given the opportunity to comment on their report. Nick Royle has agreed to inform the MRG of
any entities that he feels have threats to their financial stability or
sustainability. The Consumer Network
will not be monitored for the period January – December 2004, because of its
ongoing review and redevelopment. The
Consumer Network is currently working through the registration process as a
Field.
b.
Supporting
entities experiencing difficulties: MRG members will continue to support entities that
are experiencing difficulties, which were identified during the monitoring
process in 2004. The Co-Convenors have
written to Centre Directors, and have had face-to-face meetings and/or
teleconferences with relevant entities. Individual members assigned to each entity
in difficulty will report on progress at the MRG meeting in June 2005.
c.
Registration
project: The MRG is in the process of evaluating the
registration criteria and checklists, and will ensure they are up-to-date in
The Cochrane Manual for new entities during the year 2005.
d.
Compliance with registration
criteria: Related to 3.2 (c), currently entities are monitored against core
functions. All registration
requirements are not reflected in core functions (for example the amount of
time spent on core Collaboration work, interactions with and support for other
entities). It is proposed that, after the registration criteria for all entity
types are updated, that the MRG develop a method for ensuring compliance with
registration criteria in addition to core functions.
e.
Proposed
Conveners of Cochrane entities: The MRG will be proposing a paper to the Steering Group,
which will outline the important qualities required by someone who wishes to
convene an entity.
f.
Coverage: In March 2003 the MRG asked the
Steering Group to consider the current and future ‘coverage’ of the
Collaboration with respect to geographic regions and areas of healthcare. We consider this particularly important to
guide decisions about the registration of future entities based on need. Nick Royle was requested to map the current
coverage and provide advice about any gaps.
At later meetings it was decided that Nick’s primary task was in
fundraising and management and the coverage project was delegated back to the
MRG. Kathie Clark started the process
of establishing a Working Group, to make preliminary investigations into the
'coverage' of Centres, CRGs and Methods Groups, but since her resignation from
the Steering Group, Karen New has undertaken to chair this group. This working group will include representation
from CRGs and Satellites, Centres and Branches, Methods Groups, Fields, the
Developing Counties Initiative and the Consumer Network. It will report back to the MRG and the MRG
in turn will inform the Steering Group.
g.
Updating
Cochrane reviews: Rob
Scholten has written a draft paper on updating reviews in response to the MRG’s
concern in 2004 about the increasing numbers of CRGs with many
out-of-date reviews. The paper will be
presented to the Steering Group at its meeting in Melbourne (October 2005).
4.
Does
your Group have any questions that you would like the Steering Group to
answer? If so, please list them.
Questions arising from this year’s monitoring process will be raised at
the Steering Group meeting during the Melbourne Colloquium.
5. Does your Group wish to raise any
problems, and recommended solutions, which you would like the Steering Group to
discuss? If so, please list them.
The MRG has been made aware of problems that some
members of Fields are having when interacting with CRGs. Lorne Becker will be drafting a document
outlining these problems, and this document will be presented to the Steering
Group meeting during the Melbourne Colloquium.
6.
Do you foresee any problems in keeping within the budget you submitted
for the current financial year (April 2004 – March 2005)?
The MRG has not spent the full budget allocated at the CCSG meeting in
Bergamo. It is likely that the budget
will be under spent at the year-end. It
is planned to use part of this surplus to support the working group looking at
coverage.
7.
What are your budgetary requirements for the period April 2005 to March
2006? Please provide a breakdown if
appropriate.
We have kept within our budget for the year
April 2004 to March 2005. We are likely
to keep within the same budget for the year April 2005 to March 2006. However, because of the expansion of
membership of the MRG from 10 to 12 (who have not yet met face-to-face), the
budget may need to be increased slightly.
APPENDIX 1: MONITORING FORM
– REQUEST FOR FINANCIAL INFORMATION
PART B
Please complete one of these forms
for the entity base, and any satellites, sub-groups, or branches.
Cash flow forecast
(Please see ‘Notes for completion’,
to which row numbers refer.)
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1.
Currency used |
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Financial Year
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2. |
1 April to 31
March
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2004-05 |
2005-06 |
2006-07 |
2007-08 |
2008-09 |
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Income |
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3. |
[Main
funder, e.g. Government funding, Department of Health] |
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[Supplementary
income, e.g. other state funding] |
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[Supplementary
income, e.g. charitable trust] |
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[Supplementary
income, e.g. publisher] |
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4. |
Funding
from commercial sources [Company
name] [Company
name] |
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Total income |
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5. Expenditure |
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6. |
Staffing
(current and assumed pay rates) |
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7. |
Institutional
overhead (at rate [nn]%) |
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Travel,
conferences and meetings |
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Other
expenditure (total) |
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Total Expenditure |
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8. |
Surplus (Deficit) |
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Do you
anticipate any (non-financial) threats to your entity over the next 12
months? |
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Any other
comments: |
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This cash
flow forecast gives you the opportunity to describe your financial planning
over a five-year period (if, for later years in this period, your financial
status is unknown, please write ‘unknown’ in the table). Having this information is likely to be of
benefit to you for financial planning, fundraising, and for internal
governance. It will help the Monitoring
and Registration Group (MRG) and the Secretariat by providing an accurate
picture of each entity’s financial stability, and helping to identify current
and potential future problems. It will enable the Collaboration to report (in
aggregated/anonymised form) an accurate picture of the Collaboration’s
financial status.
Individual
entity figures will remain confidential between the entity, MRG, Secretariat
and Steering Group, although aggregated/anonymised data will be used more
widely in fundraising, publicity, and related material.
Both
‘income’ and ‘expenditure’ refer to funds allocated and used specifically for
Cochrane activities. If it is difficult
to divide your overall funding into ‘Cochrane’ and ‘other’ activities, please
make a common-sense judgement – there is no need to make extensive
investigations.
1. For simplicity, use your usual currency
(please state what this is).
2. The Collaboration works to a financial year
that runs from 1 April to 31 March each year, and it would help us if you could
also use the same period. However, if
this proves difficult, please use your normal financial reporting period, and
change the description of the financial year in Row 2 as appropriate.
3. The table enables you to record your actual
or planned annual income and expenditure for years 2004-05 to 2008-09. Please list income by source rather than by
function. If you have obtained funding
for a specific purpose, list the name of the funder and not the purpose. For example, if you had obtained funding for
translating articles from the Spanish Government, this would be listed under
‘Spanish Government’, not ‘Translation’.
4. Please detail any commercial funding (as
defined by the Collaboration’s policy on commercial sponsorship) as a separate
item.
5. Expenditure has been categorised by specific
functions. Please use the categories listed,
but add others if you need to.
6. For future cost of staffing use a sensible
estimate, such as the average percentage increase over the last three
years. Please note that this makes no
assumption of actual pay increases, which will no doubt be different from those
estimated. The figure is used solely so
that you have an estimate of future costs that you can use for planning
purposes.
7. ‘Institutional overhead’ is the amount paid
by you to your ‘parent’ or ‘host’ institution, and it would be helpful if you
could provide the percentage figure at ‘[nn]’.
Please use an explanatory note in ‘any other comments’ if you feel that
this would be helpful.
8. This is
the total income minus the total expenditure.
Finally, if you need help to complete this table Nick Royle is very happy to discuss this with you (+44 (0)1865 310138, nroyle@cochrane.org).
APPENDIX 2: MAJOR AND MINOR CHANGES TO ENTITIES:
RECOMMENDATION
FROM THE MONITORING AND REGISTRATION GROUP
APPROVAL: Changes requiring approval. (Please send details of proposed change to
the Secretariat Deputy Administrator (callen@cochrane.org).)
NOTIFICATION
REQUIRED: Changes
where immediate notification is required. (Please send notification to the
Secretariat Deputy Administrator (callen@cochrane.org).)
NOTIFICATION
REQUESTED: Changes
where notification is requested through the annual monitoring process.
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CHANGES
AFFECTING ALL ENTITIES |
STATUS |
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Relocation
of entity from one country to another |
Approval
(letter of support required) |
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Relocation
of entity within a country |
Notification
required |
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Division
of entity (e.g. based in different locations) |
Notification
required |
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Change of
primary funders |
Notification
required |
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Change of
registered name |
Approval |
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Significant
reduction in resources available (e.g. drop of more than 20%) |
Notification
required |
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Significant
increase in resources available (e.g. rise of more than 20%) |
Notification
requested |
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Closure
of entity |
Approval |
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Change of
legal status or governance (e.g. registering as a company or charity) |
Approval |
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Change of
status to a Cochrane-Campbell entity |
Approval |
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CHANGES
AFFECTING CRGs ONLY |
STATUS |
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Change of
Co-ordinating Editor |
Notification
required |
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Change of
editors or other members of staff |
Notification
requested |
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Change of
scope of CRG |
Approval |
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Merger
with another CRG |
Approval |
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Significant
changes in editorial practice |
Notification
requested |
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Establishment
of satellites (letter of support required from the reference Cochrane Centre
of the country where the of the satellite will be located, and the country
where the editorial base is located) |
Approval |
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CHANGES
AFFECTING CENTRES ONLY |
STATUS |
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Change of
Centre Director |
Notification
required |
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Change of
other members of staff |
Notification
requested |
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Change of
special function |
Approval |
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Change of
a Centre Branch Director |
Notification
required |
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Establishment
of Branches (letter of support required from the reference Cochrane Centre of
the country where the of the satellite will be located, and from entities
based in the country where the Branch will be located) |
Approval |
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CHANGES
AFFECTING FIELDS AND THE CONSUMER NETWORK ONLY |
STATUS |
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Change of
Co-ordinator |
Notification
required |
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Change of
other members of staff |
Notification
requested |
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Change of
registered scope |
Approval |
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Merger
with another Field |
Approval |
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Establishment
or change to new or ongoing bursary schemes |
Notification
required |
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Establishment
of sub-groups (letter of support required from the Field or Network
concerned, the reference Cochrane Centre of the Field or Network concerned,
and the reference Cochrane Centre of the country where the sub-group will be
located) |
Approval |
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CHANGES
AFFECTING METHODS GROUPS ONLY |
STATUS |
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Change of
Convenor |
Notification
required |
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Change of
other members of staff |
Notification
requested |
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Change of
registered scope |
Approval |
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Merger
with another Methods Group |
Approval |
|
Establishment
of sub-groups (letter of support required from the Methods Group concerned,
the reference Cochrane Centre of the Methods Group, and the reference
Cochrane Centre of the country where the sub-group will be located) |
Approval |