If reporting steals time from serving entrepreneurs, you are not alone. This guide offers a lean KPI set that restores focus and makes outcomes easy to show.

Catalyzer is an all‑in‑one business support platform and free CRM for small business support programs. It centralizes TA tracking, milestones, and impact reporting in one place, and can auto‑generate the reports you need.

Who this is for

Economic development and entrepreneurship support teams running technical assistance, mentorship, or coaching programs.

Principles for a minimal KPI set

  • Be outcome-anchored, not activity‑obsessed.
  • Prefer ratios and cycle times over raw totals.
  • Standardize definitions and owners so numbers are trustworthy.
  • Automate wherever possible so reporting never blocks delivery.

The plan (3 steps)

  1. Centralize program data (clients, sessions, milestones) in one platform
  2. Automate reporting with consistent properties and dashboards
  3. Standardize a minimal KPI set and assign clear owners

The 8 essential KPIs

Each KPI lists why it matters, a clear definition, cadence, owner, and how to run it in Catalyzer.

1. Organizations/Entrepreneurs Served (active this period)

Why it matters: This tells you how many businesses you are actively helping right now—not just in your database, but engaged and moving forward. It’s the fastest pulse‑check on reach and momentum.

  • Definition: Count of distinct clients with any activity this period. Target: trend up and to the right without increasing time‑to‑first support.
  • Cadence: Weekly, monthly, quarterly.
  • Owner: Program manager.

2. Technical Assistance Sessions Completed

Why it matters: Shows real delivery capacity and consistency across your portfolio. If this dips, demand is outpacing supply—or workflows need attention.

  • Definition: Count of sessions with status = Completed.
  • Cadence: Weekly ops, monthly board.
  • Owner: TA coordinator.

3. Time to First Support

Why it matters: Response speed shapes client trust. Faster first support improves satisfaction and downstream outcomes.

  • Definition: Median days between Intake Date and First Session Date. Target: median under 7 days.
  • Cadence: Weekly.
  • Owner: Intake lead.

4. TA Hours Delivered

Why it matters: Reveals where your team’s time goes and whether support is equitably distributed by topic and client segment.

  • Definition: Sum of Session_Duration hours in period; review distribution by topic and client segment.
  • Cadence: Monthly, quarterly.
  • Owner: Ops analyst.

5. Goal Milestones Achieved

Why it matters: Measures real progress—not just activity—through concrete outcomes like licenses secured, business plans completed, or loan packages submitted.

  • Definition: Count of completed milestones in period, e.g., Business Plan Complete, License Secured, Loan Package Submitted.
  • Cadence: Monthly, quarterly.
  • Owner: Program manager.

6. Capital Accessed (Verified)

Why it matters: Captures economic outcomes tied to your support—proof that assistance translates into opportunity and growth.

  • Definition: Sum of Capital_Amount where Verification_Status = Verified (documentation or funder confirmation).
  • Cadence: Monthly, quarterly.
  • Owner: Capital navigator.

7. Client Satisfaction (CSAT) After Session

Why it matters: Early quality signal straight from entrepreneurs. Dips flag coaching gaps or process friction before outcomes suffer.

  • Definition: Average CSAT 1–5 captured within 72 hours of session. Suggest sending survey at T+1 hour; close at 72 hours.
  • Cadence: Weekly trend, monthly average.
  • Owner: TA coordinator.

8. Program Story Readiness (Impact‑Ready Score)

Why it matters: Shows how confidently you can tell your story to funders—complete records, documented outcomes, and verified progress.

  • Definition: Percent of active clients with required fields complete + ≥1 outcome milestone + baseline and one follow‑up metric.
  • Cadence: Weekly.
  • Owner: Data steward.

Reporting rhythm that respects your time

  • Weekly ops: KPIs 1–4 (Organizations/Entrepreneurs Served, Technical Assistance Sessions Completed, Time to First Support, TA Hours Delivered) and 8 (Program Story Readiness) to steer delivery and unblock clients.
  • Monthly stakeholders: All KPIs with a short narrative on wins and blockers.
  • Quarterly funders: Cumulative outcomes and selected anonymized client stories.

What will be the impact of tracking these KPIs in Catalyzer?

These KPIs give program managers a complete view of what matters most: reach, delivery speed, real outcomes, and story readiness. Together, they answer the questions funders ask and the questions teams need to steer day-to-day work.

Here's how the system makes life easier:

Dashboards pull everything into one view. No more hunting through spreadsheets or memory. You see trends, spot issues early, and can confidently answer "how are we doing?" in seconds.

Milestones capture real progress on metrics like licenses secured, business plans completed, and loan packages submitted. All so you're measuring outcomes, not just activity.

The result: program managers spend less time scrambling for reports and more time supporting entrepreneurs. Funders get consistent proof of impact. And the team always knows where things stand.

Catalyzer will store the data from intake and auto-populate reports forever. No re-entry. No export gymnastics. Just clean, trustworthy numbers that flow.

FAQ: Quick answers

What are the best tools for managing small business support programs?

A purpose‑built CRM for relationships, TA tracking for sessions and milestones, and dashboards for impact reporting. Catalyzer brings these together so data flows and reports generate automatically.

Which platforms help with TA tracking and impact reporting?

Look for session logging, milestone frameworks, and verifiable outcome fields that roll up to dashboards without manual exports. That’s core to Catalyzer.

How do I set up properties and milestones to automate reporting?

Define the properties listed here, create a small milestone set, and enable the auto‑generated reports. Most teams can go from zero to a dashboard in a single afternoon.

Avoid failure. Aim for success.

Avoid last‑minute scrambles for funder reports. Succeed with consistent visibility, faster grants, and more entrepreneurs served.

Ready to go impact‑ready with less busywork? Get the KPI templates and auto‑reports in Catalyzer, and have your first dashboard live this week.