Whether you're a funder working with many organisations or a stand alone deliverer it's easy to find yourself working with inconsistent information. You can't compare "apples with apples" and that reduces your likelihood of being able to clearly evidence the work you've been doing, let alone shout from the rooftops about your success.

Does it matter? Well yes, because in the current climate, opportunities to attract funding are shrinking, so you really need to be able to differentiate yourselves, and that's the driving force behind Upshot. Upshot enables you to grasp the management of your programmes and projects - bringing structure to your work.

It's very strong visually, making use of easy to read dashboards and calendars; and the ability to overlay participant data onto IMD maps can really aid day to day decision making. There's a variety of ways in which you can "label" data, making it easy to report against the things that matter most to you to the right level of granularity.

Although we have a strong affinity with Sport, users from a variety of other backgrounds have embraced the flexibility of the system - because they can input their own structures and naming convention, delivery strategies and outcomes; they feel they really "own" the system, whether they're a charitable trust, a governing body of sport, a council or a grass roots club.

We all hate people watching over our shoulders, so any form of measurement will often be viewed as Big Brother taking an interest, but at a time when everyone is being asked to make bold statements about the Impact they are having you may just have to ask yourself - am I even doing the basics well? With Upshot you can be confident you are.

To find out more about Upshot, visit the website (http://www.upshot.org.uk/) or email Diane Farmer (Partnership Manager of Upshot): diane.farmer@upshot.org.uk