Understanding what is happening and using that information to improve performance is the common objective of process monitoring, documentation and analysis. Unlike many conventional monitoring systems, process monitoring stresses the dynamic aspect of projects and programs in both information gathering and use of the new knowledge generated. Because of its active nature and purpose, however, a process monitoring system cannot be meaningfully separated from the decision-making systems that it informs or the broader information setting of the activities being monitored. In a program involving multiple stakeholders the information needs are diverse as are the contexts and points of decision making. For these situations a single multi-stakeholder monitoring system would be large, unwieldy and unlikely to provide timely information outputs. A practical alternative may be a network of nested monitoring systems, each owned and managed by independent agents but each selectively contributing to and accessing a common information stream and collective decision-making fora. Experience from India demonstrates that structurally such a system is dependent on nodal points for analysis and re-presentation, and niches or platforms for multi-stakeholder reaction and decision making. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
