The problem
Funders and commissioners want evidence of change, so participants fill in paper outcome surveys that someone has to type up. With 60 surveys a month at 5 minutes each (300 minutes, 5 hours) and about 2 hours a month pulling figures together for reports, that's 7 hours a month.
What the AI does
Build the outcome survey in Tally: its free plan has unlimited forms and submissions, conditional logic and the Zapier integration, and it is hosted in the EU. Participants complete it on a tablet at the end of a course or from a link. A two-step Zapier automation starts on each new Tally response and adds a row to a Google Sheet in the business's Google Workspace account, so the sheet always holds every answer in the same columns. Monthly figures come from a summary tab, not from a pile of paper.
A worked example
A social enterprise in Swansea runs employability courses for about 60 people a month and reports quarterly to two funders on confidence, skills and job outcomes. It already uses Google Workspace.
Before
60 paper surveys typed at 5 minutes each, plus 2 hours of reporting: 7 hours a month
After
Surveys arrive in the sheet automatically, with 2.5 hours a month checking and reporting
What it's worth
About $108£81€96A$156C$152 a month in staff time saved, at no extra cost. 4.5 hours a month saved (7 minus 2.5), valued at an assumed $24£18€21A$35C$34 an hour. Tally's free plan and Zapier's free plan (two-step automations, 100 tasks a month) cover 60 surveys a month; the business already pays for Google Workspace.
How to set it up
- Agree the questions with your funders' outcome measures, and keep personal details to the minimum, or none.
- Build the survey in Tally with a short privacy notice at the start.
- In Zapier, start an automation on each new Tally response and add a row to a Google Sheet in the business Workspace account.
- Test with 5 dummy responses and check each one lands in the right columns.
- Each week, compare Tally's response count with the sheet.
What goes wrong
- Automations can fail silently. If the counts don't match, re-send the missing responses from Tally.
- Questions about health, disability or criminal records are special category or sensitive data. Leave them out, or handle them with consent in a system with proper data terms, never a personal account.
- Zapier's free plan allows 100 tasks a month; more than 100 responses needs Pro at $19.99 (about $20£15€18A$29C$28) a month billed annually.
- A survey only shows what people say. Funders may also want independent evidence such as job starts.