Remember to define all concepts. Apply information from the City of Dallas Sanitation department website (dallascityhall.com/departments/sanitation/Pages/default.aspx) to each section. Use sources provided in the attachments. Also, give examples from other departments in other cities, programs, or countries.
Data Analysis and Performance Overview-Start the discussion by discussing the importance of data, and the different types of data. Then, discuss whether or not your organization uses data. If so, how? If not, why not? Is the data available for the public? Should the data be made available to the public? Why or why not?
While transparency and accountability of government program performance in spending taxpayers’ money is, in itself, an adequate justification for employing performance information, performance information can also help inform decisions and effect future plans. Employing performance information in planning and decision making can cause sensitivities among managers and executives on what effect releasing this information will have on the organization’s future.
1. Who are the different recipients of performance information (i.e. your customer or target audience)?
2. What are their potential uses of the information?
3. What are their potential resulting effects and how these considerations affect the design of a performance management process to the needs of the customer?
4. Based on your assessment, what are the factors that are most important for whether the use of performance information will actually help improve the organization’s performance?
Please note that the effective use of performance information is in recognizing the receiving audience, their purpose in having the information, and the implications (or potential repercussions) of them having it.
Readings:
o “Does Measuring Performance Lead to Better Performance?”; Mary Bryna Sanger; Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Winter 2013.
o “Using Performance Information to Drive Performance Improvement”; AGA Corporate Partner Advisory Group Research; Report #29, December, 2011.
o “The performance paradox in the public sector”; Sandra van Thiel, Frans L Leeuw. Public Performance & Management Review. Thousand Oaks: March 2002, Vol. 25, Issue 3, pp. 267-281.
To better ensure success in reaching performance goals, it is important to review interim progress toward achieving the performance goal on a routine basis. This can be done monthly, or at least quarterly.
1. How often should status reviews take place (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, annually)? Explain.
2. For your organization, is there a status review process? If so, what is it? Is it effective? Explain.
3. What are the important factors for establishing, conducting, and managing the information for effective quarterly status reviews?
4. What are some important rules of engagement to ensure that the status reviews are productive and useful to all involved rather than just another time-consuming meeting?
5. Provide a list of key attributes for setting-up and conducting a quarterly review process, including who is involved, what materials are provided, and the factors for considering the range of topics to be discussed?
6. Are there any specific stipulations as to what to guard against to better ensure a useful effective review should be included?
o “A Guide to Data-Driven Performance Reviews”; Harry Hatry and Elizabeth Davies; IBM Center for the Business of Government; 2011.
o “Review What Works Case Studies”; John Griffith and Gadi Dechter, Center for American Progress; February 2011.
o EPA Quarterly Management Report for April through June 2007
Performance information can be used to track progress toward project completion/delivery, determining potential problem areas in advance to take alternative action so as to improve the probability of success, the use of organizational assessments to compare individual performance to that of the organization as part of OPM’s individual performance evaluation and award process certification, and for resource allocation (which sometimes takes funds from initiating or on-schedule programs to provide to programs that are behind schedule).
Readings
o Lavigna, B 2010, ‘Driving Performance by Building Employee Satisfaction and Engagement’, Government Finance Review, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 51-3.
o Revising the Human Capital Planning, Reviews, and Reporting Framework”; OPM Acting Director Memorandum for Chief Human Capital Officers; April 26, 2013.
o “Fiscal Year 2013 PortfolioStat Guidance: Strengthening Federal IT Portfolio Management”; OMB Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies M-13-09; March 27, 2013.
