Improving Government Effectiveness Tracy Gallo – State of Vermont June Sweeney - Office of the State Auditor

2 Performance Measures What are they and Why are they important to me?

Look Familiar??? 3

4 Performance Measures – Where do they fit? Strategic Planning Vision/ Mission Goals Objectives Actions Performance Management Regular meetings Annual review Goal setting Regular feedback Budget Planning Inputs/outputs Rescissions Rules Policies Statutes Requirements Regulations Planning Program Project Grant Contracts

5 Everywhere! Strategic Planning Vision/ Mission Goals Objectives Actions Performance Measures Performance Management Regular meetings Annual review Goal setting Regular feedback Performance Measures Budget Planning Inputs/outputs Rescissions Performance Measures Rules Policies Statutes Requirements Regulations Performance Measures Planning Program Project Grant Contracts Performance Measures

6 What are Performance Measures? Performance measures provide a series of measures, expressed in qualitative, quantitative or other tangible terms that indicate whether current performance is reasonable and cost effective.

7 Types of Performance Measures Input – These measure resources dedicated to specific programs, or what we put in.

8 Types of Performance Measures Output - Output measures are often stated in nonfinancial terms, and report what comes out.

9 Types of Performance Measures Process Measures- These measures compute either inputs/outputs or inputs/outcomes indicators and provide information on how efficient an organization is at achieving its program goals.

10 Types of Performance Measures Outcome - Outcome measures gauge how well a program accomplished its goal.

11 Evaluating your Performance Measures What questions do I need to ask?

12 Performance Measures in Government Performance measures Are a Management Tool to assist with: Strategic planning. Focus Decision making Allocation of resources and determining appropriation levels. Help focus efforts and inform the public about the efforts of their government. Monitoring & accountability. For purposes of audit.

13 What is happening at the State Level? Performance Measures Working Group Challenges for Change – Performance Contracts & Grants Performance Management System The Summit: Center for State Employee Development/ Courses

14 PERFORMANCE MEASURES Monitoring tools: – Help guide government – Make it accountable to the taxpayer.

15 ACCOUNTABILITY Governments are responsible to provide information necessary for the citizenry to be able to assess the government’s performance and to justify its use of public funds.

16 ACCOUNTABILITY 5 Main Uses of PM Information (GASB study): 1. Increase government accountability 2. Increase citizen engagement 3. Support citizen decision making 4. Enable citizens to analyze, interpret, and evaluate public performance 5. Increase citizens’ confidence in government

17 PERFORMANCE REPORTING Widely communicated through a variety of channels and methods – Print – Broadcast media – Internet – Mail – Telephone – Etc.

18 PERFORMANCE REPORTING Citizen-centric Reports – 2 to 4 pages – Charts, Graphs and Bullet Points – Performance Measures – Objectives – Results (Good and Bad) – Opportunities and Challenges –

19 PERFORMANCE REPORTING Clearly state major goals and objectives State actual performance results

20 PERFORMANCE REPORTING Explain why results are as they are – Maintain objectivity – Learn lessons from satisfactory and unsatisfactory results – Recognize success and attribute fairly – Avoid defensiveness

PERFORMANCE REPORTING Identify an action plan for improving results – Focus on the future

22 32 V.S.A. 307(c) A statement of mission and goals; A description of indicators used to measure output and outcome; and A description of the means and strategies for meeting the needs of the agency or program, including future needs and the achievement of the goals under which it provides services.

23 PERFORMANCE MEASURE AUDIT Dept of Economic Development Goal: – “An improved standard of living and quality of life for all Vermonters through increased and improved available job opportunities” Measure: – “Contact 400 businesses through outreach programs”

24 PERFORMANCE MEASURES An organization should have a mix of measures. – Output – Outcome – Efficiency (a.k.a. Process)

25 PERFORMANCE MEASURE AUDIT Vermont Economic Progress Council – Outcome measures Example: No. of jobs created – Efficiency/Process measures Example: Cost per job created

26 PERFORMANCE MEASURES Efficiency is the relationship between inputs and outputs – Resources / Results If outputs are used without consideration of outcomes, efficiency may be achieved at the expense of the outcomes of the service

27 RESPONSIBILITY Doing the right things Doing things right

28 PROCESS EFFICIENCY By getting citizens more involved because they now understand what their government is focusing on, outcome-based processes and measures tend to become more important and efficiencies in those processes are more likely to occur.