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Best Practices in Performance Reporting: Lessons from the
Federal Level
Jerry ElligSenior Research Fellow
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
Strategic plans with outcome goals and planned program evaluations
Annual performance plan
Annual performance report (starting fiscal year 1999)
Performance budgeting
Project Design
Team of 3 experts with experience in government and/or performance management evaluates reports
12 criteria based on GPRA requirements
Evaluate reports from 24 CFO Act agencies
Each evaluation reviewed by a member of advisory panel
Entire report reviewed by entire advisory panel
How We Score the Reports 1-5 rating scale
3 Categories
TransparencyPublic BenefitsLeadership
4 criteria in each category
Criteria tightened each year to reflect previous year’s best practices
Total score can range from 12 to 60
5 Sets a standard for best practice
4 Shows innovation and creativity
3 Satisfactory
2 Partially complete
1 Fails to meet expectations
Top 10 Best Reporting Practices1. Make the report accessible
2. Make the report readable
3. Ensure the data are verifiable
4. Establish context with baselines and trends
5. Make goals, objectives, and measures outcome-oriented
Top 10 Best Reporting Practices (cont.)6. Show how the agency’s actions affected outcomes
7. Link performance measures with costs
8. Tell an outcome-oriented story
9. Candidly discuss failures and problems
10. Outline plans and timelines for improvement
1. Make the report accessible
Prominent home page link
Link available all year
Downloadable as single or multiple files
Contact information for questions/comments/copies
Prior years’ reports readily downloadable
2. Make the report readable
Citizens’ Report
Substantive transmittal letter
Plain language
Easy navigation due to headings, graphics, etc.
Tables/graphics summarize results
Highlight key performance measures
Limited jargon/acronyms
Labor’s Citizens’ Report
Richard Lanham’s “paramedic method”
Original: “Our nation’s schools are the basis for an economic resource that helps ensure that we are a country with educated citizens, full employment, and the ability to be fully competitive in the international marketplace.”
-- Dept. of Education PAR, fiscal 2007
Revised: “Schools help ensure that our nation has an educated, internationally competitive workforce.”
Lard factor: (34-12)/34 = 65%
3. Ensure the data are verifiable Provide complete data for all measures
Give sources for all data
Assess/rate data quality for each performance goal
Identify any major data challenges
Explain how and when data problems will be resolved
Veterans Affairs data table
4. Establish context with baselines and trends
Provide long range and multi-year targets
Provide prior years’ results and targets
Explain rationale for targets
DOJ: 5-year performance trends
Labor – Baselines, targets, and actual data
VA annual and long-term targets
5. Make goals, objectives and measures outcome-oriented Strategic goals are measurable outcomes
Annual performance goals and targets are measurable outcomes even if strategic goals aren’t
Goals cover all of agency’s core missions
Report on actual outcomes and goals, not just whether goals were met or %’s of goals met
DOT strategic goals Enhance public health and safety by working toward the
elimination of transportation-related deaths and injuries.
Reduce congestion and other impediments to using the Nation’s transportation system.
Facilitate an international transportation system that promotes economic growth and development.
Promote transportation solutions that enhance communities and protect the natural and built environment.
Balance transportation security requirements with the safety, mobility, and economic needs of the nation and be prepared to respond to emergencies that affect the viability of the transportation sector.
DOT outcome goals and measures
What was accomplished?
6. Show how the agency’s actions affected outcomes Explain how programs are expected to achieve
measured results
Construct measures so that they show how much the agency affected the outcomes, or
Make the case that measures are precursors to ultimate outcomes, or
Use program evaluation to demonstrate how much of the measured change was caused by the agency’s actions
Common Labor job training measures Percent of participants employed in the first quarter after
exit
Percent of those employed in the first quarter after exit still employed in the second and third quarters after exit
Average earnings in the second and third quarters after exit
These could be turned into direct measures of program outcomes if they were expressed as comparisons with a control group not enrolled in the program.
NRC outcome precursors
Number of “high safety significance” findings from power plant inspections
Number of “significant precursor events” that would increase risk of damage reactor fuel
Number of performance deficiencies requiring safety improvements
Number of adverse safety trends
DOT program evaluation
7. Link performance measures with costs Ultimate goal is to allow decision-makers to
compare outcomes with costs
Break down costs and link to individual outcome goals and measures
Include all costs, not just direct program costs
Include costs reflecting non-appropriated funds such as user fees
DHS resources and results
8. Tell an outcome-oriented story Describe outcomes that benefit the public
Explain how the agency’s outcomes affect the public’s welfare if it’s not already obvious
Do not characterize inputs, dollars spent, or activities as benefits to the public; it’s results that matter
Make sure that vignettes illustrate typical results grounded in the performance metrics
VA performance summaries have stories …
… that illustrate performance data
Labor: Vignettes + data and analysis
9. Candidly discuss failures and problems Clearly identify performance shortfalls and explain
actual causes
Enumerate major management challenges (especially any that have been identified by external parties)
Identify more general challenges facing the organization
An accurate and informative report requires candor, not salesmanship
10. Outline plans and timelines for improvement Explain concrete steps to remedy
performance shortfalls
Explain concrete steps to deal with management challenges
Include plans to improve performance even when targets were met
DOT “progress meter”
For more information
Mercatus Scorecard web page:
www.mercatus.org/scorecard
The 10th annual Performance Report Scorecard (2009) names the reports that show especially good examples of each best practice, in the section titled “Strongest and Weakest Scores.”