Comparative Performance Measurement.

• Author: Williams, W. Anderson
• Position: Book Reviews

Elaine Morley, Scott P. Bryant, and Harry P. Hatry

Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press (124 pp)

Reviewed by W. Anderson Williams, policy analyst, GFO A Research and Consulting Center, Chicago, Illinois.

In recent years, local governments have begun to explore the use of comparative performance measurement, or CPM. Also known as benchmarking, CPM refers to the practice of comparing one organization 's performance to another. The Urban Institute's Comparative Performance Measurement is a step-by-step guide for using CPM to improve the management and operations of government agencies and programs. In its pages, public and nonprofit managers can learn the steps involved in a comparative performance effort, the pitfalls of performance comparisons, and how to analyze benchmarked data once it has been collected.

Although people may not recognize it as such, comparative performance measurement is actually quite common in everyday life. Places Rated Almanac's ranking of metropolitan areas and U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges" are well-known examples of consumer-oriented comparisons. Using these examples as a springboard, the authors proceed to build the case for the use of CPM in government. They explain, for example, how comparative performance measurement complements total quality management and managed competition initiatives. Their discussions are punctuated by examples from well-known CPM efforts such as the International City/County Managers Association's Comparative Performance Measurement Program and the North Carolina Local Government Performance Measurement Project.

The authors provide clear, concise guidance on CPM so that busy public managers need not reinvent the performance measurement wheel. They offer valuable advice for dealing with common comparison problems, such as accounting for differences among jurisdictions. They also explain the importance of agreeing on clearly defined data elements and procedures for calculating performance measures.

The literature on CPM often gives short shrift to important issues, such as what to do with comparative data once it is collected and how to report poor performance. Comparative Performance Measurement provides comprehensive treatment of these areas and others. The authors explore gap analysis techniques and methods for breaking data out by...