Determining the purpose of the performance measurement system an important first step.

• Author: Ammons, David N.
• Position: [PM.sup.2] Connections: PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & MANAGEMENT

The following is National Performance Management Advisory Commission Issue Paper No. 1. More information about the commission is available at www.pmcommission, org.

Some public-sector organizations have adopted performance measurement systems with ambitious objectives in mind and have created systems suitable for these objectives. Others, however, have not. Many climbed aboard the performance management bandwagon--sometimes reluctantly--with more limited objectives, at least at the outset.

"Just collect some measures we can report to the city council and citizens--ideally, something that will impress them with how much we do."

Not surprisingly, organizations that have limited objectives for their performance measurement system often design very limited systems. If their purpose was to impress an audience of elected officials and citizens with how much the organization's workforce does, they could do this by counting and reporting the large number of calls for service they handle, tons of solid waste they collect, applications they process, and stray dogs they pick up. If their purpose was to decorate a report, raw counts like these could easily serve that purpose as well.

Officials in these organizations probably claimed that their purpose was accountability, but their primary intent might be characterized more accurately as public relations. Compared to the more serious efforts of some of their counterparts, these attempts at performance reporting might be labeled "accountability-light."

Officials who felt the need to demonstrate only a modicum of accountability adopted what is arguably a rational implementation strategy, given their limited objectives. Despite occasional declarations that performance measures would lead to better or more efficient services, their actual focus was on reporting performance measures, rather than managing with them. The systems constructed for this limited objective were minimalist in nature. Given their limited purposes, their designers saw the collection and reporting of performance measures as an expenditure item with little chance of tangible return. Accordingly, they decided that the systems should be designed in a manner that would be as cost-free as possible, minimizing their impact on resources and staff time. The raw counts of service calls, applications, stray dogs, and tons of solid waste were easy to compile and served their purpose nicely.

A NEW DAY, THE RIGHT SYSTEM

That was then; this is now...