GFOA and the evolution of performance measurement in government: through the years, performance measurement has defied the fate of both generals and other management reforms--it has neither died nor faded away, and, in fact, remains an effective management tool and the source of much innovation in government.

• Author: Kreklow, Steven R.
• Position: Government Finance Officers Association

Balanced scorecard. Six sigma. Business intelligence. Performance budgeting. Business analytics. Process improvement. Enterprise planning. ISO. The list of management tools available to government finance officers today is dizzying and seems to be growing daily. Fortunately, a common thread runs through each of these approaches to improving service delivery by government agencies--each depends on the systematic collection and analysis of performance data. Measurement remains a central requirement for improving performance.

For the next six issues of Government Finance Review the Solutions department will be devoted to performance measurement and management issues. This article provides a brief history of performance measurement and an overview of GFOA's performance initiative. Future issues will provide case studies, review the latest technology, and discuss the challenges and opportunities, successes and setbacks, and lessons learned on the path to high-performance government.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

Through the years, performance measurement has defied the fate of both generals and management reforms. It has neither died nor faded away, and, in fact, remains an effective management tool and the source of much innovation in government. A brief survey of the history of performance measurement provides proof of its staying power and context for current and future innovations.

Early Experimentation. Public administration pioneers, such as New York's Bureau of Municipal Research, recognized the need to measure performance as early as 1910. In 1943, the International City/County Management Association published its first book on the subject, Measuring Municipal Activities: A Survey of Suggested Criteria for Appraising Administration. These early forays in performance measurement foreshadowed future innovations in the field, including performance budgeting, outcome measures, and scorecards. (1)

Systems Analysis and Program Evaluation. Following this early experimentation stage, the Defense Department's work on planning-programming-budgeting systems stimulated attempts at all levels of government to quantify program results. However, most governments quickly realized that they lacked sufficient performance data to accomplish this. By the late 1960s the Urban Institute--Harry Hatry in particular--began research and collaboration with governments and nonprofit organizations to begin filling in this performance black hole. (2)

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