ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Data-Driven Decision-Making Is Key to Better Customer Service in Government

Federal News Network

The Biden administration, in its push to improve customer experiences across government, is using data to pinpoint where those services aren’t meeting expectations.

OMB’s Joint Review Meetings Improve Performance

Federal News Network

Over the last two years, the Office of Management and Budget held about 60 joint review meetings with agencies, starting as a pilot with the American Rescue Plan Act and then expanding and institutionalizing them for other laws like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and several others. The lessons learned and best practices that come from the meetings aren’t just limited to that one agency or program.

Webinar: Performance Management Lessons from Mesa, AZ (Thur, Dec. 7, noon Eastern)

National Academy of Public Administration

Public officials from Mesa, Arizona, will talk about how their city is learning to manage performance to engage and help its elected executives, legislators, appointed managers, and career officials realize better community outcomes and government quality. 

How Foresight Thinking Helps Cities Get Ahead

Bloomberg Cities

 Local leaders are finding ways to broaden their focus—beyond the management of day-to-day and medium-term priorities—to include time to anticipate and plan for long-term challenges and opportunities before they materialize. This involves three key steps.

Resource of the Week: States & Localities Making an Impact

GovLoop

Download this new Carahsoft-sponsored guide to explore nine examples of state and local agencies making a significant service impact to see how you can, too.

Aggregate to Communicate, Disaggregate to Manage

Barrett & Greene

Aggregate statistics may be useful as a way to communicate overall trends, but performance information is particularly useful to mangers when disaggregated – by demographics, education levels, income, or location.

Webinar: Rethinking Public Administration (Wed., Dec. 6, 1 p.m. Eastern)

National Center for Public Performance (Free)

Dr. Marc Holzer will discuss his new book, “Rethinking Public Administration” and the role of performance measurement in ensuring that the public sector can rebuild its trust with stakeholders. He will be joined by Richard Greene and Katherine Barrett in a conversation about specific approaches such as performance leadership, performance reporting, stakeholder engagement, and “businesslike” government. 

Interpreting Performance Information

Public Administration

Despite a growing number of studies on how prior beliefs distort citizens’ interpretation of performance information for service providers, little is known about whether prior beliefs matter equally across different services and types of providers. According to this study, it does.

Evidence-Based Pre-Trial System Reform: A Case Study

Arnold Ventures

In 2018, Cass county, IN, launched Cass County Court and Pretrial Services (CCCPS) and shifted to using evidence-based pretrial practices, including voluntary referrals to supportive services, reduced reliance on monetary bonds as a release condition, and a pretrial assessment tool to inform decision making. It made a difference in overall performance.

A Recipe to Write a Measurable Goal

Stacey Barr’s YouTube Channel

How we write our goals or objectives has a fundamental effect on how easy it will be to measure, how meaningful the measure will be, and ultimately how likely the goal will be achieved. If you don’t have meaningful measures, then you probably need to revisit how you’ve written your goals. This recipe will help.

Resource of the Week: Explore the Federal Government’s Strategic Portfolio

U.S. Office of Management & Budget

Here’s an interactive, visual tool to explore federal agencies’ 98 strategic goals, 351 strategic objectives and 90 agency-level priority goals to see how they interrelate by policy areas or agencies.

Emerging Challenges of Budgeting and Performance

Barrett & Greene (Op-Ed by Don Kettl)

“The fundamental problem is this. We tend to budget by agency and then, typically, by program within the agency. However, the actual implementation of almost every program depends on complex networks involving multiple programs, agencies, levels of government, sectors of society, and even foreign governments.”

Improving Performance of Federal Grants: A HUD Homelessness Case Study

IBM Center for The Business of Government

This report illuminates how to improve data sharing and performance management in intergovernmental programs. The authors share findings from HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) multi-pronged strategies that combine performance measures and capacity building supports to focus grant recipients on achieving national goals. These strategies provide a menu of smart practices that can be used by other federal agencies that administer intergovernmental grants. 

Literature Review of Strategic Planning in Public Organizations

International Public Management Journal (Vandersmissen and George; gated access)

Drawing from a systematic review of 75 studies through a Strategy-as-Practice lens, this paper contributes to public management theory, research, and practice in three significant ways: a literature synthesis, a framework of what works & when, and choices among different approaches. 

On-Line Workshop: Using Digital Skills & Data in Your Work (Tues., Nov 21, 10 a.m. Eastern)

Apolitical

This free online workshop will teach you how to harness the power of digital tools and data analysis to optimise government operations and delivery.

Postal Service Delivery Performance Announcement

U.S. Postal Service

The United States Postal Service reported new delivery performance metrics for the fifth week of the first quarter for fiscal year 2024. The average time for the Postal Service to deliver a mailpiece or package across the nation was 2.5 days.

Setting Sensible KPIs

Stacey Barr’s Blog

Key Performance Indicator target setting is both science and art. Science, in that it has proven and logical steps. Art, in that it needs your own creative input too.

2023 State Standard of Excellence

Results for America

In the 2023 State Standard of Excellence, Results for America identified 194 examples of data-driven and evidence-based practices, policies, programs, and systems in effect as of August 2023 in 46 states across the country.

Resource of the Week: Streamlining the Creation of Data Sharing Agreements

Open Data Policy Lab

Harnessing data from different sources can require forming agreements with outside actors and this process can be complex and time-consuming. This guide will help data stewards operating in the public streamline the creation of data sharing agreements.

Better Federal Contract Data and Performance

Government Executive

The federal government has launched a Better Contracting Initiative centered on a four-prong set of data- and performance-centered buying strategies, envisioning savings of up to $10 billion a year.

Unlocking the Power of Data – Interview with Amy Edwards Holmes

Barrett & Greene

B&G interview Holmes, executive director of the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence, to gain insights on her career in government as well as upcoming plans for GovEx work in the coming year.

Launch of UK’s Performance Tracker 2023

Institute for Government

This “Week in Public Services” summarizes a 300-page report describing UK trends in health, education, infrastructure, local authority finances, law enforcement, etc.

Customer Experience Metrics at the Department of Veterans Affairs

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Data analyzed for the first time by the Veterans Health Affairs’ National Center for Organizational Development shows a positive relationship between improving employee engagement and overall customer experience. This study shows how customer experience can drive trust in government.

Federal Spending Transparency Needs Improved

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Federal agencies must report their spending data on USASpending.gov, but GAO found 49 agencies did not report their data, in part because which agencies are required to report is unclear in the law. GAO recommends the law be clarified.

New On-Line Dashboard in Austin City’s Auditor Office

Barrett & Greene

Many audit shops follow up regularly on the status of their recommendations. However, these are usually found in documents like year-end reports or individual follow-up audits. Austin has created a dashboard that allows stakeholders to see this kind of information, easily and in real time.

A Federal Competency Model for Program Evaluators

Federal News Network

“The [33] competencies identified may be used by agencies in the workforce planning, recruitment, employee selection, training and development and performance management for their program evaluation positions,” Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja said.

States Create “Triple-demic” Dashboards for Flu Season

RouteFifty

To help health care systems and communities prepare for a potential upswing in viral cases, some state health departments are refreshing their respiratory illness dashboards. An upgrade to the COVID dashboards that popped up nationwide during the pandemic, “tripledemic” dashboards track data on COVID, RSV, and flu viruses together. 

Resource of the Week: Using Canva to Create Logic Models and Theory of Change

Fresh Spectrum

A “how to” blog post on using the Canva data visualization software platform to create logic models and a basic theory of change model, along with some starter templates.

Martin O’Malley’s Vision for Social Security Administration

Government Executive

In his Senate nomination hearing to be Commissioner of Social Security, he said: “I believe the top priority is that for as large as Social Security is, there are lagging indicators that are pretty clear that we have to meet . . . . What is not as clear are the measurements on the tactics, strategies and actions that drive you to the lagging indicators.”

Cradle-to-Career Data System

State of California

A statewide data system that will provide tools to help students reach their goals and deliver information on education and workforce outcomes.

Enabling Governments to Address Future Shocks

IBM Center for The Business of Government

This report lays out a roadmap of eight imperatives—a guide that governments at all levels can use to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to shocks of any origin. 

Let’s Talk Performance Webcast: Using Data to Achieve Performance and Equity (58 min.)

National Center for Public Performance

In this YouTube video, T. Michael Stavres, City Manager for the City of Winter Haven, and Dr. Tamara Dimitrijevska-Markoski, Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida ‘s School of Public Affairs, discuss the power of making data-driven decisions in local government with the goals of improving performance and equity.

Baltimore City Recovery Performance Reports

City of Baltimore

The Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs must prepare and submit an annual Recovery Plan to the U.S. Department of Treasury. The Recovery Office also submits quarterly reports to the U.S. Treasury. Lastly, each month, the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs must prepare and submit a report to the Baltimore City Council 

The Process and Impact of Collaborative Performance Summits

Public Administration Review (un-gated article)

Interactive routines such as collaborative performance summits are thought to help collaborating organizations assess and improve their performance. This study leverages a longitudinal dataset to examine the summit process and identify the difference between summits that have an impact on performance and those that do not.

Using Metrics to Prepare for Crisis

Government Finance Research Center

A research report for the IBM Center of The Business of Government includes a handful of recommendations for states and the federal government to effectively develop measurement tools, and track and integrate spending into annual budget processes, in preparation for future crises.

Resource of the Week:  Baltimore County BCStat Webpage

Baltimore County Government

BCSTAT’s mission is to incorporate data into decision making and apply data-driven analysis to every day operations across County departments.