ASPA Center for Accountability & Performance

Data Science Driving Major Changes to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s Operating Model

Federal News Network

The U.S. Treasury’s Fiscal Service wants its employees to have data skills. It launched a pilot, called 30-days of data science, in 2021 that has now evolved into the Fiscal Data University. It’s about nine months into the first cohort of 40 employees going through the training.

Cities Explore Transparent Budget Process

RouteFifty

The city of Denton, TX, is just one example among several local governments that are looking to have a more transparent budget process that combines short-term budgetary thinking with long-term strategic planning. 

How to Do Strategic Planning Like a Futurist

Harvard Business Review

Chief strategy officers and those responsible for shaping the direction of their organizations are often asked to facilitate “visioning” meetings. This helps teams brainstorm ideas, but it isn’t a substitute for critical thinking about the future. 

Role of Artificial Intelligence in Program Evaluation

American Evaluation Association (blog post)

The author, Silva Ferretti, has been playing with ChatGPTI for some time now. She is surprised by the lack of debate regarding AI’s role in development and humanitarian program management. It is a game changer. “We as a field should be looking into it NOW.”

Resource of the Week:  Centre for Public Impact

Great infographic summing up how this global nonprofit foundation is helping government, philanthropy, and civil society organizations reimagine government so it works for everyone. It incorporates learning journeys, learning partnerships, and action research. 

CAP WEBINAR: Ensure Best Practices Aren’t Enemy of Better Practices (Wed., July 19 – 1 p.m. Eastern)

American Society for Public Administration

Hear how local government innovators from Myrtle Beach and Rock Hill, SC are using adaptations in process improvements and strategic planning to introduce sustainable positive changes in their municipalities.

Baking Data-Based Evaluations into Relief Programs

RouteFifty

A new program aims to help state and local governments make better data-based decisions about initiatives that use federal COVID recovery funds. The Leveraging Evaluation and Evidence for Equitable Recovery, or LEVER, initiative is a two-year program that offers workshops, multi-week training sprints and evaluation incubators to train public sector employees on data-based evaluation.

Tracking Pandemic Relief Spending – Data Problems Make That Difficult

RouteFifty

Government watchdogs run into data gaps when they try to track pandemic spending, according to a new report by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and 10 inspectors general offices.

Evidence-Based Policymaking: Helpful Practices

U.S. Government Accountability Office

This guide details key actions for implementing various practices and related illustrative examples from some of GAO’s recent audit reports.

Rigorous Evaluation vs. Trust-Based Learning

Center for Effective Philanthropy

While most of the philanthropy field continues down a business-as-usual evaluation path, a new approach to learning is rising — one that is rooted in trust, equity, and learning for impact. Some funders are suspicious of this reimagined framework.

Certificate Programs: Info Sessions to Learn about Fall On-Line Courses

National Center for Public Performance

Curious about whether a certificate program is right for your mid-career skill development? NCPP is hosting info sessions about their Fall courses on Public Communications (7/19), Analytics Leaders (7/20), and Strategic Performance Management (8/23). 

Resource of the Week:  Weekly US Government Data Roundup

USAFacts

You can sign up for a weekly roundup of the latest data and most popular content. Each week features a particular data set and explains the trends and policy context.

Data-Driven Approaches: Fortaleza, Brazil

What Works Cities

In 2012, Fortaleza (a city of 2.6 million) undertook an initiative to cut traffic fatalities. Using performance management and data-driven approaches, it reduced traffic fatalities by 57 percent over the following decade.

Measurement for Performance Improvement: In Search of the Golden Thread

Warwick Business School (Nicola Burgess)

A six-part blog series on the importance of measurement and interpreting data to create an ongoing culture of improvement, using the British National Health Service as a case study. It concludes with four key myths that underpin six key lessons illustrated in a “sketchnote.”

Does Performance Information Receive Political Attention?

Public Administration Review

A study that reviewed  Danish student standardized scores and how they are viewed by political leaders shows that performance information is paid attention to, even if it ultimately isn’t used in decisionmaking.

Charleston Leads on Analyzing Data to Gauge What Works

Charleston Courier (Editorial)

“ . . . our leaders should always seek out good data and the most thorough possible understanding of complex problems, they should be cautious not to let data alone drive their decisions but rather to use data as a tool, potentially a very powerful tool, in informing their judgment on which course of action is best.”

New Quarterly Progress Reports on Federal Agency Priority Goals

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Quarterly updates have been posted on 90 two-year agency-level priority goals for the FY 2023 second quarter. The goal period ends September 30^th.

We Used to Want Government to Work Well

The Bulwark (James Capretta)

The Government Performance and Results Act is important because it forced federal agencies to institutionalize some of the most basic requirements of sound organizational management. But it has been exceptionally difficult to use GPRA to incentivize real change in operational practices, for a few reasons. . . . real change will require flipping the script and allowing agencies to take the initiative.

These Were Not Normal Times

Government Executive

Interview with Bob Westbrooks, former executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee overseeing the spending of $5 Trillion in pandemic recovery monies. He recently published a book on his experience, “Left Holding the Bag: A Watchdog’s Account of How Washington Fumbled Its COVID Test.”

The Cornerstone Indicators Initiative

DarkMatter Labs

A Swedish community co-developed and tested a new approach to citizen engagement and community-led development of well-being indicators as tools for citizen empowerment. This short blog series and PDF show how this initiative reimages metrics and indicators for community use, and how this might be replicated elsewhere.

Best and Worst Run Cities in America

Governing

By comparing the operating efficiency of 149 of the largest U.S. cities, experts at WalletHub, the personal finance firm, have come up with a score for which ones are managed best.

Explode on Impact

Medium (Toby Lowe)

It is impossible for organizations to “demonstrate their impact” if they work in complex environments. Asking them to do so requires them to create a fantasy version of the story of their work. Conducting “contribution analyses”/theory of change is useful to start a dialogue, but not for performance management. 

Webinar: Data Sharing Between State and Federal Jurisdictions (July 12, 1:00 p.m. Eastern)

Data Foundation

This discussion will explore the challenges and strategies associated with developing appropriate privacy protections when sharing data between state and federal entities, as well as how to create beneficial partnerships between federal and state jurisdictions to promote access and use of data for policy making. 

Resource of the Week:  What Do Evaluation Officers Do?

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

A useful resource page on the roles and responsibilities of federal agency chief evaluation officers.

CAP Webinar: A Challenge to Data-Based Performance Management (Tuesday, June 27, 1 p.m. Eastern)

American Society for Public Administration

Even when public sector leaders have the best motivations for basing decisions on evidence, data and performance measurement, they may be stymied by the lack of people to fill the jobs necessary to make this happen. This webinar engages state and local talent officers to delve into the challenges and what can be done.

Helping Production Agencies Deliver

NextGov

Customer-facing agencies need a new script to resolve backlogs, measure effectiveness and harness emerging technologies.

Bringing Back “Pay for Performance?”

Government Executive

A group of over 150 House Republicans proposed, in outline form, restructuring federal employee pay and benefits. Among their plan’s elements are echoes of failed and abandoned incentive programs launched under both the G.W. Bush and Trump administrations—notably, governmentwide pay-for-performance incentives for federal employees.

Can You Demonstrate “Impact” in a Complex Environment?

Medium Post (Toby Lowe)

It is impossible for organisations to “demonstrate their impact” if they work in complex environments. Asking them to do so requires them to create a fantasy version of the story of their work. This corruption of data makes doing genuine change work harder because it is difficult to learn and adapt from corrupted data.

Resource of the Week:  The “Go To” Websites for State and Local Data

Liz Farmer’s SubStack 

Liz Farmer has been following state and local issues for years – here’s her personal list of favorite websites covering state and local pension, spending, revenue, locality, and workforce data.