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Weekly UpdatesAfter nine years of working to align all levels of the organization through a comprehensive performance management process, the City of Henderson, Nevada, is putting the last piece into place--a system known as the Strategic Tracking and Reporting System (STARS). When it is fully implemented, STARS will become a repository for all the city's strategic planning elements and performance data. The application will allow the city to visibly link long-range performance plans to goals, action plans, performance measures, and employees.
Like many other entities, Henderson had a successful structured process in place for developing performance plans, but it lacked a uniform procedure for monitoring the progress of those plans over both the short and long term. There was also an issue of cascading the responsibility for executing the plans throughout the organization and instilling the idea that every employee's daily duties should contribute to the strategic direction of their department and the city.
City management wanted to ensure that long-term strategic plans were being addressed on a day-to-day basis. The city needed software that would help the organization track and report qualitative and quantitative performance information. Because department-level annual action plans were aligned with the city's strategic plan, the city also needed a standard format for communicating quarterly progress to city management staff.
The city had three main criteria in selecting a performance management system. First of all, the software had to be easy to use. It also had to allow departments to create the look and feel they wanted, such as including pictures and specific colors. (See Exhibit 1 for an example of the login page for the Parks and Recreation Department.) The system also had to provide a process that would allow users to develop paper-based reports for their quarterly performance discussions with city management.
THE OVERALL PROCESS
The city's performance management process is broken down into four basic parts, beginning with the organization's overall mission, vision, and values (see Exhibit 2).These elements are reviewed periodically to assess the services that are being provided, the types of additional or enhanced services that should be offered in the future, and the core values that guide the organization in providing services that aligned with the city's vision and mission. This piece of the city's strategic planning process includes a wide range of participants from within the organization, including elected officials, executive management, supervisors, and front-line employees. Participation throughout the organization engages as many employees as possible in aligning individuals' day-to-day activities with the city's long-term plans.
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The next step is to systemically address the other components of the planning process, which range from identifying big-picture challenges to setting performance targets for the upcoming year. This data-driven process is integral to linking strategic planning with resource allocation and performance reporting. A critical component of the system for both the citywide and department-level planning is the use of citizen survey data. The city currently uses the annual National Citizen Survey, developed by the International City/County Management Association and the National Research Center. A more detailed citizen assessment survey is commissioned every fifth year. All the strategic planning steps apply to both the department-level strategic plans and the citywide strategic plan they link to. The city's latest strategic plan was developed in 2004, and the next three years were spent developing and fine tuning department-level plans, helping the city determine its software needs. Department-level strategic plans are revised annually, in conjunction with the performance budget process.
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WHAT STARS DOES
STARS empowers system users at all levels to monitor progress and realign resources as necessary to execute long-range strategic plans. It also helps with synchronizing planning efforts and performance measurement by showing the progress being made toward accomplishing strategic items. Designating performance metrics that align with strategic plans allows users to produce a quantifiable status report. Reports on all aspects of the system, including all performance management components, can easily be converted to a PDF that includes an area for comments and observations. Operational reviews that include dashboards of data metrics and corresponding comments are used in quarterly meetings between city management staff and department directors to show progress on strategic items. The software allows city departments to consistently track the following key performance-management elements.
* Strategic Issues. Problems or challenges the city faces from within and outside the organization must be identified correctly so they can be addressed through strategic planning. A basic determination is whether the issue is internal and external. Internal issues related to efficiency, productivity, and overall effectiveness within the organization have an impact on performance. External issues may present opportunities or threats--managing natural resources is an example of an external issue facing many local governments. In Southern Nevada, this issue is generally identified as water supply conservation and sustainability. The city also categorizes these issues as tangible (e.g., materials, facilities, demographic changes) or intangible (e.g., culture, morale, trust).
* Long-Term Goals. The city's goals are statements of direction based on the mission of the organization and the needs of the community, including what each department expects to achieve in the next 3 to 5 years. Goals specifically addresses strategic issues.
* Annual Performance Objectives. Each department develops measurable and time-specific performance objectives once a year. These objectives are the basis for setting the city's performance targets. Objectives represent incremental progress toward a goal, and objectives may recur annually with updated target numbers until the goal is achieved.
* Actions. Each department determines the specific actions that will be required to achieve each annual performance objective. Together, these actions represent the action plan used for implementing the strategic plan at the citywide or department level.
* Key Performance Indicators. The departments choose specific actions or outcomes they will use to measure their progress in achieving annual performance objectives and long-term goals. This also applies to the organization as a whole.
GETTING STARTED
STARS is being implemented incrementally, starting with a small group of volunteer departments using all elements of the system, rather than all departments using a limited portion of the system. Each department has unique needs regarding performance management, and the incremental approach to implementation gives Budget and Strategic Management staff time to assist in areas of concern while moving more quickly in the areas of strength. Some departments have a mature strategic planning process, while others may be farther along in the development of performance measures. Working with two to four departments at a time also gives the Budget and Strategic Management staff the opportunity to develop best practices in the use and implementation of the software. STARS has not been mandated by the city management, but increased awareness of what the system can do, along with the early successes with the first departments, has increased interest from additional departments to implement STARS. Once a department expresses interest in implementing the system, the development team from Budget and Strategic Management can act as internal consultants. Each implementation is treated as a distinct engagement with its own project timeline. That timeline includes communication with employees, training programs, and collaboration with department staff throughout the process.
The partnership between the Office of Budget and Strategic Management and the Department of Information Technology (IT) is a major factor behind the successful ongoing implementation of STARS. Budget and Strategic Management is the owner of all aspects of the performance management processes, and IT brought the technical knowledge needed to integrate STARS into the city's comprehensive information systems. The roles and responsibilities of both areas were clearly identified ahead of time. The budget office was responsible for most of the system's online administrative functions such as developing the plan, developing multidimensional data cubes (which enable the slicing and dicing of data within the dashboard and reporting functions of the system), and administration. The IT staff was responsible for contract development, analysis of hardware requirements, and database administration.
The budget office's ability to perform most administrative functions makes STARS one component of a comprehensive internal consulting approach to developing performance management. Budget and Strategic Management staff can move from developing performance management concepts to implementation without burdening the IT department with multiple work requests. Most administrative functions of STARS are Web based and can be completed by anyone with the required three-day administrator training provided by the software company. Budget office staff can begin the process by discussing the planning and measurement efforts and determining if any enhancements need to be made to those processes before proceeding to STARS implementation.
INFORMATION SHARING
Future plans for STARS are to use the dashboard and reporting components to make available relevant citizen survey, demographic, economic indicator information, and ICMA Center for Performance Measurement benchmarking data to all users of the system. The process of building these citywide components will run parallel with the continued incremental implementation in additional city departments. A central location for information across the organization will allow departments to use consistent data in their performance planning or when responding to citizen inquiries.
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