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Return to Article: Analysts urge fine-tuning of performance measurement systems

• 46919
  

  I love this philosophy lets act like drunken sailors its only taxpayer money so what me worry!!

  dan ketter Posted March 20, 2008 1:42 PM
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  First and foremost the Presidemt and Congress should be accountable with the federal budget/deficit with performance.

  Civilian Worker Posted March 20, 2008 1:10 PM
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  There should not be a question about the requirement for an agency to report on their performance. Yes, all governmental organizations should be held accountable for what they do. We require public companies to report annually on their performance and the government has an even greater responsibility for the transparency of their performance. Measurement is an accountability tool. The article suggests that measurement lacks value on the basis of cost and the quality of the information generated. Without the cost measurement there would be no objective justification of performance, either way. It would be like writing a blank check and failing to balance the checkbook. If the reporting lacks quality, is management setting poor goals or employees not telling the truth? I'm sorry, but the fact is that good measurements or bad ones are not the only factors in the decision for financial support of an organization/program. Have you seen our economy lately? The question "How do we move beyond measurement to management?" is obtuse. Performance management is not the same as measuring performance. Both concepts should occur concurrently and consistently. Performance measurement should, as objectively as possible, state the current level of progress or success toward a goal. Performance management decides what the goal is and how to get there. All performance measurement and management should be tailored to an organization's strategic plan but the use of the balanced scorecard and the traffic light reporting structure should be required. This requirement standardizes the format not the content. With the large volume of bills, programs, problems, and issues, congress deals with, the standardization of reporting aids in the congressional ability to assess a program effectively. This is reasonable accountability and accountability makes sense. As a taxpayer, I want to know my contributions are not wasted and my vote will attempt to secure that fact.

  Corrine Loyola Posted March 20, 2008 12:33 PM
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  The first paragraph contains very nice words that you can't argue with, words similar to the advice that all the retired military analysts provide. The problem is that no one knows how to do it. We don't start with the management decisions that need to be made, then go out and determine what data needs to be collected to support those decisions. We run out and shotgun data collection and then try to reason out how it supports the decisions we made with "gut feel." We end up forever taking measurements, that have no relevence to the mission, but make nice charts. As far as moving from measurement to management...they have that backwards.

  RH Posted March 20, 2008 11:18 AM