Pittsburgh's Management & Performance System (PittMAPS) is all about accountability and increasing efficiencies in government, and doing more with less. The Mayor sets his Initiatives and Baseline Goals in meetings with his staff and the leaders of departments.
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In August 2007, the Ravenstahl administration began using smart practices to measure performance, demand accountability, and improve City services within a strategic vision. These kinds of business planning and improvement tools are faily common in business, but are being introduced to government by a cadre of young professionals.
Seventeen City departments submit monthly performance control values to the PittMAPS team as indicators consistent with their day-to-day operations.These include everything from crime reports, worker safety, performance targets for recycling and fixing potholes, to the value of delinquent tax bills to the net amount collected.
Operational Targets Not Yet Tied to the Budget
This process of connecting Mayoral Initiatives and goals with departmental targets is, at present, without a clear link to money and the annual budgeting process. There is not any expectation or capability within the existing PeopleSoft accounting system of a 1:1 relationship between a budget line item and an operational performance target. Tying performance targets to budget line items is the eventual goal within a few years.
It is probably too early to see if these operational targets and data driven decision making paradigms will lead to actual perforance and improved budgetary balance.
They are also using visualization tools, such as the one below to help everyone "see and understand the budget."
Visualizing Pittsburgh's 2009 Budget
Collecting and visualizing data is valuable and certainly having everyone develop KPI's that move their work in a common direction is critical. The issue will be, can it help the middle and top level managers make decisions that actually improve performance.
Developing Operational Performance Targets
During 2009, the PittMAPS team and department leaders selected a fewKey Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that can be used to impact achieving the Mayor’s Initiatives and Baseline Goals. Each of these KPI’s will have a specific target goal value determined and be mapped/aligned back to the Mayor’s Initiatives.
The Mayoral Initiatives and Baseline Goals Are:
* Safe and Clean Neighborhoods
o Increase civic involvement and transparency
o Reduce the environment for crime
o Strengthen neighborhoods
* Economic Engine Development
o Nurture health care and education business sectors
o Connect people to jobs and jobs to people
o Enhance children's educational opportunities
o Promote diverse workforce and suppliers
o Continue the development along the rivers
* Financially Sound
o Solve legacy costs crises
o Determine actual costs of delivering services in a competitive manner
* Governing Efficiently and Operating "Green"
o Enhance government services by measuring performance
o Deploy and utilize the best technology
o Collaborate with other local governments and agencies
o Accelerate "greening" the City
Managing for Results Reports (MFR's)
Managing for Results (MFR) reports communicating information about month-to-month operating results and performance in a consistent manner have been published since late 2007. The MFR reports provide some selective comparisons of monthly raw PittMAPS information. In several months, the MFR information will come directly from day-to-day operating department information, and will support analysis with maps by neighborhood, ward, etc.
Each MFR should describe the goal, the performance indicator, and the rationale for the measurement. However, if Pittsburghers do not call 311, or 911 (which can be done without giving your name), then the management decisions being made might be missing valid information from your neighborhood. Accountability goes both ways from the Mayor out to the customers of Pittsburgh, and from the customers in to the Mayor.
To give our readers a sense of what kinds of data the City is collecting and evaluating, we've included them here. There is something for everyone, so read (click) on.
