Custom performance management system helps counties

In an era of increasing demand for quality government services and flat revenues, it is vital to enhance and optimize performance. Performance management enables government to excel at providing quality services to its citizens in the most efficient and effective way possible. Furthermore, performance management relies on measurement and data to inform decision making, which increases overall transparency and accountability.

In late 2012, the leadership of Arapahoe County decided to create an Office of Performance Management to oversee all strategy management, performance measurement and process improvement efforts for the 16 county departments and elected offices. Building on concepts found in the Balanced Scorecard, a strategic planning and management system, and the Baldridge Criteria, the Office of Performance Management developed a customized capability and framework.

The customization was critical to ensure the relevance of performance management to the employees and citizens. The carefully designed strategy and scorecard called Align Arapahoe has already started to show strong evidence of success. Employee and citizen surveys conducted before and after performance management efforts began at Arapahoe County have provided some good insights.

For example, 91 percent of employees now understand how their work contributes to their office or department's goals and mission, which is an 82 percent improvement over baseline survey figures. Additionally, 71 percent of citizens believe the county is headed in the right direction, a 40 percent improvement over baseline figures.

In addition to feedback from citizens and employees, the county's strategic initiatives have had some noteworthy successes as well.

For example, Arapahoe County has embarked on a comprehensive, coordinated Continuity of Operations Planning effort for emergency preparedness in all of its offices and departments, the first effort of its kind in Colorado.

The county also began pursuing economic development by pairing with local partners, and in 2014, roughly 20 percent of all jobs added in the county were through these partners. These new jobs resulted in $106 million in initial earnings added to the economy. The county is currently pursuing an "online, not in-line" services strategy and in 2014 added two new digital services. Through advance online ticket sales, the county generated nearly $68,000 in revenue before the county fair opened its doors. Additionally, the county developed online property tax appeals and since its inception, 8 percent of property tax appeals have been filed online, with steady utilization growth expected in the future.

The custom Arapahoe County Performance Management Capability, titled Plan-Implement-Evaluate, or PIE, fosters a proactive and continuous process that helps improve decision making on a day-to-day basis and facilitates long-term planning.

In the plan phase, departments use measurement data to help inform short-term decisions and long-term strategies (such as where are they going and what changes need to be made).

In the implement phase, departments translate their plans into action.

In the evaluate phase, departments collect and analyze data about their activities to determine progress and performance and to plan their next steps.

The county turns the PIE capability into action through the Performance Management Framework, the blueprint for developing and managing a countywide or department scorecard.

Each level of the organization from countywide to elected office and department, to division and program uses a scorecard for performance management. The scorecard is a tool used to define and monitor the success of an organization's operations and long-term strategy.

"Our scorecard enables us to continuously improve as we have created performance standards and targets that clarify responsibilities, set clear goals, and articulate our performance to our customers," said Matthew Crane, Arapahoe's county clerk and recorder.

The structure of the framework formalizes the process of transforming the big "pie in the sky" ideas about an organization into actionable, measureable components. The framework approaches performance from two perspectives operations and strategy.

From the operational perspective, the organization executes core functions and programs in support of the mission; operations define what they do, how they do it and how they can improve.

From the strategic perspective, the organization identifies the goals and outcomes which lead to the vision; strategy defines where they want to go, how they will get there and what success will look like. Both operations and strategy cascade down into result measures which provide opportunities to report and review performance.

Arapahoe County is becoming a performance-based organization where decisions are informed by measureable data. It is using performance management to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness, which is creating a new sense of awareness and is driving decisions that are making a positive difference.

"Align Arapahoe is our way to continue to strengthen our organization through better communication, cooperation, and teamwork and by keeping the citizen's needs at the center of our work," said Commissioner Nancy Sharpe.