Best Practices in Performance Reporting: Lessons from the

Federal Level

Jerry ElligSenior Research Fellow

Government Performance and Results Act of 1993

Strategic plans with outcome goals and planned program evaluations

Annual performance plan

Annual performance report (starting fiscal year 1999)

Performance budgeting

Project Design

Team of 3 experts with experience in government and/or performance management evaluates reports

12 criteria based on GPRA requirements

Evaluate reports from 24 CFO Act agencies

Each evaluation reviewed by a member of advisory panel

Entire report reviewed by entire advisory panel

How We Score the Reports 1-5 rating scale

3 Categories

TransparencyPublic BenefitsLeadership

4 criteria in each category

Criteria tightened each year to reflect previous year’s best practices

Total score can range from 12 to 60

5 Sets a standard for best practice

4 Shows innovation and creativity

3 Satisfactory

2 Partially complete

1 Fails to meet expectations

Top 10 Best Reporting Practices1. Make the report accessible

2. Make the report readable

3. Ensure the data are verifiable

4. Establish context with baselines and trends

5. Make goals, objectives, and measures outcome-oriented

Top 10 Best Reporting Practices (cont.)6. Show how the agency’s actions affected outcomes

7. Link performance measures with costs

8. Tell an outcome-oriented story

9. Candidly discuss failures and problems

10. Outline plans and timelines for improvement

1. Make the report accessible

Prominent home page link

Link available all year

Downloadable as single or multiple files

Contact information for questions/comments/copies

Prior years’ reports readily downloadable

2. Make the report readable

Citizens’ Report

Substantive transmittal letter

Plain language

Easy navigation due to headings, graphics, etc.

Tables/graphics summarize results

Highlight key performance measures

Limited jargon/acronyms

Labor’s Citizens’ Report

Richard Lanham’s “paramedic method”

Original: “Our nation’s schools are the basis for an economic resource that helps ensure that we are a country with educated citizens, full employment, and the ability to be fully competitive in the international marketplace.”

-- Dept. of Education PAR, fiscal 2007

Revised: “Schools help ensure that our nation has an educated, internationally competitive workforce.”

Lard factor: (34-12)/34 = 65%

3. Ensure the data are verifiable Provide complete data for all measures

Give sources for all data

Assess/rate data quality for each performance goal

Identify any major data challenges

Explain how and when data problems will be resolved

Veterans Affairs data table

4. Establish context with baselines and trends

Provide long range and multi-year targets

Provide prior years’ results and targets

Explain rationale for targets

DOJ: 5-year performance trends

Labor – Baselines, targets, and actual data

VA annual and long-term targets

5. Make goals, objectives and measures outcome-oriented Strategic goals are measurable outcomes

Annual performance goals and targets are measurable outcomes even if strategic goals aren’t

Goals cover all of agency’s core missions

Report on actual outcomes and goals, not just whether goals were met or %’s of goals met

DOT strategic goals Enhance public health and safety by working toward the

elimination of transportation-related deaths and injuries.

Reduce congestion and other impediments to using the Nation’s transportation system.

Facilitate an international transportation system that promotes economic growth and development.

Promote transportation solutions that enhance communities and protect the natural and built environment.

Balance transportation security requirements with the safety, mobility, and economic needs of the nation and be prepared to respond to emergencies that affect the viability of the transportation sector.

DOT outcome goals and measures

What was accomplished?

6. Show how the agency’s actions affected outcomes Explain how programs are expected to achieve

measured results

Construct measures so that they show how much the agency affected the outcomes, or

Make the case that measures are precursors to ultimate outcomes, or

Use program evaluation to demonstrate how much of the measured change was caused by the agency’s actions

Common Labor job training measures Percent of participants employed in the first quarter after

exit

Percent of those employed in the first quarter after exit still employed in the second and third quarters after exit

Average earnings in the second and third quarters after exit

These could be turned into direct measures of program outcomes if they were expressed as comparisons with a control group not enrolled in the program.

NRC outcome precursors

Number of “high safety significance” findings from power plant inspections

Number of “significant precursor events” that would increase risk of damage reactor fuel

Number of performance deficiencies requiring safety improvements

Number of adverse safety trends

DOT program evaluation

7. Link performance measures with costs Ultimate goal is to allow decision-makers to

compare outcomes with costs

Break down costs and link to individual outcome goals and measures

Include all costs, not just direct program costs

Include costs reflecting non-appropriated funds such as user fees

DHS resources and results

8. Tell an outcome-oriented story Describe outcomes that benefit the public

Explain how the agency’s outcomes affect the public’s welfare if it’s not already obvious

Do not characterize inputs, dollars spent, or activities as benefits to the public; it’s results that matter

Make sure that vignettes illustrate typical results grounded in the performance metrics

VA performance summaries have stories …

… that illustrate performance data

Labor: Vignettes + data and analysis

9. Candidly discuss failures and problems Clearly identify performance shortfalls and explain

actual causes

Enumerate major management challenges (especially any that have been identified by external parties)

Identify more general challenges facing the organization

An accurate and informative report requires candor, not salesmanship

10. Outline plans and timelines for improvement Explain concrete steps to remedy

performance shortfalls

Explain concrete steps to deal with management challenges

Include plans to improve performance even when targets were met

DOT “progress meter”

For more information

Mercatus Scorecard web page:

www.mercatus.org/scorecard

The 10th annual Performance Report Scorecard (2009) names the reports that show especially good examples of each best practice, in the section titled “Strongest and Weakest Scores.”