Performance Measurement
Monitoring and adjusting for best results
In their book on Reinventing Government (1992), Osborne and Gaebler note that:
- What gets measured gets done.
- If you don’t measure results, you can’t tell success from failure.
- If you can’t see success, you can’t reward it.
- If you don’t recognize failure, you can’t correct it.
Performance measurement is normally used by management to monitor the implementation of policies, programs and initiatives against operational targets, and make corrections as necessary. Performance measurement indicators are also developed in the context of result-based management to provide descriptive information that is used to report on:
- Alignment of interventions with strategic or corporate objectives;
- Levels of effort dedicated to public interventions;
- Quality of the products and services provided to target populations;
- Execution of operational plans and achievement of targets;
- Observable changes assumed to result from the interventions.
Performance measurement requires a very good understanding of program approaches to implementation. This can be achieved through the development of process models (see example below) that clarify the operational steps to the production of program outputs (i.e. the products and services reaching the target populations).
SIRRIS is using innovative approaches to the development and application of integrated performance measurement and evaluation frameworks (PMEF) that clarify management responsibilities for ongoing data collection, analysis and reporting. We have the necessary knowledge and expertise to identify performance indicators that not only support monitoring, but also contribute to better evaluations.
The PMEFs developed at the program level should then help construct the corporate performance frameworks that are used to monitor and report on performance at more strategic levels. PMEFs actually ensure that information needs are acknowledged and well understood by all levels of management (including third-party delivery organizations) and that adequate information is systematically provided for the purposes of performance management and reporting.
Contact us right away by phone at 613-833-2660 or by email at info@sirris.ca to know more about how we can assist you in achieving your goals.