Policy and Performance Orientation Seminars - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 58
About This Presentation
Title:

Policy and Performance Orientation Seminars

Description:

A group exercise to assist in understanding the relationship among the ... Number of children in social care as a percentage of youth population (by age cohort) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:40
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 59
Provided by: HOF99
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Policy and Performance Orientation Seminars


1
  • Policy and Performance Orientation Seminars
  • April 2008

2
Objectives of Seminar
  • Look at role of policy and performance in
    programme budgeting system
  • Part 1 Overview of policy development in
    context of PRSP and Budget process (integrated
    management cycle)
  • Part 2 Overview of non-financial performanceand
    key aspects of performance specification and
    reporting

3
PART 1 OVERVIEW OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT
4
The integrated (annual) management cycle
5
A Well-Integrated Policy System
Broad Political Goals and Priorities Articulated
through MTEF, PRSP, Government Activities
Program, etc Are translated into
Ministry Plans, Budgets, Performance Targets and
Measures Which are used to establish
Various Policy Products and Services The results
of which may be used to modify future broad
political goals and priorities and future
implementation of Ministry plans, budgets,
performance targets measures
A Ministry Policy Agenda Which is used to set
priorities and timelines for preparations of
6
Concurrent GoA Performance Planning Activities
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
Government Activities Plan
Medium Term Expenditure Framework
  • Describes broad policy intentions of the GoA,
    often expressed as legislative agenda
  • Is prepared based on submissions from Ministries
    reflecting annual operational plan
  • Does not currently focus on performance quality
    of Ministries
  • Execution reports from Ministries are intended
    to describe accomplishments based on GAP
  • Relatively little citizen and stakeholder
    engagement
  • Establishes broad and comprehensive poverty
    reduction actions
  • Ministries to reflect PRSP actions in their
    activities plans
  • Actions are mix of macro and micro.
  • Monitoring and reporting process being developed
    by MFE
  • Link between desired societal outcomes and GoA
    service performance remains undeveloped
  • High degree of citizen and stakeholder engagement
  • Used to establish programme budget allocations
  • Intention is review spending proposals against
    past financial and operational performance
  • MTEF process needs to be strengthened in regard
    to description of performance goals, indicators
    and targets for programmes
  • Outcome should be more transparent budget
    performance to citizens and stakeholders
  • Three key issues are
  • Strengthening linkages between these processes
    to avoid duplication, overlap or gaps.
  • Harmonizing processes to establish proper
    sequencing and clarify objectives of each
    process/product.
  • Examining roles and responsibilities at Ministry
    level for preparation and coordination.

7
Steps in Policy Development Implementation
Cycle
Policy Needs and Pressures (may arise from
external or internal sources)
Issues Identification (should focus on core
questions and context/background)
Implementation and Monitoring (which may include
more formal evaluation)
Policy development and implementation is a
cyclical activity
Analysis (may include consultation)
Political Decision-making and Direction (some
direction will require further analysis or
programme design before approval of
implementation)
Identification of Options and Implications (may
involve more than 1 level of options)
8
Group Task 1 Examples of Current Policy
  • Identify a policy issue your SBA is currently
    involved in.
  • Pick a specific issue not a broad one.
  • Promote economic development (no -- too broad!!)
  • Development of an SME loan guarantee programme
    (yes very clear and specific)
  • Use an example of something new a possible
    future action or activity.
  • Is the primary pressure or need external or
    internal?
  • Identify if the policy activity is identified in
    GAP and/or PRSP.

9
Policy Leads To One or More of the Following
  • A position of a Minister or government on any
    issue.
  • New or amended legislation, decrees or
    regulations (not necessarily administered by the
    Ministry).
  • New programs or services delivered by the
    Ministry or by third parties (may not need ii).
  • Guidelines, practices that interpret ii or iii
    for implementation purposes.
  • Directives or advice to an individual or class of
    third party organizations in regard to
    performance of a statutory or delegated function.
  • Analysis that may be provided in written or
    verbal form to a Minister, other senior official
    or external body such as a national assembly
    commission.

10
Group Task 2 Examples of Current Policy
  • From your groups policy examples in Task 1,
    pick one example.
  • Identify the list on slide 9 two examples of what
    the policy might lead to.
  • Name one additional government body that would
    need to be involved in the development of the
    policy.
  • Name one non-government organisation that would
    be affected by implementation of the policy when
    final.

11
Steps in Policy Development Implementation
Cycle
Policy Needs and Pressures (may arise from
external or internal sources)
Issues Identification (should focus on core
questions and context/background)
Implementation and Monitoring (which may include
more formal evaluation)
Policy development and implementation is a
cyclical activity
Analysis (may include consultation)
Political Decision-making and Direction (some
direction will require further analysis or
programme design before approval of
implementation)
Identification of Options and Implications (may
involve more than 1 level of options)
12
Policy Analysis Activities
  • Several activities (and skills) form the basic
    techniques involved in policy analysis
  • Determining information needs and sources
  • Identifying possible approaches and tools for
    sorting or comparing approaches
  • Assessing fiscal or financial implications
  • Identifying the internal and external key
    stakeholders (looking from the outside in)
  • Obtaining stakeholder views gathered through
    various forms of consultation
  • Identifying how other jurisdictions have
    approached (or intend to approach) the same
    problem

13
Characteristics of Policy That Affect
Implementation
  • Easy Policies Likely Have These Characteristics
  • Simple technical features
  • Would result in a marginal change from the status
    quo
  • Have a single-actor as the target
  • Have a single policy goal and few objectives
  • Have clearly stated policy goals
  • Implementation that would occur over a short
    period of time
  • Difficult Policies Likely Have These
    Characteristics
  • Complex technical features
  • Would involve a comprehensive change from status
    quo
  • Have multi-actor targets
  • Have multiple goals and objectives
  • Have ambiguous or unclearly stated goals and
    objectives
  • Would involve implementation over a long period
    of time.

14
Group Task 3 Easy and Difficult Policies
  • Using one of the policy examples from Task 1
  • Identify its easy/difficult characteristics using
    the scale provided.

15
Analyzing Cost and Benefits
  • Ideally, cost analysis will clarify whether the
    benefits of a policy option will exceed the
    costs.
  • Not all policy proposals necessarily involve a
    cost to government -- some may involve potential
    costs for third parties (e.g. private sector
    employers, individuals, etc.)
  • Some policy options are easier to assess costs or
    potential benefits than others Example Where
    benefits are diffused across a population and are
    difficult to place a value on (e.g. installation
    of ramps and disabled-friendly doors in public
    and commercial venues)
  • Data on costs and benefits can be very useful in
    comparing policy options although the
    preferred option may not necessarily be the one
    with the lowest cost or even the highest
    benefit.
  • Other non-economic factors may influence a final
    policy recommendation or options.

16
Consultation -- An Important Feature of Policy
Development
  • Presence of Consultation Can
  • Improve the quality of analysis.
  • Expose ideas, options, approaches or alternatives
    that might otherwise be overlooked.
  • Identify problems and barriers to implementation
    that might otherwise be missed.
  • Broaden support and build a sense of ownership by
    stakeholders and investment in the success of the
    policy.
  • Provide time for reflection and second thoughts.
  • Absence of Consultation Can
  • Reduce scope for conflict among stakeholders.
  • Signal political seriousness and willingness to
    make hard decisions and provide leadership.
  • Save time and avoid delays in approval and/or
    implementation.
  • Reduce burden/cost on government and on some
    stakeholders.
  • Avoid consultation fatigue among stakeholders

17
Steps in Policy Development Implementation
Cycle
Policy Needs and Pressures (may arise from
external or internal sources)
Issues Identification (should focus on core
questions and context/background)
Implementation and Monitoring (which may include
more formal evaluation)
Policy development and implementation is a
cyclical activity
Analysis (may include consultation)
Political Decision-making and Direction (some
policy decisions will require further analysis or
programme design before approval of
implementation)
Summarizing Options and Implications (may involve
more than one level of options)
18
Policy Options and Policy Implications
  • Options describe the key choices associated
    with a policy decision based on policy analysis.
  • For example Options for introduction of
    programme budgeting in government are
  • Option1 Evolutionary approach, progressively
    including SBAs over a 6 year period with periodic
    changes in budget instruction, templates, etc.
  • Option 2 Revolutionary approach, implementing
    in all SBAs in a 2-3 year period.
  • Implications reveal the potential effects or
    consequences associated with each policy option.
  • It involves synthesizing and presenting a
    combination of factual information and opinion
    (sometimes uninformed opinion).
  • The most common approach to summarizing policy
    implications uses pros and cons or
    advantages and disadvantages

19
Appraising policy options
  • Suitability - Will the option address the key
    issues and will it be able to deliver desired
    outcomes?
  • Rationale - is there a clear case for government
    action?
  • Proportionality - is the (cost of the) policy
    option proportionate to the (cost of the)
    problem?
  • Effectiveness - how well will the option address
    the issue or problem?
  • Impact - are there any unintended consequences?
    Are costs and benefits equitably distributed?
  • Feasibility - Is the option a realistic and
    practical possibility?
  • Capability - will it be possible to implement and
    manage the option?
  • Accountability - can clear accountabilities be
    established and aligned with incentives?
  • Affordability - is there the money, and is it
    value for money against alternatives?
  • Risk - can risks be identified and either
    mitigated or allocated and managed?
  • Control - are there clear success measures and
    mechanisms for prompt feedback and learning?
  • Acceptability - Is the option supported by those
    with the authority and influence to legitimise
    action?
  • Participation - has there been sufficient public
    participation and consultation in policy design?
  • Buy-in - is there sufficient support from both
    internal and external stakeholders?

20
Group Task 4 Options and Implications
  • Choose one of policy examples from Task 1
  • Identify at least two (maximum three) options
    that could be presented in relation to that
    policy.
  • Pick one option and list two pros and to cons
    associated with that option.

21
PART 2 OVERVIEW OF PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATION
AND REPORTING
22
This Section Will Cover
  • Some common performance terms used in programme
    budgeting and internationally in regard to public
    sector performance.
  • Simple steps involved in managing performance.
  • Kinds of performance indicators or measures.
  • A group exercise to assist in understanding the
    relationship among the kinds of performance
    indicators.
  • Challenges faced by most governments in measuring
    performance.
  • A group exercise to demonstrate that everyone has
    some inherent skill in measuring performance.

23
Performance Involves Three Steps
24
Performance Concepts
Objectives or outcomes What the government
wants to implement for the public
Outputs Services provided or bought for the
external beneficiaries by the SBA
Activities - the processes that are implemented
during delivering the outputs (and for delivery
of outputs )
Inputs the resources, which are used for the
provision of outputs
Costs the resources, which are used for input
financing
25
Programme Budgeting Is Concerned With Three
Aspects of Performance
e.g improving the average level of educational
achievement, improving the health status of the
population
e.g provision of general education in schools,
provision of primary health care
e.g teachers or doctors/nurse salaries, school
books or medical drugs, school or health
buildings
26
Use of Indicators to Measure Performance
  • Input Indicators
  • Resources going into a service, programme or
    activity.
  • Usually expressed as a quantity of people, money
    or time allocated.
  • Do not indicate effectiveness or efficiency.
  • Output Indicators
  • Measures of the services delivered (eg indicate
    efficiency).
  • Consist of several types
  • Quantity - Usually expressed as service volume
    (e.g. of patients served monthly in each
    hospital, rate of applications handled per day)
  • Quality relate to standards of delivery or
    client evaluation (eg of clients rating service
    satisfactory)
  • Timeliness eg service delivery to deadline.
    Note that timeliness can also be a measure of
    quality (eg average waiting time for surgical
    procedure)
  • Cost usually budget , but can be other cost
    indicators (eg cost per application processed)
  • Outcome Indicators
  • Changes in the environment/community directly or
    indirectly attributed to programmes (eg labour
    market absorption following implementation of
    training schemes).
  • Some indicators are population level (e.g.
    reduction in infant mortality rates).
  • Some assess impacts of services (e.g. successful
    job placement rate of trainees or disease rate of
    infants vaccinated).

27
Group Task 5 Test Your Performance Indicator
Quotient
  • In groups, place the letter next to each
    performance indicator, which best describes the
    type of performance measure it is.
  • Input Indicator
  • Output Indicator
  • Outcome Indicator (organisational or
    intermediate)
  • Outcome Indicator (community or population)
  • Some outcome indicators may relate to results
    achieved by an organization or service.
  • Other outcomes may relate to effects at the level
    of the population as a whole.

28
Test Your Performance Indicator Quotient
  • ____Percentage of social benefits applications
    processed and disbursed to applicants within 30
    business days of application.
  • ____Number of institutional or program audits
    completed each year.
  • ____Percentage of NGOs involved in social care
    activities licensed and accredited by government.
  • ____Percentage of working hours spent by social
    care workers in court proceedings.
  • ____Percentage of child abuse cases resulting in
    successful prosecution.
  • ____Number of reported sexual abuse victims per
    100,000 female population.
  • ____Percentage of staff completing training in
    targeted municipalities.
  • ____Percentage of children in temporary
    institutional care successfully returned to
    family care in calendar year.
  • ____Cost of institutional care per client/day.
  • ____Number of children in social care as a
    percentage of youth population (by age cohort).

29
Some of the Challenges Measuring Performance
  • Reliance on the use of output indicators alone,
    without development of outcome indicators.
  • Over-reliance on rules, norms or standards as
    indicators of performance.
  • Too many indicators or measuring too many things.
  • Measuring performance from the users point of
    view -- this means shifting governments
    viewpoint from inside out to outside in
    taking the citizens view of services when
    selecting indicators and deciding how to report
    on them.
  • Maintaining commitment to consistent and
    transparent performance reporting.

30
Possible Performance Indicators Euro Pizza
  • of customers who complete surveys with a
    satisfactory or above score.
  • Reduce average service cost per customer by 5
  • Increase average spend per customer by 10
  • of customer orders served within 15 minutes of
    order placement.
  • growth of repeat customers per week
  • of customers who rate quality of food and
    value for money as very good or excellent
    in weekly surveys.
  • Return on capital
  • Profit margin ( of revenue over total operating
    costs)

31
Dimensions of Performance
  • What is different about the last two performance
    indicators on the previous slide, compared to the
    rest?
  • Which indicators or performance would a customer
    of Euro Pizza be interested in?
  • Which indicators of performance would the owners
    of Euro Pizza be interested in?
  • Are these different types of performance
    indicators relevant for public services delivered
    by government agencies?

32
Group Task 6 Everyone Has Experience in
Measuring Performance!
  • Tasks
  • Group 1 -- the car company group -- will
    develop examples of performance indicators useful
    in assessing performance of a car manufacturer
    from the point of view of consumers as well as
    current and potential investors.
  • Group 2 -- the airline group will develop
    examples performance indicators for an airline
    useful from the point of view of travelers and
    government regulators.
  • Timeframe 30 minutes in groups and 20 minutes
    for presentation/discussion

33
Performance Management and Reporting Involves
  • Tools and processes
  • Performance planning format
  • Reporting process and templates
  • System for agreement targets to be set in
    relation to each indicator and,
  • Reporting results against established targets
    during and following implementation.
  • Reporting performance serves two purposes
  • Internal accountability and performance
    management (enabling senior officials and
    executives to monitor programme efficiency and
    effectiveness)
  • External accountability (enabling elected
    officials, key stakeholders and the public to
    monitor performance of government bodies).

34
Ideal Attributes of Performance Indicators and
Targets
  • Clear -- as simple as possible avoiding terms
    that the average person would not understand.
  • Cost Effective -- data should be worth
    collecting with little incremental cost to the
    organization.
  • Relevant -- measures should logically relate to
    the organization, programme or activities and
    help determine whether the programme or service
    objective/targets are being met.
  • Consistent -- the same indicators should be used
    over time so that data can be compared from
    fiscal year to fiscal year.
  • Practical -- performance data should be
    managerially useful and mutually accepted where
    an indicator is developed to assess
    accountability of a third party.
  • Verifiable -- data for should be accurate,
    recorded and auditable.
  • Honest -- data should be reported even it does
    not look good.
  • Linked to Budget -- Should include at least some
    financial information wherever possible. Unit
    cost or measures of cost effectiveness can be a
    very important measure in arguing future budget
    allocations.

35
Levels of Performance Measurement
  • Performance measurement can occur at various
    levels
  • Government-wide or population level which are
    usually concerned with policy outcomes.
  • Ministry level where typically the
    target/measurement is an indicator that of how a
    Ministry is fulfilling its mandate or business
    plan.
  • The organizational unit level within a Ministry
    where performance measurement focuses on more
    specific tasks and activities unique to each
    unit.
  • The individual level usually in the form of
    performance agreements or contracts assessing the
    results of an individuals work and is most often
    used at the senior management level.
  • The agency level where an independent agency
    may perform services devolved or delegated by a
    Ministry.

36
Group Task 7 Government Performance
Specification
  • Using one policy option from Task 4
  • Identify 3 performance indicators that could be
    used to monitor how effectively the policy is
    being implemented.
  • 2 performance indicators should deal with
    outputs
  • 1 performance indicator should deal with
    outcomes.

37
ANNEX 1 ADDITIONAL POLICY MATERIALS
38
Steps in Policy Development Implementation
Cycle
Policy Needs and Pressures (may arise from
external or internal sources)
Issues Identification (should focus on core
questions and context/background)
Implementation and Monitoring (which may include
more formal evaluation)
Policy development and implementation is a
cyclical activity
Analysis (may include consultation)
Political Decision-making and Direction (some
direction will require further analysis or
programme design before approval of
implementation)
Identification of Options and Implications (may
involve more than 1 level of options)
39
Policy Needs and Pressures
  • External needs/pressures are outside the direct
    control of government and have many sources
    including, but not limited to the economy
    environment legal/constitutional events
    stakeholder or political advocacy international
    events, etc.
  • Internal needs/pressures also have many possible
    sources, although are somewhat more directly
    controlled by government. Major examples are
    revenue and budget performance or effectiveness
    of current government policies or programmes
    results of planning and priority setting
    exercises electoral commitments etc.
  • Understanding the drivers behind a policy need is
    important in order to determine the extent to
    which the options and alternatives being
    developed will address the needs and pressures
    facing the government.

40
Issues Identification
  • Issues identification is an early and crucial
    step in the policy process. It is essentially
    about focusing attention and effort on the right
    questions and laying out an approach to work.
  • Four steps are typical
  • Identifying the core questions the policy
    activity should seek to answer
  • Identifying the audience of and participants in
    the policy work
  • Determining the product or products needed (there
    may be several and sometimes a critical path and
    work plan are useful)
  • Understanding and describing the context and
    background.

41
Methodology considerations
42
KEY ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS
THE POLICY ISSUE
THE POLICY CONTEXT
RESEARCH
REPORTING/ ADVICE
ANALYSIS
ASSESSMENT
THE POLICY IN EFEECT
THE POLICY OPTIONS
CONSULTATION
43
What Do Costs Potentially Involve?
  • State Budget/Public Funds and Private
  • e.g. a new pension policies which may have a
    public expense (to the state government as
    employer) and private expense on all non-state
    employers.
  • Direct and Indirect
  • direct costs are clearly attributed to an
    activity (e.g. new staff) indirect costs are
    less clearly attributed (e.g. shared overhead or
    administrative expenditures).
  • Explicit and Implicit
  • explicit costs are expenditures associated with
    a new Ministry programme implicit costs appear
    if the Ministry forgoes use of funds for other
    alternative programmes.
  • Initial and Recurring Expenses
  • initial costs are expenditures (especially
    capital) associated with setting up (or
    start-up) of a new programme recurring costs
    are those which appear in future years as ongoing
    operational expenditures.
  • Fixed and Variable
  • fixed costs are expenditures that are constant
    (e.g. staff salaries for a hospital) variable
    costs are expenditures which fluctuate based on
    service levels (e.g. drugs, food).

44
What Do Benefits Potentially Involve?
  • Direct and Indirect
  • direct benefits (e.g. lower unemployment
    benefit payments to trainees who have found
    jobs) indirect benefits (e.g. increases in
    tax revenue or GDP as a result of employment
    growth).
  • One-time and Continuous
  • one-time benefits occur at a specific point in
    time such (e.g. construction jobs associated with
    a new hospital) continuous benefits are on
    going (e.g. increase in available health services
    or of beds).
  • Intended and Unintended
  • intended benefits related to the targeted
    beneficiary (e.g. the unemployed in a training
    programme who are subsequently placed in
    full-time jobs an unintended benefit could be
    an increase in employment opportunities for
    special groups such as women, youth or the
    disabled if none of these groups were explicitly
    targeted by the programme.
  • Tangible and Intangible/Financial and
    Non-financial
  • tangible benefits are those which are
    quantifiable such as more tax revenue or less
    unemployment benefit payments non-tangible
    benefits are less easily measured such as
    improvements in the social environment in Armenia
    if more people are working.
  • Positive and Negative
  • a positive benefit such as improvements in
    pension benefits through an increase in social
    tax can be offset by a negative benefit (e.g.
    shadow economic activities if employers try to
    hide wages to offset higher tax payments).

45
Difficulties and Constraints
  • Not all benefits are easily quantifiable the
    goal during the policy analysis stage is to
    enable comparison of choices and shed light on
    effects.
  • Incomplete or unreliable statistics can lead to
    policy decisions that are based on incorrect
    analysis, leading to implementation problems
    and/or unintended outcomes.
  • Comprehensiveness of cost analysis varies based
    on the issue, type of policy product, time
    available, degree to which methodology is worth
    the investment in time and money.
  • Capacity and tools -- Staff require training to
    properly use most economic and financial analysis
    tools. Some tools require in depth or independent
    research, increasing the time and costs involved.

46
Framing Policy Options
  • Options describe the key choices available to
    Ministers based on analysis and illustrate the
    distinctions and consequences of each choice.
  • Sometimes more than one level or layer of options
    will be required (called nested options). For
    example, selection of Option A (e.g. increase
    the minimum wage by x), may require further
    choices among A1, A2 etc (e.g. whether to
    approve variations in wages or specific
    exemptions for youth, hospitality workers, etc,).
  • In presenting policy options, many approaches are
    possible but the most common are
  • Summarize each option and its associated
    implications, followed by a recommendation
  • Present a recommendation and description of
    associated implications, followed by other
    options considered with associated implications
    for each
  • Summarize options and implications only making
    no recommendation.
  • There is no best approach and each requires the
    same accurate and clear presentation of facts and
    opinion.

47
Summarizing Implications
  • Options are about outlining political choices
    summarizing implications is about revealing the
    potential effects or consequences associated with
    each choice.
  • Summarizing implications is challenging and
    extremely important it involves synthesizing
    and presenting a combination of factual
    information and opinion (sometimes uninformed
    opinion).
  • Facts (e.g. costs, legal status, position of
    various stakeholders) are easy to present, but
    the trick is to select only those most relevant
    to the decision.
  • Opinions are far more difficult to present
    because they can be highly subjective, if not
    speculative, and may involve presenting views not
    shared by the policy analyst.
  • The two most common approaches to summarizing
    policy implications are
  • Listing pros and cons or advantages and
    disadvantages
  • Providing a narrative description that describes
    the above
  • The former has some advantages over the latter
    information is easier to compare, which is useful
    when there are several options presented it is
    also better suited to presentation format which
    helps keep the number of words to a minimum.

48
Implementing Political Direction
1. A policy proposal is prepared by a Ministry,
which leads to . . .
3. That takes one (or more) of the following
forms . . .
A General Government Position on an Issue
Declaratory Legislation and Regulations/Decrees

Administrative Legislation and
Regulations/Decrees
2. A Government Policy Decision
A New Government Service or Programme
Changes to an Existing Government Service or
Programme
49
ANNEX 2 ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
50
Policy Delivery Involves Three Closely Related,
But Different, Elements
  • Implementation of policy for example the
    introduction of a cancer screening service or a
    literacy programme
  • Achievement of targets for example an objective
    for waiting lists or exam results
  • Achievement of better outcomes for example
    lower mortality or better employability

51
Cost Indicators
  • When costs are attributed to outputs then the
    cost (and potentially the comparative efficiency)
    of delivering the good or service is quite
    transparent. This can be true in terms of both
    total costs and unit costs.
  • e.g. if the total cost of processing benefit
    applications is 400,000AMD and there are 20,000
    benefit applications being processed than the
    unit cost of each benefit application is 20AMD.
    However for this to be meaningful
  • All of the costs of benefit processing must be
    attributed to the output.
  • The non financial information (how many
    applications are being processed) must be
    available.
  • The benefit applications being processed must be
    relatively homogeneous

52
Quantity Indicators
  • Quantity is the fundamental measure of how much
    of the good or service is being purchased. In
    many cases this can be expressed as a simple
    arithmetic number. E.g.
  • 25,000 benefit applications will be processed
    over the year ended 31 December 2005.
  • At other situations (e.g. policy advice) it may
    be expressed as a requirement
  • Policy advice will be provided as and when
    required by the Minister.
  • In these latter situations the quality and
    timeliness dimensions are usually much more
    important than quantity.

53
Quality Indicators
  • Quality is an important dimension of any output.
    We not only want to buy a good or service but we
    also want to get it to the requisite quality e.g.
    we would not want to buy a fridge that did not
    keep things cold! In public sector goods or
    services Quality can be expressed in a number of
    ways.
  • In many processes such as benefit processing or
    tax processing it can be expressed as a measure
    of accuracy e.g. 90 of all tax returns processed
    will be correctly assessed for tax.
  • In areas like policy or statistical analysis it
    can be expressed in terms of meeting standards
    for clarity, accuracy and coverage that will be
    set by the Minister.
  • In cases where there are goods and services
    provided directly to the public it can be
    expressed as a percentage of the citizens who use
    the service who are satisfied with it (this can
    be measured by surveys/questionnaires).
  • In items like infrastructural assets like bridges
    or roads it can be expressed in terms of meeting
    physical quality standards.

54
Quality Indicators
  • However it is expressed quality is often one of
    the trade-offs against cost. While we may all
    want to produce goods and services to the best
    quality there may well be limits imposed by
    funding constraints. This can mean that quality
    standards need to revised so that the coat is
    cut to match the cloth
  • We may accept a higher degree of first time error
    in processing applications say 80 being fully
    accurate instead of 90.
  • We may set lower standards for the quality of
    analysis.
  • We may accept that less of the public will be
    satisfied with the service.
  • We may not meet all construction standards where
    this is not essential (although this is a very
    risky approach).
  • However there are other tradeoffs too.
  • We may have less of the good or service (reduce
    quantity)
  • We may accept slower delivery (reduce
    timeliness).
  • We may pay more. i.e. increase the funding of the
    relevant SBA programme.

55
Quality - Timeliness
  • Timeliness is another dimension of quality.
    Generally it is expressed as a period within
    which the good or service will be delivered. E.g.
  • 95 of benefit applications will be processed
    within five working days of receipt.
  • 5 of benefit applications will be processed
    within ten working days of receipt.
  • OR it may be expressed as a single measure that
    will apply to all activities such as
  • All benefit applications will be processed within
    fourteen working days of receipt.

56
Possible Levels of Performance Indicators and
Targets
  • Government-wide or Population
  • Typically involves jurisdiction-wide policy
    targets and indicators such as a reduction in
    crime rates, an increase in household income or a
    lowering of unemployment, etc.
  • Government-wide or population outcomes often
    involve cross-departmental activities (e.g. an
    increase in success rate of small business
    start-ups may depend on the actions of several
    different government departments).
  • Local/municipal
  • Typically involves a mix of policy and programme
    targets/indicators related exclusively to the
    activities of a specific local function (e.g.
    number of displaced families assisted, speed with
    which various applications are processed etc.)
  • Output indicators are considerably easier to deal
    with than outcomes but may provide little or no
    information on the quality of programmes or
    services.

57
Possible Levels of Performance Indicators and
Targets
  • Organizational Unit
  • Typically involves key performance targets and
    indicators within an organizational unit and may
    vary widely depending on the unit. For example,
    a finance or internal administration unit would
    have very different performance indicators and
    targets than a social care unit.
  • Over-reliance on quantitative outputs, complex
    ratings and formulas or highly subjective
    criteria can easily obscure real performance.
  • Individual
  • Typically involves specific performance targets
    and indicators relevant to the key tasks and
    activities of a specific individual.
  • Many governments focus on executive and
    management levels, tying results achieved with
    remuneration, bonuses or employment contract
    renewal.
  • Complementary activities are needed for
    individual performance accountability to be
    effective, such as ongoing monitoring and
    oversight of implementation to ensure uniformity
    and consistency, training, effective leadership,
    coaching and mentoring, etc.

58
Review of Performance Concepts
Objectives or outcomes What the government
wants to implement for the public
Outputs Services provided or bought for the
external beneficiaries by the SBA
Activities - the processes that are implemented
during delivering the outputs (and for delivery
of outputs )
Inputs the resources, which are used for the
provision of outputs
Costs the resources, which are used for input
financing
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com