Guest Blog from Scott Gordy - Performance Measures

Performance Measures at the Institute for Public Service

For as long as I have been at the Institute for Public Service, almost 10 years now, “performance measures” has been a part of the vocabulary used within the Institute.

Having been personally involved with the collection and aggregation of performance measures for most of those years, it has been interesting to observe the transformation of this information in terms of how it is collected and reported.

Historically, it has been the responsibility of each agency to collect, aggregate, and distribute the performance information. Additionally, because of the need to report to stakeholders, such as state and federal legislators who fund our agencies, the information was typically broken down by Tennessee county into an Excel spreadsheet and returned to Central Office. This information was then, once again aggregated and consolidated for presentation to stakeholders with an interest in the Institute and all of its agencies.

Having said all this, the question remains “How is this information used?” I know this is a question posed by staff within the Institute because I have heard it posed by a number of my colleagues.

Furthermore, I would answer the question by saying it is used to describe the cause and work of the Institute to internal and external stakeholders. If you don’t believe me visit the IPS website at http://www.ips.tennessee.edu/ and click on the About Us link. In the right hand column you will find some quick links. Take some time look at the “Annual Reports” and look at the “Solutions for Your Community”.

The information contained therein is all comprised from the information that is gathered as a result of Performance Measures and the various Management Information Systems across the agencies.

What has been lacking until recently is a way to, in a timely manner, consolidate the information into a single repository in such a way that it is useful. Historically, consolidating the information happened once a year at the close of each fiscal year and there is a mad rush to get everything updated.

Sample Report for FY10, Loudon County

Now, the information contained within each of the respective MIS systems is uploaded once a month to a centralized repository. This fact has two primary advantages: 1) the information is available throughout the year for review and 2) less rush and stress to collect the information at the end of the fiscal year.
Also, with the MIS numeric data, project and activity descriptions are uploaded providing the additional information necessary for the Institute to send the message of our activities across the state and across the nation.

You have access to view the information throughout the year, and can see just how the work you do has an impact across the state and nation. Visit http://performance.ips.tennessee.edu/