Case Studies in
Performance
Management
Tales of Trepidation and Valor
Jay Moynihan, Shawano County
Mary Kluz, Marathon County
August 17, 2010
A tale of two counties…
Shawano County & Outcome Based
Management & Budgeting
An Exercise in friction*
My experience so far with Outcome Based
Management & Budgeting…



•
How it started
What I did
What happened (or did not happen)
“The force that makes the apparently easy so difficult.”
Carl von Clausewitz
Start
In late 2006 the Administrative Coordinator and I
began discussing educational possibilities
regarding public finance and management.
He was curious about “performance based
budgeting”.
Start
I did some research, talked to the folks at the
Local Government Center…..
And came up with County Governance element
for my 2007 Plan of Work.
Part of that programming turned into “Outcome
Based Management & Budgeting”…
In my county financial management and
budgeting is a
“Wicked Problem”
The concept of "wicked problems“
was proposed by Horst Rittel
University of California, Berkeley
Rittel, H., and M. Webber; "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning“
Policy Sciences, Vol. 4, pp 155-169 (1973)
When is a problem “Wicked” ?




The problem is not understood until after formulation
of a solution.
Stakeholders have radically different world views
and different frames for understanding the problem.
Constraints and resources to solve the problem
change over time.
The problem is never solved.
The Admin. Coordinator & the Finance
Director recommended starting with the
department heads as an audience.
With the assistance of Alan Probst (who was
working on the first versions of his materials on
PBB/PBM at the time), I developed some
presentation and reference materials.
Did a morning-long
workshop for department
heads on July 27, 2007.
Outcomes
We start and finish with outcomes. Results matter.
In many respects, outcomes drive the
performance measurement system. In order to
clearly define your outcomes or desired results,
first determine why you do what you do, and next
determine how your particular agency program or
service benefits your customers and what value it
provides them?
Post workshop
End outcomes are predicated on
surveys
showed a wide level of
two vital components:
1) Outcome goals (benefits) interest, but a strong hesitancy
2) Outcome performance measures
to buy in, and a lot of it-willnever-work-here…
From Fairfax county Virginia training manual
Outcomes:
the direct results or benefits for citizens.
Next:
We put on a workshop featuring the
Administrator of Eau Claire County & and one
the county department heads-----Actually he picked the Extension head to bring
along, since they where an early test group…
Eau Claire County was at that time about 5
years into a slowwwwwwwww
implementation of performance based
budgeting.
Our Admin Coordinator and Department heads
decided to start with a couple volunteer
departments…
Volunteers did not rush forward……
We are into 2008, now………..
One department may be interested, its director
is interested in outcome based tools……
But then, a presentation for the county’s
Administration Committee
Committee:
Ok to spend time on it, with
departments, if it does not
interfere with their duties.
Friction
 Summer 2008, a period of significant
discord between some key people in the
government.

No Champion on board or staff

Admin coordinator….it is a weaker
position than an exec or administrator
X
Friction
X X
Landscape features:
• A large county board (30) (higher complexity)
• Strong influence lines between home
committees/departments (complexity)
• Strong desire by many supervisors to maintain
decision making on non-policy details
And then in later 2008…
In mid 2008……………Recession
From: http://timinglogic.blogspot.com/2010/04/geithner-wall-streets-primary-regulator.html
Some of what I learned…



A lot about local “ground effect” and
friction patterns.
I need perhaps to spend more time on
education about why a government may
want to plan and other governance
matters….?
In the absence of a strategic plan or the
desire to do one, really try to do that in
a department, then OBMB in there, to
create an example?
Outcome
Measurement in
Marathon County
What is our
Return on Public Investment?
MIDWEST GOVERNMENT
PERFORMANCE CONFERENCE
October 2007
Presenters…
A couple of Marathon County deputies
Brad Karger
Deputy County Administrator
Nicole DeBettignies
Deputy Social Services Director
Why measure outcomes?
Because…
 We increase our chances of achieving our
goals.
 The outcome data tells us how we are doing.
 Taxpayers are demanding RESULTS.
 Builds faith in government.
 Budget proposals need justification.
 It leads to informed decision making.
Factors Leading to Outcome
Measurement in Marathon County




Conversation between administrator and staff
member about water quality in the Rib River
Watershed.
Marathon County United Way’s change from
program allocations to community
investments.
Formation of a staff leadership team with the
goal of developing a data base to strengthen
County programs.
Federal Government Accountability Act.
How has Marathon County
benefited from measuring
outcomes:

Increasing service effectiveness
(strengthening our programs)

Communicating program value
Outcome Measurement
Oversight Team
Mission: To provide leadership for creating an
outcome measurement process. This will
enhance decision-making, accountability and
continuous improvement of our public
services.
Oversight Team Members

Qualifications: A genuine commitment to
the mission of the team, the willingness to
serve up to four hours per month for a twoyear period. Permanent membership will
come from the three largest departments and
the Finance Department. New members will
be expected to complete an educational
program on outcome measurement,
approximately four hours in length.
Oversight Team Activities
continued…
In summary, the team’s purpose is to:


Support organizational learning
Encourage program improvement
Factors contributing to success


Commitment by an influential champion
Communicating an understanding of



how this piece fits into the broader environment
How the organization benefits from the effort
A willingness to play with ideas
Leadership Philosophy of
Alignment






Mission: Why we exist.
Vision: Description of future success.
Core Values: What we believe in.
Strategy: The pathway to achieving
organizational success.
Leadership: People relied upon to set
direction.
Structure: Reporting relationships, systems
designed to support operations.
Outcome Measurement can be a
tool to answer the question:
SO WHAT?
Another way to think about that question
is:
“Return on Public Investment”
Logic Model Template
Department/Program Name:
Contact Name:
Brief program description:
Mission:
Program customer:
Inputs
resources
Activities
actions
Outputs
count
Initial
Outcomes
learning
Intermediate
Outcomes
action
Long-term
Outcomes
community
benefit
County
Board’s
overarching
goals
What we do
What customers do
A WILLINGNESS TO PLAY
WITH IDEAS
Translation: we are making this up as we go along
Measurement Plan Template:
educational tool, used one year
MEASUREMENT PLAN SUMMARY
The following is a format for submission of your measurement system. For the first year of measuring
outcomes please choose one outcome to measure. We are requesting a plan for measurement, not the
resulting data.
(Chosen outcome restated from logic model)
1. indicator #1: By (date), (target)
a.Data source: (state which audience will receive the measurement tool and what kind of tool will
be used)
b.[Data source: (you may choose to use more than one source, record any others)]
2. indicator #2: you may state another indicator which provides evidence that the outcome is happening.
Format any additional indicators the same as above for indicator #1.
Measuring this will help strengthen this program by ___________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Reporting Template:
educational tool, used several years
Outcome Measurement Report
Department/Year
Program Information:
Program Outcome:
Expected indicators:
Outcomes achieved:
What did you learn about your program based on this outcome?
What will you do with the outcome information and will you make any changes
to the program?
Example of Logic Model: June 2010
Who we are /
What we do:
what we invest:
Sheriff’s Dept
Educate and
enforce
learning
Highway Dept
Understand
Seek more
permit process permits
Educate and
permit
Conservation
Educate and
Planning, Zoning consult
action
Understand
Fewer
consequences violations
Learn about
alternative
practices
Change
practices
Community
benefit
Marathon
County
maintains a
safe and
reasonable
standard of
transportation
infrastructure.
Can you see the usefulness of
using a logic model to think
about the value of a program?


Strengthening program
Communicating value
Is it clear why we might want to
expand our view to include
outcomes?
(We are promoting an expanded view of
County programs which includes outcomes -not a view that ignores inputs, activities and
outputs. All are important and need to be
monitored.)
Administration’s intention to
use outcome data to…






Respond to public’s demand for accountability.
Trigger corrective action.
Motivate staff; use as basis for ‘how are we doing”
meetings; reward high performing offices or
employees.
Help in planning and budget decision making.
Communicate better with the public, build public
trust.
Improve organizational performance.
Lessons learned on the
journey . . . .
A few references
Marathon County’s mission & vision

http://www.co.marathon.wi.us/organizational
excellence.asp
Marathon County 2010 budget

http://www.co.marathon.wi.us/is/mcf/pdf/final
2010budgetbook.pdf
Urban Institute outcome indicators project

http://www.urban.org/center/cnp/projects/out
comeindicators.cfm
National Performance Management Advisory Commission

http://www.pmcommission.org/APerformance
ManagementFramework.pdf