120 likes | 232 Views
National Center for Civic Involvement (NCCI) Grant Advisory Council on Citizen-Friendly Reporting. Last Meeting! August 30, 2005. Grant Received March 2004. Purpose : improve the state’s effectiveness in informing the public about agency performance
E N D
National Center for Civic Involvement (NCCI) Grant Advisory Council on Citizen-Friendly Reporting Last Meeting! August 30, 2005
Grant Received March 2004 • Purpose: improve the state’s effectiveness in informing the public about agency performance • Focus: current performance measure system plus three specific agency projects: • Product: a report to the Progress Board for use in refining 2007-09 budget instructions for performance measurement • Advisory Committee: to provide critical citizen perspective and reality check (8 members)
Meetings in a nutshell • July 2004 • Orientation • Sept 2004 • National criteria for performance reporting • Real time feedback to four volunteer agencies on their annual performance reports* • Oct 2004 • Feedback to Governor’s Chief of Staff on Principles Budget
Meetings in a nutshell, continued • Jan 2005 • Feedback on how to get public interested in newly posted performance reports* • Feedback on customer service guidance* • March 2005 • Update on agency projects • Evaluation options • April 2005 • Update on agency projects • Evaluation plan from HSRI
Getting it over the finish line • September • HSRI presentation of findings to Progress Board at September 20th meeting • October • 1st draft report to you for review • 2nd draft - small review group • November • Final to Progress Board for approval • Final quarterly report to NCCI
Remaining agenda for today • HSRI agency evaluation findings • Discussion of what else should go into your final report, considering • Live feedback to four volunteer agencies’ annual reports* • Feedback on how to get public interested in newly posted performance reports* • Feedback on customer service guidance*
Feedback on agency annual reports (Meeting #2, September 2004) • Readability: proof; keep it at 8th grade level – brief sentences, summarize; provide links or glossary to more detail; use bullet points and TOC with page #s • Data: check accuracy; make as current as possible; explain how data are collected; if not available, explain how you are going to get it • Use peer review • Be as blunt as politically feasible • Discuss what you have actually done (past vs. future) • Add questions about barriers/facilitators to achieving the target; are performance measures dependent on outside factors? • Show legislatively mandated measures impacting local governments • Show financial summary and person hours involved in writing the reports
Feedback on how to get public interested in annual reports online(Meeting #4, January 2005) • Does press only want the bad stuff? #2 • Reports are “ho-hummers” but when packaged with specific examples in aggregate, it may sell to reporters. #2 • Food stamp measure – could be interpreted as careless increase of government dole. (Note - hunger is a priority for this governor.) • Get a reporter to help create a contest and send around the state, asking readers to say what is most impressive/interesting • Tie Oregon Benchmarks to election issues. • Several audiences: legislators, public, and agencies. Limited resources to repackage for different audiences, forcing reports to be all things to all audiences.
Feedback on customer service reporting - 10 line format (Meeting #4, January 2005) • Mixed opinion on TMI. Predominantly, yes, too much information. • Keep percents and lose the average rating. It is less accurate, but more easily understood. • Layered approach is the goal, where people can drill down to more information if desired.
Oregon’s guidelines for performance measures Reports should include: • Purpose and scope • Goals and objectives √ (OR criterion) • Citizen involvement • Multiple levels of reporting √ (external vs. internal) • Analysis of results/challenges √ (annual reports) • Focus on key measures √ (OR criterion) • Reliable information √ (OR criterion) • Relevant measures √ (OR criterion) • Resources used and efficiency √ (OR criterion)
Oregon’s guidelines for performance measures (continued) Reports should include (cont.): • Citizen and customer perceptions √ (new) • Comparisons √ (OR criterion) • Factors affecting results √(OR criterion) • Aggregation and disaggregation • Consistency √ (change process) • User friendliness • Regular and timely reporting √ (biennial)
Questions • How can we better inform the public about agency performance? • How can we get citizens to pay attention? • Should government work to get citizens to pay attention?