An Example Of A Government Performance Management Model

An Example Of A Government Performance Management Model

Cognos.com Tip: Governmental bodies and executive branch agencies and departments are energetic users of government performance management software technologies. Applying the constructs and concepts of BI to the government model is straightforward and compelling.

Imagine a military aviation development program for an innovative surveillance system to be used on a tactical aircraft or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). The decision maker is the development program manager and is responsible for technical development, cost, schedule and integration. His team is comprised of government program and technology experts, cost analysts, component project managers, and assorted industry contractors and manufacturers. For the purposes of this summary, all decision processes are assumed to be internal.

During such a development effort, the program manager will be required to make any number of important decisions that depend on answers to these fundamental questions about the project:

• How are we doing and where do we stand?
• Why are we at that state?
• What else should we be doing?
  The answers are at the heart of performance management. The core capabilities of the government performance management model - scorecarding, reporting, analysis, budgeting, and planning – just as in the corporate world, provide the information needed to answer these questions in the most efficient manner.

If you're considering government performance management technology, check out the Cognos 8 system. It employs a comprehensive performance comparison capability that integrates scorecarding, business intelligence and planning technologies. Using the Cognos system, the government performance program manager gathers information for decision-making in four typical areas:

·Link plan targets to scorecards: In the planning process performed in the early stages of the development effort, key performance targets - possibly defined through Cognos Planning – were developed and can be converted into scorecards. With such planning, the metrics that guide future development tasks are set; with scorecarding, the manager measures progress towards goals determined from established and specified goals.

·Reporting on plans and budgets: Since many government and industry participants are stakeholders in the development project, the analysis and reporting against planning data sources and published plans from government repositories, as well as those submitted by contract from outside of the government.

·Event management for planning and budgeting: The alerts needed to manage the continuous planning and adaptive control processes. Events for the planning workflow are defined and if a critical value crosses a threshold (e.g., a phase development sub-plan is ready for review), the appropriate owner can be notified and respond.

·Data for plans and forecasts: The automated system provides a comprehensive view of operational and transaction information. The decision maker uses this data to populate planning and forecasting models. By using current operational data, a more accurate, forward-looking plan is maintained, and adjusted with day-to-day status reports.