Government Performance and Results

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Chapter 3

Other Essential

Best Practices

Overview

e guts of a performance report consist of its performance metrics—the goals and

measures. A report that falls short here will have little value no matter how good its

additional content. At the same time, however, good performance metrics alone do

not guarantee a good report. is chapter describes other attributes that are impor-

tant to achieving effective performance reporting.

Two of these are self-evident: accessibility and readability. Since we are deal-

ing with reporting to the public, it is essential that members of the public can

easily locate, navigate, and understand the report. A report with outstanding

substantive content is wasted in terms of the general public if ordinary citi-

zens cannot find it or make sense of it. Equally important, the report must be

supported by adequate, credible data. Additionally, reports should go beyond

simply reciting performance results. e better reports candidly analyze the

organization’s results, particularly performance shortfalls, and explain improve-

ment strategies. Doing so indicates that the organization is not just reporting

for reporting’s sake but actually uses the report’s data to influence and improve

its performance.

Reports also should link budget costs to performance results. e ultimate

objective of such linkages is to provide a solid basis for performance-based budget-

ing. In other words, what level of performance results can be achieved for what

60  ◾  Government Performance and Results

level of investment? While performance–cost linkage is still in its early stages at

the federal level, some agencies have begun to develop potential best practices in

this area.

Finally, analyzing performance results and developing improvement strate-

gies are not limited to an organization’s program performance. Large public orga-

nizations face significant management challenges that can adversely affect their

ability to accomplish their missions or leave them vulnerable to fraud, waste, and

abuse. is is certainly true of federal government agencies. For example, the U.S.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified 30 high-risk areas across

the federal government that present major economy, efficiency, or effectiveness

challenges (GAO 2009a, 1–3). Some of these areas represent government-wide

problems such as human capital management and information systems security;

others are agency specific. Additionally, federal agency inspectors general identify

serious management challenges at their agencies each year. Given the importance

of such problems, federal agency performance reports are required by law to address

major management challenges (31 USC 3516(d)).

is chapter discusses each of the aspects of performance reporting men-

tioned above.

Accessibility

Access to performance information is critical because public accountability can

only be achieved if members of the public are actually able find out what benefits an

organization provides. e organization’s performance report should be easily avail-

able to the public, other stakeholders, and the media. Ideally, this means that the

home page of the organization’s web site displays a link clearly guiding the reader

to the most recent report. If one has to be an expert on performance management,

the organization’s internal structure, or the structure of the organization’s web site

to locate the report, the spirit of accountability to the public is not satisfied. If the

report is lengthy (as most federal agency reports are), it should be divided into sec-

tions for more convenient reading and downloading. Making the report available

in multiple formats is also desirable since readers’ needs vary and each format has

its advantages and disadvantages (e.g., ease of printing, searching, etc.). Finally, the

organization should include contact information so that people can mail, phone, or

email questions, comments, or requests for a hard copy of the report.

Over the ten years that we reviewed federal agency performance reports, acces-

sibility proved to be one of the areas of greatest improvement. For the first round of

reports we reviewed, covering fiscal year 1999, only four of the 24 agencies posted

their reports online in a way that clearly identified the document as the annual

performance report and made it easy to find. For fiscal year 2008 (and indeed

for several preceding years), almost all agencies posted reports in a timely fashion

online, creating a direct home page link to the report, permitting downloads in