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Improve Your Steering with Dashboard Reports

2006 National Environmental Partnership Summit Breakout Session: Creating Positive Change: Tools and Techniques for Driving Environmental Stewardship Tuesday, May 9, 2006 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Tiffin ShewmakePRIZIM, Inc.

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NO GAS GAUGE. . .

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DON’T DRIVE LIKE MY MOTHER

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DON’T FLY (OR MANAGE)

Without the right information

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DASHBOARD REPORT

• Short report, typically one or two pages

• Designed for management

• Uses graphics and color to present key indicators

• Produced on a frequent or regular basis

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1978 article in the Harvard Business Review “Graphic Shorthand as an Aid to Managers."

BUSINESS DASHBOARD

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DASHBOARDS CAN BE:

Paper reports Interface for a computer system

For public communication

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Most reports are not designed for managers• Too long• Essential information buried in background data• Format makes it hard to see trends and spot problems• Too infrequent

WHAT! ANOTHER REPORT?

Dashboard Reports are• Designed specifically for managers• Short, easy to understand quickly• Format helps highlight trends and potential problems• Frequent enough to support decision making

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USING DASHBOARD REPORTS

• Evaluate progress towards goals• See if the trends are positive or negative• Stay informed about the status of priority areas• Identify potential problems• Raise questions that need further analysis or

information• Track efficiency and resources• Shift resources to achieve the best results

Most valuable when actively used to evaluate and manage programs

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USING DASHBOARD REPORTS

Compstat Approach

• Pioneered by the NYC Police Department• Data-centric, meetings revolve around the data to

identify, track and solve problems• Adopted by many other agencies• Washington State, including the Department of

Ecology, uses a variation--Government Management Accountability and Performance or GMAP

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A dashboard report has three main elements

• Indicators• Capture progress towards the program’s goals• Characterize the program’s operations• Usually a mix of outcomes (what was achieved)

and outputs (what was done)

• Context• Information to help you understand the meaning

of the indicators• Goals, health standards, staffing or budget data,

size of the regulatory universe

• Format• How the data is displayed

DASHBOARD ELEMENTS

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DASHBOARD ELEMENTS

Compliance Rate - Indicator

96%

97%

97%

98%

98%

99%

99%

100%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Compliance Rate - Format

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Compliance Rate - Context

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Compliance Rate

Inspection rate

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INDICATORS

• You tend to get what you measure

• If you reward police for writing speeding tickets what do you get more tickets or reduced speeding?

• Important to include outcomes• Include environmental measures• Also need to track of activities

Indicators should reflect the program’s mission, goals, and priorities

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INDICATORS

• Ambient measures—air and water quality• Impact on Habitat – impervious surface, protected

areas• Wildlife• Invasive species

Direct environmental indicators are important because they help keep your focus on your ultimate

mission—protecting the environment

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INDICATORS

Net and troll catch of Chinook Salmon

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INDICATORS

• Not provide feedback quickly enough • Cause and effect hard to track• Monitoring may not be extensive or timely enough • Agency or program does not control all the variables• One solution is to use indirect environmental

indicators such as emissions and waste volumes.

Understanding environmental problems, especially if combined with measures of programmatic goals, can help show where new solutions are needed or

highlight the need for more resources.

Direct environmental indicators don’t provide all of the information you need

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INDICATORS

Activity or Outputs

• Need to measure program activities and results • Should reflect priorities (example permit backlogs)• Understand where program resources are allocated• Used in addition to environmental measures

Number of School Buses/Public Engines Retrofitted

5503581 5000

72509500 9500

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

Year

Bus

es/E

ngin

es R

etro

fitte

d w

/ cur

rent

$

Buses/Engines Retrofitted w / current $ Total Fleet

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CONTEXT

• Goals show what you are trying to achieve• Trends show if you are getting to your goal• Dimension or relative size of program

Context is information that helps make sense of the indicators

Restoration Goal185,000 acres by 2010

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Adding context to environmental and programmatic measures should tell the story of the program

Graphics from the 2003 Annual Ocean and Bay Water Quality Report County of Orange, Health Care Agency, Environmental Health’s Ocean Water Protection Program

CONTEXT

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INFORMATION TO HELP FIND THE PROBLEM

Graphics from the 2003 Annual Ocean and Bay Water Quality Report County of Orange, Health Care Agency, Environmental Health’s Ocean Water Protection Program

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PRESENTATION

• Design graphs based on • The purpose• The target audience

• The graph needs to fit the data • Be careful of using gauges• Too many data elements makes it hard to understand• Scale can obscure the meaning of the data• Use color to add meaning• Use text to add meaning

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Select the right time span and make sure that the scale works for the data

PRESENTATION

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CHARTJUNK

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Time span?

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Good dashboard indicator?

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INDICATORS

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency -- Environmental Information Report

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Trend?Context?

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Environmental Measures

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Time SpanRaises Questions

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Remember– don’t drive like my mother. Use information to help

steer your program, achieve your goals and protect the

environment.