Dallas Center for Performance Excellence (CPE) Executive Summary

Publication Date: January 8, 2015

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The Center for Performance Excellence (CPE) is a continuous improvement initiative commissioned by the City Manager, AC Gonzalez, in 2014.

The work undertaken by the Center for Performance Excellence supports the City of Dallas’ overall mission: To enhance the vitality and quality of life for all in the Dallas Community as we work to achieve the organization’s vision: The City That Works: Diverse, Vibrant, and Progressive.

The Center for Performance Excellence exists to:

• Facilitate best-in-class levels of performance across the City of Dallas organization through an integrated systems approach that achieves results. Toward this end, CPE will serve as a tool for understanding and managing performance and for guiding planning and opportunities for learning.

• Identify and share best local government management research and improvement practices across the region, state and nation. This effort involves facilitating communication and sharing of information on best practices among U.S. organizations of all types.

In order to accomplish our stated purpose, the Center for Performance Excellence will build on past and current successes by:

• Fostering synergy through collaboration, rather than segments or siloes of internal efforts

• Infusing new thoughts and ideas borrowed from private business and industry • “Daylighting” and sharing of innovations and best practices via use of a public-private

advisory board

The Center will also serve as a tool for connecting employees to the organization’s mission, vision and values.

The Center for Performance Excellence Components

The Center for Performance Excellence is comprised of multiple tools that operate in direct and indirect relationships. Direct components are “hard wired” programs and staff members charged with carrying out the mission of the Center through their day-to-day work assignments. Indirect components collaborate with the Center serving as partners who support the Center’s overall objectives.

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Direct Components

Quality Management Services – Since 2006, the City of Dallas has subscribed to the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001:2008. Implementation of standards has proven to enhance the quality of products and services, reduce costs and improve customer service. ISO 9001 implements a Quality Management System (QMS) that improves the efficiency, quality and consistency of services. This process provides written instructions to guide daily operations. Written procedures are designed to produce consistent delivery of services for our residents, businesses and visitors. This process also identifies defects in and encourages revisions to processes to prevent recurrences. This international standard places the City of Dallas in a league with other organizations that are committed to service excellence. ISO is internationally recognized as the most prestigious set of management standards for organizations.

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As part of the Center for Performance Excellence, Quality Management works in coordination with City departments and management teams as they direct and facilitate the implementation of ISO 9001 to develop measurable objectives, set and implement data collection systems and develop an effective management review process to report on these objectives. Departments learn how to take corrective and/or preventive actions and train for and assist with conducting internal audits to ensure compliance with standards. The Quality Management Team works closely with department employees to evaluate current practices and establish standardized procedures, work instructions, and forms needed to comply with the ISO 9001 standard. Further, they guide the development of process flow charts and document critical processes to determine compliance and areas for improvement.

The Quality Management Team implements and readies departments for their ISO registration audit, whereby a 3rd Party auditor performs the independent audit registration (certification). The Quality Management Team serves as ISO 9001 Implementation Consultants. Once the program is developed and implemented, the Quality Management Team ensures all ISO 9001 requirements and guidelines are achieved and ready for the 3rd party auditor to certify.

Strategic Planning (Business Planning/Performance Metrics/Benchmarking/Baldrige Framework) - The City of Dallas has developed a multi-year strategic plan which guides our activities and supports our overall mission. To communicate this information throughout the organization, The Center will work with department representatives to create department-level business plans to identify the specific activities each department will pursue as part of the overall strategic plan. The use of performance measures and benchmarking will be incorporated into the plans which will be built upon the Baldrige framework. The Baldrige framework will help the City of Dallas advance our strategic goals while improving results for our residents through the alignment of our plans, processes, decisions, people, actions, and results.

The Baldrige framework was created by Congress in 1987 and is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the US Department of Commerce. The framework exists to help:

1. Organizations: • assess their improvement efforts • diagnose their overall performance management system • identify their strengths and opportunities for improvement

2. Strengthen U.S. competitiveness by: • improving organizational performance practices, capabilities, and results

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• facilitating communication and sharing of information on best practices among U.S. organizations of all types

• serving as a tool for understanding and managing performance and for guiding planning and opportunities for learning

The Baldrige framework provides organizations with an integrated approach using a systems perspective to performance management that results in:

• delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability

• improved organizational effectiveness and capabilities • organizational and personal learning

The framework uses criteria that drive continuous improvement in areas such as: Leadership; Strategic Planning; Customer Focus; Measure, Analysis, & Knowledge Management; Workforce Focus; Operations Focus; and Results.

The Baldrige Framework

Organizations that utilize the Baldrige framework have demonstrated the following characteristics, distinguishing themselves as leaders in their respective industries.

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• Accelerated improvement efforts: Use of the criteria in department business planning accelerates and goes beyond internal self-assessments by bringing a rigorous, objective, external viewpoint to the organization’s internal improvement process.

• Energized employees: Pursuing a common goal motivates employees, resulting in energized improvement efforts.

• An outside perspective: Department business plans will be examined and scored by a team of professionals exterior to subject departments. In addition, periodic assessment will be performed by others outside of the city organization.

• Learning from the feedback: Departments will receive an objective, non-prescriptive written assessment of its strengths and opportunities for improvement based on an examination of its business plan against the Baldrige framework.

• Aligned efforts and resources: The linkages among the requirements of the seven Baldrige Criteria can help departments achieve better coordination and consistency among plans, processes, information, resource decisions, actions, results, analysis, and learning.

• An integrated approach to management: Management benefits from the big-picture systems perspective embedded in the integrated structure of the Core Values and Concepts, the Baldrige Criteria, and the Scoring Guidelines. This perspective helps the organization channel activities in consistent directions, ensuring unity of purpose while supporting agility, innovation, and decentralized decision making.

• Focus on results: 450 of the 1,000 points in the Baldrige scoring system are allocated to results, one of seven Baldrige Criteria, proving that results are the bottom line in the Baldrige process. This results focus helps your organization determine the most critical areas to measure, create and balance value for key stakeholders, and improve performance in key areas such as customer engagement, process performance, product performance, student learning, and health care outcomes.

Source: http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/enter/benefits_applying.cfm Accessed 12/15/14

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1 Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. 2015. 2015–2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organization’s Performance. Gaithersburg, MD. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

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LEAN Six Sigma - A major new initiative the Center for Performance Excellence will undertake is LEAN Six Sigma. The goal of the LEAN work is to eliminate waste and reduce variation in service delivery both in departments that have undertaken ISO processes and those yet to implement. LEAN projects will identify hard and soft cost savings, process improvements and new ways to serve our residents.

LEAN Six Sigma is a combination of two disciplined, data-driven approaches and methodologies for improving performance. LEAN focuses on dramatically improving flow in the value stream and eliminating waste resulting in improved efficiency and speed. Six Sigma focuses on eliminating defects and reducing variation in processes resulting in improved effectiveness. A brief comparison of the processes appears below.

Steps LEAN Process Six Sigma Process

Step 1 Current State Assessment (Value Stream Map)

Define Opportunities – identify, quantify, and prioritize process improvement opportunities

Step 2 Future State Map (Value Stream projections after Waste Reduction Kaizens)

Measure approved opportunities – current state measurements

Step 3 Identify, quantify, and prioritize process improvement opportunities

Analyze – scenarios, what-ifs, design of experiments leading to an outcome result

Step 4 Kaizen – implement the change and re-measure

Improve – implement the solution and re-measure

Step 5 Audits to sustain the gains Control – develop control system to sustain the change

Through work activities related to LEAN and Six Sigma the City of Dallas will work to eliminate the eight areas of waste including:

• Defects – Efforts caused by rework, scrap, and incorrect information • Overproduction – Production that is more than needed or before it is needed • Waiting – Wasted time waiting for the next step in a process • Non-Utilized Talent – Underutilizing people’s talents, skills & knowledge • Transportation – Unnecessary movements of products & materials • Inventory – Excess products and materials not being processed • Motion – Unnecessary movements by people (e.g. walking) • Extra-Processing – More work or higher quality than is required by the customer

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Along with the City’s Master Black Belt, the former Efficiency Team will take a lead role in advancing LEAN Six Sigma organization-wide. The City of Dallas will undertake an aggressive training program with the ultimate goal of having 50% of staff as Blue Belts, 20% of staff as Green Belts, 1/100 of staff as Black Belts, and 5 Master Black Belts. In addition to the overall cost savings, the City of Dallas anticipates additional benefits such as enhanced responsiveness for citizens and customers, improved organizational communications, a more motivated workforce, and an opportunity to differentiate ourselves in positive ways.

Indirect Components

City University - City University serves as the internal training and professional development arm of the City of Dallas. City University allows us to continually invest in our employees through ongoing training programs in areas such as environmental regulations, continuing education for professional employees such as engineers, supervisory training for management and ongoing customer service training for all employees. City University serves as a foundational partner to the Center for Performance Excellence.

Office of the City Auditor Integration - The Center will work with the Office of the City Auditor and city departments to ensure that audit recommendations and investigative results communicated to the City Council, City Manager, and departments to implement or strengthen accounting and administrative controls, improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, and minimize fraud, waste, and abuse are addressed timely. Audit recommendations and investigative results will also be used to leverage the success of other components through the sharing of findings and recommendations.

Department Professional Accreditations - The Center for Performance Excellence will work to identify and support professional accreditation on behalf of city departments. Upon discovery, staff will work with departments to assist them in applying for and receiving their professional accreditations. The City of Dallas wants to ensure our departments and employees adhere to the highest professional standards in each field.

To this end, the City of Dallas has been actively involved in ISO 14001 and ISO 18001. ISO14001 Environmental Management System work began in 2005. It focuses on reducing environmental impacts of operations and regulatory compliance. Currently, 11 City departments work with the Office of Environmental Quality, a Center collaborator, to maintain certification in this area.

ISO 18001 covers Occupational Health and Safety. The City of Dallas began work in this area in 2007. This standard focuses on improving the health and safety performance of our organization. Currently, seven departments are certified. To further advance implementation

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of this standard Departmental Safety Committees & Cross Functional teams have been established along with the implementation of a Citywide Hazardous Energy Control Program. This standard is managed by the Office of Risk Management, a Center collaborative partner.

Strategic Partners - The Center for Performance Excellence will seek strategic partners to assist with implementing the mission and objectives of the Center and the City of Dallas. These partners will help the City of Dallas become and remain a leader in innovative practices in a variety of areas. Examples of these partners are the Alliance for Innovation and ICMA.

Business Intelligence/Performance Analytics/311 - The Center will work with departments, including CIS and 311, to use data to make informed decisions. The City of Dallas captures data at several critical junctures in our business processes. This data is currently used by departments to make decisions; however, an opportunity exists for us to work with the larger community to allow them to use our data for greater overall effectiveness. In an effort to be more transparent and to better engage the community, the Center will work to advance our activities in these areas.

Comprehensive Planning - By working to ensure the City's mission is made real throughout the community, the Center for Performance Excellence will work with representatives and the community to ensure that continuous improvement efforts are aligned to community priorities.

Continuity of Operations Plan - Although viewed as primarily an emergency management tool, the Continuity of Operations Plan exists to ensure that city operations will continue in the event of a major catastrophe. The Center of Performance Excellence will work to support the efforts of the plan ensuring the needs of the Dallas residents are met through the successful continuation of critical City services. Components of COOP will be incorporated into departmental business plans once developed.

Sunset Reviews - The Center for Performance Excellence staff will work to support the ongoing efforts of the Sunset Review process. During this process a subsection of City departments' budgets will be reviewed. Department staffing, performance measures, stakeholder/customer relations will be explored along with their budgets. Teams will look for overlaps of service with other departments. This multi-year process will help departments identify new ways to do business while saving taxpayer money, with a more detailed focus on particular processes achieved through LEAN Six Sigma and other components.

Internal/External Communication Plans - The Center for Performance Excellence will work to support the Public Information Office's external communication plan. The Center will develop

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an internal communication plan that compliments and reinforces external communication to keep employees and stakeholders informed about the progress the City of Dallas is making in a variety of areas.

The aforementioned components will be accomplished by both an internal working group and an external public-private advisory board. The advisory board, which will be comprised of national leaders in their field, will meet twice annually to discuss best practices and plan for the annual symposium.

Working group members will provide recommendations for continuous improvement efforts and new improvement initiatives. All Center for Performance Excellence activities will support the City Manager's overall strategic plan and will help the City accomplish its overall mission.