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Examples of how UK Local Governments engage their local communities in Performance Management Peter McHugh CEO & Founder Slide 2 www.covalentsoftware.com Examples will be focused on 5 Topics 1.Engage and account to their communities for the quality of service they deliver 2.Use performance metrics to demonstrate trends and monitor achievement of operational priorities and strategic objectives. 3.Use benchmarking to drive performance improvements 4.Engage with different public bodies in partnership to deliver services jointly 5.Engage with their own staff to build buy-in to a performance oriented culture Slide 3 www.covalentsoftware.com Accounting to local communities for quality of service delivery Slide 4 www.covalentsoftware.com The average Local Government is required to report 43,000 different pieces of information. Some of that reporting requires the entry of tens-of-thousands of individual facts covering every pupil, householder receiving benefits, or resident using a particular service in a local area, taking the total number of data entries per council to more than 12 million and there are 433 councils in the UK! Accountability in UK Local Government is onerous. Slide 5 www.covalentsoftware.com Business Plan Priorities Actions & Strategies Outcomes Success Factors Performance Metrics Organizational Objectives Lots of plans, that have complex linkages, to be monitored Performance Metrics are part of councils DNA. Slide 6 www.covalentsoftware.com Internally, performance is reported up and across the chains of command. However, it must also be reported to citizens and the wider community, which can be challenging Citizen Performance Reporting. Citizens are provided with performance information and regularly involved in events e.g. Focus groups, Customer forums, Scrutiny panels / Boards Inspections Satisfaction surveys Use of Covalent opens up the increasingly popular option of Web Publishing performance information, and progress with strategy/business plans Slide 7 www.covalentsoftware.com Performance Reporting on council websites Slide 8 www.covalentsoftware.com Tamworth publish a Priorities Scorecard on their website that is auto- populated by metrics from Covalent Slide 9 www.covalentsoftware.com West Lothian have a section on their website dedicated to Performance Management clicking brings the citizen to Covalent performance information Slide 10 www.covalentsoftware.com West Lothian publish a Corporate Performance Scorecard of Objectives, on their website, auto-populated by metrics from Covalent Slide 11 www.covalentsoftware.com Dumfries have a section on their website dedicated to Scottish Performance Indictors clicking brings the citizen to Covalent performance information Slide 12 www.covalentsoftware.com Dumfries provide citizen-friendly commentary on their performance results Slide 13 www.covalentsoftware.com Using metrics to monitor achievement of priorities and objectives. Slide 14 www.covalentsoftware.com Sutton LBC align metrics to theme areas Key Outcomes By Tier Organisational Major Programs Slide 15 www.covalentsoftware.com Suttons reporting aligns measures with goals Key Outcomes Slide 16 www.covalentsoftware.com Hartlepool track PIs and Actions against objectives Theme & Objective Monitored or Targeted Three level cascade... Slide 17 www.covalentsoftware.com A comprehensive set of Corporate Performance reports Slide 18 www.covalentsoftware.com Examining performance trends is fundamental to monitoring E.g. Customers have previously expressed concerns about home repairs. Providing relevant linked information provides a useful report commonly known as You said We did Slide 19 www.covalentsoftware.com Using benchmarking to drive performance improvements Slide 20 www.covalentsoftware.com Covalent provides organisations with the opportunity to benchmark intelligently, and in real-time during the year, rather than just year end Many customers are part of benchmarking sub-groups. Slide 21 www.covalentsoftware.com All 8 LGs in Nottingham use Covalent for Benchmarking Total Notts Project Time taken to process Benefits Claims: Benchmark Chart 1.Nottingham County 2.Ashfield DC 3.Bassetlaw DC 4.Broxtowe BC 5.Gedling BC 6.Mansfield DC 7.Newark and Sherwood DC 8.Rushcliffe BC Slide 22 www.covalentsoftware.com In this example, Nottingham benchmarks its own monthly Average Employee Sickness levels against two nearby areas of Broxtowe and Mansfield Nottingham used this data to quickly explore contributing factors and influence change! Using benchmarking to quickly improve performance. Slide 23 www.covalentsoftware.com Benchmarking is delivering many benefits Improved resourcing and cost savings through Shared Service working Effective and timely sharing of Best Practice and cross fertilization of initiatives Closer working for the overall improvement of services to customers a marked increase in citizen satisfaction levels Slide 24 www.covalentsoftware.com Another type of Benchmarking Chart Domestic Burglaries: Comparator Chart Vs All England Top/Bottom Quartile and Median Slide 25 www.covalentsoftware.com Engaging in partnerships to jointly deliver services Slide 26 www.covalentsoftware.com Social housing providers, charities, colleges, healthcare and emergency services partner organisations all contribute to the collection and reporting of performance metrics. A lot of partnership working in the UK Issues & Challenges Different levels of internal engagement within each organisation Consistent Information Management Reporting activity from individual organisations to Partnership Boards Communicating priorities around partners and agree joint priorities Moving people from silo working Slide 27 www.covalentsoftware.com Purchased Covalent as a Partnership performance solution Partners NHS Health, Housing, Police, Fire, Childrens Services, Charities Almost 2,000 registered users on Covalent 538 Active users per month; councils partners form a significant portion of overall Covalent usage The UKs largest Metropolitan Authority Slide 28 www.covalentsoftware.com Slide 29 . Doncaster generate a large number of reports for all levels of the Council and Partnership Boards. Slide 30 www.covalentsoftware.com Getting staff buy-in, creating a performance oriented culture Slide 31 www.covalentsoftware.com 800 users participate in Covalent Week Series of events to engage staff, communicate important messages and showcase benefits already achieved. Supporting presentation from CEO & SMT Software familiarisations sessions Drop in and formal training sessions Input to Covalents future plans Introduction to new Appraisal process on Covalent Slide 32 www.covalentsoftware.com Successful System Admin Decentralisation Ongoing administration of Covalent now minimal with 1 part-time member of staff; admin for 400 users is distributed to many people across their organisation. How did it start? Rolled out with traffic lights. A deadline for data and commentary in the system set by the CEO a no excuses Policy How its going? 67% of Staff logging regularly into Covalent as just part of the day job Performance Management has been transformed from a reactive administration function chasing pieces of data into a department delivering a high quality proactive service Kevin Douglas, Executive Director, Corporate Policy and Improvement Slide 33 www.covalentsoftware.com 2004 Rated as Weak in their CPA by the Audit Commission 2005 Purchased Covalent 2006 Upgraded to Full Site Licence 2008 - Re-categorised as an Excellent council, having made in the words of the Audit Commission exceptional progress since their previous inspection. From Weak to Excellent with Covalents help During our CPA inspection, we demonstrated our Covalent site to a performance specialist from the CPA team. He was very impressed with the software and how we had used it to meet our performance management needs. Covalent has become very much embedded in the councils performance management processes, to the point where departments are now approaching me to say that they want to use Covalent to monitor a particular aspect of performance and asking for advice on how to do so. William Benson, CEO, Tunbridge Wells BC Slide 34 www.covalentsoftware.com Training program by Covalent & by TW site admins. Tailored training sessions for staff and board members - either on a one-to- one basis or in groups by TW site admins. Regular workshops to update users with latest product enhancements. Drop-in performance clinics where users can get hands-on help with solutions they need. INTRANET Page Specific web page dedicated to performance management Provides links to the Covalent system, online help and training lessons Specialist guidance - Jargon Buster, Data Quality Performance Checklist, Methodology Statement Some of the practical buy-in activities TWBC did Slide 35 www.covalentsoftware.com Wrap up 1.Lot of focus on performance reporting to the public 2.Nearly all customers report scorecards that align performance measures with operational priorities and strategic objectives 3.Regular, in-year benchmarking is actively used to drive performance improvements 4.Though complex to manage, partnership working is widespread and can deliver better quality services 5.Those that make the most of Performance Management tend to be most effective as getting staff buy-in.