STRATEGIC PLAN, PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING

On Tuesday June 10, 2008, Council approved the Corporate Strategic Plan for the City of Hamilton.

VISION:

To be the best place in Canada to raise a child, promote innovation, engage citizens and provide diverse economic opportunities.

MISSION:

We provide high quality services in a fiscally and socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and compassionate manner in order to ensure a healthy, safe and prosperous community.

We engage our citizens and promote a fair, diverse and accepting community.

We are a skilled, knowledgeable, collaborative and respectful organization that thrives on innovation and quality customer service.

We are led by a forward thinking Council.

The team shows leadership in carrying out their responsibilities and is valued and appreciated for their contributions and accomplishments.

VALUES:

Honesty
Accountability
Innovation
Leadership
Respect
Excellence
Teamwork

STRATEGIC THEMES:

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Job Creation

The Strategic Plan will change how we do our ‘business’. All of us will now be working towards a common vision and common priorities that our understood across Departments. This in turn will drive integration across the organization.

The Strategic Plan will also change the budget process by providing a framework for annual operating, capital and multi-year budgets; a framework for performance measurement; and it will also influence our day-to-day decision-making.

So now it’s your turn - the success of this Plan does not lie with Council and Senior Management alone. Although their strong leadership and commitment to the Plan is required, Staff and stakeholders need to be involved and committed every step of the way. We all have a role to play!

 
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

What is performance measurement?

• The process of assessing progress towards achieving predetermined goals.

• The design, implementation and use of quantifiable indicators to judge success.

• A management tool used to enhance decision-making and accountability.

• A model for continuous improvement.

• Involves ongoing measurement and periodic evaluation.

• Used to assess the accomplishment of organizational strategic goals and objectives.

Why measure performance?

• Council and Management Expectations (i.e. Budget Decision Support).

• External Performance Expectations.

• Public Expectations of Quality.

• Growth and Demographic Pressures.

• Evidence/Outcomes-based Funding.

• Support Strategic Plan Implementation.

Benefits of performance measurement

• Increased program efficiency and effectiveness.

• Enhanced customer service.

• Effectively marketed programs.

• Increased organizational effectiveness.

• Ability to respond to municipal, provincial, federal information requirements.

What is benchmarking?

• Performance measurement of an organization against a standard (absolute or relative to others providing the same service).

• The process of identifying, understanding and adapting effective processes from other organizations to help your organization improve its own performance.

• In OMBI’s case, benchmarking involves the examination of the partners’ data over many years, and comparing it with the other partners’ data to gain a better understanding of the information and identify best or better practices.

Why benchmark?

• Assess performance.

• Assess strengths and opportunities for improvement.

• Identify best practices that can lead to improved services and potential cost savings.

• Integrate performance measurement information into their strategy for continuous improvement of services and programs.

• Access ideas on new processes, systems, technologies, and creative solutions to help solve problems.

Benefits of benchmarking

• Able to target problem areas and develop solutions to achieve the best levels of performance.

• Provides an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of key municipal performance.

• Identifies best practices which can lead to improvements to services and potential cost savings.

• Contributes to a continuous improvement strategy for the delivery of municipal services and programs.

• Provides a valuable source of ideas on new processes, systems, technologies and creative solutions to business problems.
   

CITY OF HAMILTON PERFORMANCE REPORTING INITIATIVES

The City of Hamilton currently participates in three Corporate performance measurement programs:

• OntarioMunicipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI)
• Municipal Performance Measurement Program(MPMP)
• Section 300

Ontario Municipal (CAO’s) Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI)

What is it?

• The Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI) is a municipal partnership project that strives for service excellence in municipal government.

• The work to measure municipal services in Ontario began in 1996 under the direction of several Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) and City Managers.

• In 2001, an environmental scan of 55 benchmarking initiatives across North America was conducted.

• Based on the research, OMBI developed its own Performance Measurement Framework

• OMBI is a groundbreaking voluntary collaboration of 15 Ontario participating municipalities that represents 9.1 million citizens or 72% of the population.

• There is one Municipal Champion from each of the 15 participating municipalities and they sit on the Municipal Champion Team.

• There are thirty-six (36) service areas measured with each area having its own expert panel

• A Municipal Champion is assigned to each of the service areas and acts as the liaison between the Expert Panel and the Municipal Champions Team.

• OMBI puts out an annual Data Call in March of each year.

• A Final Report is submitted to the CAO’s at the end of June of the same year.

• A Fall Forum is held annually and celebrates accomplishments, looks at Best Practices and provides an opportunity for all OMBI Expert Panel members and Data Collectors to network.

• In January 2007, OMBI released the first Public Report  – 2005 Performance Benchmarking Report. The report is available at www.ombi.ca.

Why is OMBI important?

• Fosters a culture of service excellence in municipal government.

• Helps councils, staff and citizens understand where city administrations are performing well and how they compare to other municipalities.

• Allows experts to share ideas on operational best practices.

• Helps service experts improve service delivery.

• By working together, participating municipalities pool their knowledge to improve our operations and make the best use of valuable resources.

• Strengthens our accountability and enhances the level of transparency in the way we provide services and report on our performance.

• In reporting these results, we hope to build further support for and trust in municipal government.

Purpose of OMBI

• To identify and develop appropriate service performance measures, capture performance measurement data, and analyze and benchmark results, in order to identify best practices of service efficiency and quality in Ontario municipalities.

• To provide a useful management tool that integrates financial and performance data to assist in decision-making within municipalities.

Objectives

• Report consistent, comparable information for selected local government services

• Develop findings that lead to discussions about service efforts and accomplishments.

• Identify programs or services where more in-depth analysis would help determine the potential to improve service and the sharing of best or better practices.

• Promote a municipal performance culture.

Participating Municipalities

There are currently 15 participating municipalities from across the Province that are actively involved in OMBI on a voluntary basis. The participants represent 72% of Ontario’s population or 9.1 million residents.

Service Areas

There are thirty-six (36) OMBI service areas:

Public Report

• Research shows that citizens want to know how their municipality’s performance compares to that of other municipalities.

• The benefits of collaboration extend to identifying and sharing best practices.

• On January 8, 2007 OMBI released its first public report, “OMBI 2005 Performance Benchmarking Report” The Report illustrates selected measures for 12 of the OMBI Service Areas.

OMBI Fall Forum

Each year, OMBI holds a conference to celebrate its accomplishments, success stories and best practices in benchmarking during the year and to promote the exchange of information and best practices and to increase the awareness of the importance of benchmarking and performance measurement.

Accomplishments/Success Stories

Public Sector Leadership Award - OMBI was awarded a Bronze Medal at the 2005 Public Sector Quality fair for its data warehouse and service quality achievements. The date provided by OMBI partners is stored in a web-based data warehouse and contains data all members can share, and is a one-stop shop for other information of relevance to service expert groups.

Capital Assets – In 2004, OMBI developed guidelines on accounting for capital assets in anticipation of an amendment to the Public Sector Accounting Handbook that would make local governments responsible for including such information in their annual financial statements.

In 2005, with financial support from the Province of Ontario, OMBI began developing a Capital Asset Guide to help all municipalities comply with the new reporting requirement. Methodologies are currently being piloted in several OMBI municipalities. The reporting requirement will come into effect in 2009.

Best Practice / Shared Practice Reports – Expert panels have established for each of the areas that OMBI is measuring. Through the reporting and analysis of performance data and networking between municipalities, experts identify best practices or “better” practices. This process promotes continuous improvements and a culture of performance measurement for the delivery of programs and services and may result in new ideas or creative solutions for program and/or service issues. These reports are available on-line at www.ombi.ca

Performance Measurement Framework

OMBI's Performance Measurement Framework includes four categories of measures:


City of Hamilton Contacts

Municipal Champion
Connie Wheeler, Corporate Initiatives Coordinator, 905-546-2424, ext. 5779

MUNICIPAL PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PROGRAM (MPMP) 

What is it?

• The Municipal Performance Measurement Program (MPMP) was established in 2000  by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH).

• All Ontario municipalities are mandated to provide the MMAH with performance measurement information in conjunction with the Annual Financial Return (May of each year); and performance results are reported publicly by September 30^th of each years

• Publicly reporting the information can be done in a number of ways, i.e. newspaper, annual report, website.

• MPMP includes both efficiency and effectiveness measures

• MPMP looks at trend data (year over year)

Why do it?

• Municipal decision-makers want to be efficient and deliver value for local services.

• Taxpayers need to know how their tax dollars are spent and how their services compare both year over year and in relation to others

MPMP Model - Benefits of Performance Measurement



Service Areas:

There are currently 12 service areas participating in the MPMP:

Each service meets the following criteria:

• Reflects major expenditure areas for municipalities.

• Reflects areas of provincial-municipal interest.

• Reflects high interest and value to the public.

• Has information that is relatively easy to collect.

• Falls under municipal responsibility.

Coordinator

Connie Wheeler, 905-546-2424, ext. 5779

SECTION 300

Information to follow.