Performance Management in Howard County
Performance management is important to further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of County services, while providing decisionmakers and stakeholders with the vital information and recommendations needed to assist in solving problems and delivering results for residents, businesses, and communities.
Evolution of the Howard County Data Analytics and Statistics Hub (HoCo DASH)
The Howard County Data Analytics and Statistics Hub (HoCo DASH) is a performance management website that had not existed formally in Howard County. HoCo DASH was launched to provide a starting place for government’s efforts to increase performance management.
The administration worked with government and community partners to evaluate and prioritize measures that aligned with the County Executive’s top priorities. This rigorous process involved multiple meetings to come to consensus on data sets, objectives, targets and strategies.
Measuring Performance
Performance is measured by comparing the annual data points to the target line. All of the performance measures state their target goal in the objective statement at the top of each detailed performance measure page. Every measure has a target in which to strive for, and many have specific target dates in which to achieve them by.
Comparisons are also made on an annual basis from the current data point to the previous year’s data point to determine if the measure is trending in the right direction. The status of the performance measure changes depending on the direction the current year data point moved relative to the previous year data point.
Standard: For the measures on HoCoDASH, the margin of change is 5%. The current year actual data is compared to the previous year actual data point and status change occurs depending on whether the current year data point has moved outside of the 5% margin of change.
Performance Consistent: If the current year data stays within the margin of change, the measure box becomes light green and the symbol for “performance consistent” is indicated.
Performance Consistent
Negative Trend: If the current year data falls outside the margin of change in a negative way, the measure box becomes orange with the symbol for “negative trend” indicated.
Negative Trend
Positive Trend: If the current year data falls outside the margin of change in a positive way, the measure box becomes dark green with the symbol for “positive trend” indicated.
Positive Trend
Measuring: The grey “measuring” box indicates that the measure is currently being analyzed and data will be provided in the near future.
Measuring