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ICMA Center for Performance Measurement

The ICMA Center for Performance Measurement is dedicated to helping local governments measure, compare, and improve municipal service delivery.

The ICMA Center for Performance Measurement is dedicated to helping local governments measure, compare, and improve municipal service delivery. ICMA's Comparative Performance Measurement Program currently assists over 200 cities and counties in the United States and Canada with the collections, analysis, and application of performance information.

The Center builds on work begun in 1994 by the Comparative Performance Measurement Consortium, a initial group of 44 cities and counties whose managers identified a need for accurate, fair, and comparable data about the quality and efficiency of service delivery to their citizens. Consortium members asked ICMA to coordinate their work and then undertook the challenges of narrowing the choices of services to be measured, identified desired outcomes of service delivery, defining indicators, and collecting data.

Today, the Center continues its work to administer and refine the Comparative Performance Measurement Program. This includes:

Participants

click here to log into the Web site for the Center for Performance Measurement

Providing on-site training for new participants
Coordinating meetings for both managers and departmental specialists
Refining data collection templates based on suggestions from program participants
Collecting and "cleaning" program data to ensure the validity of interagency comparisons
Compiling information regarding best practices among program participants
Publishing an annual program report, and
Providing participants with raw data for customizing their own comparisons, graphs, and reports.

The Comparative Performance Measurement Program has since expanded to over 200 communities, with data collection continuing to provide the ability for interagency benchmarking as well as internal performance improvement comparisons. With the continued growth of the program, participants have the freedom to compare to the full sample or to use the online database to customize their own comparisons based on population, climate, urban density, method of service provision, community demographics, and other characteristics.

Service areas evaluated under the program include:

Code Enforcement
Facilities Management
Fire and EMS
Fleet Management
Highway and Road Maintenance
Housing
Human Resources
Information Technology
Obesity Prevention
Library Services
Parks and Recreation
Permits, Land Use and Plan Review
Police Services
Purchasing
Refuse and Recycling
Sustainability
Risk Management
Youth Services

For more information, visit the FAQs, or contact CPM at cpmmail@icma.org or 202/962-3562.

CPM NEWS FLASH...

The Ethical Foundation of Performance Measurement and Management

This article written by Michael F. Brown, County Executive Officer, Santa Barbara County, Calif. and Jason Stillwell, Project Manager, Santa Barbara County, Calif. highlights the intimate relationship among professional local government management, ethics, and performance measurement. Describes performance measurement as a practical tool to meet core ethical values—trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Explores responsibilities resulting from these relationships. Read More...