Elements of SEA Performance Measures

Definition

Example

Measures of service efforts

Input measures

Measure the amount of financial and nonfinancial resources applied to a service

Financial—cost of road maintenance

Nonfinancial—total lane-miles of roads used in providing a service

Measures of service accomplishments

Output measures

Measure the quantity of services provided; a quality requirement may be included

Number of lane-miles of road repaired or the number of lane-miles of road repaired to a certain minimum satisfactory condition

Outcome measures

Measure the results associated with the provision of services; may include measures of public perceptions of results

Percentage of roads in good or excellent condition, or the residents’ rating of the smoothness of the roads

Measures relating service efforts to service accomplishments

Efficiency measures

Measure the resources used per unit of output, or the cost per unit of output

Cost per lane-mile of road maintained or, more specifically, resurfaced or seal-coated

Cost–outcome measures

Measure the resources used per unit of outcome or result, or the cost per unit of outcome or result

Cost per lane-mile of road maintained in good or excellent condition

Elements of SEA Performance Measures

Measures of service efforts: Efforts are the amount of financial and nonfinancial resources that are applied to a service.   Measures of service efforts also include ratios that compare financial and nonfinancial resources with other information, such as general population, service population, or lane-miles of road.

Financial measures— These measures include the cost of providing a service.   For example, financial measures of service efforts may include the cost of road maintenance.   The development of cost information for programs and services is a critical part of the reporting of SEA performance information.  
Nonfinancial measures — These measures include other forms of resources that are used to provide services but that are not financial in nature, such as personnel or capital assets.
  Number of personnel : These measures may include the number of full-time-equivalent employees or   employee-hours used in providing a service.   Personnel measures have the effect of removing wage, benefit, and cost-of-living differences from the resource inputs and may facilitate comparisons over time and with other organizations.
  Capital asset and other measures: These measures may include the amount of equipment (such as number of vehicles) or other capital assets (such as lane-miles of road or acres of park land) used in providing a service.

Measures of service accomplishments: Accomplishment measures report what was provided and achieved with the resources used.   There are two types of measures of accomplishments—outputs and outcomes.   Outputs measure the quantity of services provided; outcomes measure the results associated with the provision of services.

Output measures:
  Quantity of a service provided—These measures quantify the physical amount of a service provided. For example, measures may include the number of  lane-miles of road repaired.
  Quantity of a service provided that meets a certain quality requirement — These measures quantify the physical amount of a service provided that meets a test of quality.   For example, measures may include the percentage of lane-miles of road repaired to a certain minimum satisfactory condition.   In some cases, meeting a quality requirement may turn an “output” measure into an “outcome” measure.

1. Measures of results that occur soon after a service is provided versus those that occur later
2. Measures of results that indicate progress toward desired end results but are not themselves final outcomes
3. Measures of the level of the achievement of desired end results.

Measures that relate service efforts to service accomplishments

Efficiency measures that relate service efforts to outputs of services— These measure the resources used per unit of output or the cost  per unit of output.   They provide information about the production of an output at a given level of resource use and demonstrate an entity’s relative efficiency when compared with previous results, internally established goals and objectives, generally accepted norms or standards, or results achieved by similar jurisdictions.   For example, efficiency measures may include the cost per lane-mile of road maintained (or more specifically, resurfaced or seal-coated).

Efficiency measures that relate service efforts to the outcomes or results of services —These measures report the resources used per unit of outcome or result, or the cost per unit of outcome or result.   They relate costs and results so that management, elected officials, and the public can begin to assess the value of the services provided by an entity.   For example, efficiency measures may include the cost per lane-mile of road maintained in good or excellent condition.

Related Information That Provides Context for Understanding and Assessing Results

In addition to the preceding elements of SEA performance measures, the reporting of SEA performance information also includes related quantitative and narrative information that can help provide context for users to understand reported SEA performance measures, assess the entity’s SEA performance, and evaluate the significance of underlying factors that may have affected the reported SEA performance.

          Comparisons— SEA performance information is particularly useful when comparisons are included, such as those with results from previous years, entity-established targets, progress towards the achievement of goals or objectives, generally accepted norms and standards, other parts of the entity, or other comparable jurisdictions (both public and private).

      Unintended Effects— Unintended effects of a service on the recipients, state, or community sometimes can be identified.   These effects represent significant indirect consequences (positive or negative) that occur, at least partially, as a result of providing a service.These unintended effects often are difficult to identify and to relate to the actual service being provided.   This occurs because of an inability to establish a definite cause-and-effect relationship between the unintended effects and the service, and because other extraneous factors also may affect the results.

      Demand for Services—Services are provided to address the needs of certain stakeholders.   These needs, when recognized and expressed by stakeholders, create a demand for a service.   The level of resources committed to providing such a service may reflect what is required to satisfy that need and to achieve the desired results.   The level of service provided, however, may be more or less than necessary to satisfy the need addressed or the results desired.   In certain instances, information about the level of need or demand for a service may help users to understand the SEA performance achieved and whether the level of services provided meets the perceived need for a particular level of service.

      Factors that Influence Results—Other than the program or service delivery itself, there may be external and internal factors that influence SEA performance.   Including information about these factors may help users to understand how both external and internal influences can affect results.   External factors are substantially outside the control of the entity and may include economic, social, environmental, and demographic characteristics.

       Narrative Information—Narrative information provided with SEA performance measures can provide explanations of what the level of SEA performance reported by the measure means, the possible effects that the factors that influence results might have on SEA performance, and actions that have been (or are being) taken to change reported SEA performance.   Explanations are particularly important when reporting comparisons with other jurisdictions or among similar components within the same jurisdiction.   They are also important in conjunction with reporting unintended effects of a service.