Process evaluations

Performance Management Systems

Cost-benefit analysis

Cost-effectiveness analysis

Rossi, et al. Chapters 6, 11

Wholey, et al. Chapters 5, 21

Reserve #3 & #4, #5

See these benchmarking reports that have have examples of performance measures for a Fire Services, Police Services, Residential Refuse, Fleet Maintenance, Central Human Resources, and Asphalt Maintenance for FY '10

Program monitoring can often help detect fraud and abuse and reveal other problems about how programs operate.  See this interesting article about cheating in the Cash for Clunkers Program (USA Today 8/22/10)

We are often obsessed with measuring stuff and live in an age of numbers.  Read this interesting article in the New York Times (5/12) about our "Metric Mania". 

While numbers and data are important, it is also important to know where these numbers come from and what they mean.  It is also important to remember that the numbers can be "fudged" to make conditions seem better or worse.  See this interesting article about the fudging of crime statistics (2/10) in New York.  It is also important to realize if you are looking for something you never looked for before, you may find more of it but that doesn't mean there really is more of it.  See this interesting article from the USA Today on Mercury in the water (8/04).

Sometimes it isn't the number per se that matters but the distribution of the numbers that is significant.  While having a lot of something may seem good, what if the folks who need it most don't get it?  See this interesting article that looks at the distribution of federal Stimulus Spending (AP - 5/09) after the financial troubles back in 2008. 

While data and numbers are important, communicating these results effectively using tools like PowerPoint is critically important.  See this interesting article from Government Executive about how PowerPoint can be the enemy of thought (9/1/04). 

Download as a PDF file (Notes related to sampling)

Government Accounting Standards Board

Office of Personnel Management – Performance management

Performance Measurement: Guidelines, Myths and Examples

Performance Management -- Basic Concepts

GAO - Performance Measurement and Evaluation: Definitions and Relationships (1998)

Vice President Gore’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government and list of reports

National Performance Review – Serving the American Public: Best Practices in Performance Measurement

From Red Tape to Results - Creating a Government that Works Better & Costs Less: Report of the National Performance Review

CATO – Reviewing the National Performance Review

Performance Reporting for Government

Wikipedia - performance management and performance measurement

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993

GAO - Executive Guide: Effectively Implementing the Government Performance and Results Act

OMB – Budget and Performance Integration

OMB Watch – GPRA information

GAO – Reports on GPRA