Performance dashboards in the public sector – Borough of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey

Written by Andreea Vecerdea on July 8, 2014. Posted in Articles, Operational performance

The public sector has recently started to show an increased interest in being more transparent and making different institutions’ performance results available to citizens. “Making this information publicly available goes a long way towards helping our citizens understand how we manage the Borough and how we provide services”, says Borough of Franklin Lakes Administrator, Gregory C. Hart.

On the city’s official website, a dashboard which tracks performance for the police, construction and municipal court department is available for public access. More departments are intended to be added in the dashboard, in order to have their performance better monitored, and openly available to the public.

The importance of data has been acknowledged by city representatives, who advocate that “data creates a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. When you spot trends you can identify and solve problems fast, before they become costly to fix”. A performance management system helps in understanding data clearly and simplifies decision making, which eventually facilitates the attainment of the established performance goals.

For the construction department, at the moment, three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are being monitored: #Permits issued, #Inspections completed and $Fees collected. Tracking such indicators supports the achievement of the departmental mission: “to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the residents and visitors of Franklin Lakes by ensuring the soundness and habitability of the Borough’s residential, commercial and industrial properties.”

Concerning the police department, the tracked KPIs are #Service calls, #Traffic summonses issued and #Crimes. Their main objective is “to assure exemplary police service and the highest quality of assistance and protection to the citizens and visitors.”

Similar examples of KPIs monitored at police departments can be found at Scotland Police, which has developed a framework divided in four areas, and KPIs divided into Inputs, Activities and Outcomes. Its ultimate goals is, as well, to ensure public safety, and its efforts are directed towards this objective.

The dashboard of the Municipal Court consists, as well, of three KPIs: $Amount collected, #Summonses issued and #DWIs, whose aim is to “provide quality customer service, ensuring equal justice to all who come in contact with this municipal court”.

As they also provide data for previous years, these dashboards allow trend identification and assessment of the overall performance of the city authorities. In this way, citizens are better informed about how their money is being spent, and where improvements need to be made.

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