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Government KPIs: Setting Measurable Goals in the Public Sector

This article was updated and republished on May 4, 2023.

Working in the public sector is far from easy. Budgets are limited. Expectations are high, and even as you give all your time and energy towards making a positive difference in your community, critics will always question your work. 

To prove your worth to your constituents and fellow government officials, you’ll need to set various goals as a benchmark for initiatives and how much time, effort, and taxpayer dollars your efforts are taking. These metrics you’ll be setting as goals are known as government key performance indicators (KPIs.)

Here’s everything you need to know about key performance indicators for local governments, how to set goals, and how to track your performance with insightful, actionable data.

What are Government KPIs?

Key performance indicators are defined by Investopedia as, “a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a [government’s] overall long-term performance. KPIs specifically help determine… strategic, financial, and operational achievements.”

Goal setting with KPIs in local government is vital for elected leaders and employees to showcase their successes, make actionable improvements in the community, gauge constituent satisfaction, and to dictate where future funding and efforts should be prioritized. With limited budgets and high standards for performance, KPIs are a means for local governments to get the most out of their funds and improve efficiency across the board. 

Why are KPIS for Local Governments So Important?

KPIs are vital for assessing the performance of everyone within your local government. Using trackable metrics to measure against set goals will allow local leadership to monitor performance of the county or municipality as a whole, within specific departments, and even at the individual or team level. 

The key isn’t necessarily to hit every objective laid out in your KPIs. It’s to assess the efforts of government workers & elected officials to make the community better and more efficient by comparing actual results with the standard set by local government key performance indicators. 

How Can Government Analytics Help to Track Progress? Here's what to consider for analyzing your KPIs effectively. 

What Types of Key Performance Indicators Matter for Local Governments?

KPIs for local governments vary, as each community faces its own challenges with public priorities, budgeting, quality of infrastructure etc. That being said, here are some critical goal types your local government should be considering when setting your personalized KPIs:

1. What Are Turnaround Times for Getting Paperwork Approved? 

For far too long, many local governments have been lackadaisical when it comes to getting constituents’ paperwork approved and filed. That results in delays for things like getting permits approved for infrastructure projects and businesses registered in your neighborhood.

As constituents grow more accustomed to convenience in their everyday lives ( thanks Uber and Doordash!) and states like Florida and New Jersey (with more to follow) passing legislation requiring local governments to expedite permitting process, setting a high standard for application turnaround times with your key performance indicators will improve workflows and improve government-constituent relations; applicants will be happy to see their paperwork returned and approved quickly! Government leadership should be asking, how long on average does it take to review and approve applications for permits, licenses, etc.?

Going digital will make paperwork approvals drastically more efficient. Learn more about the Benefits of Making a Government Digital Transformation .  

Pro Tip: Online permitting software will make it easier to track turnaround times for application approvals AND to hit your goals. Constituents won’t have to drive to the clerk’s office to file paperwork, and relevant government officials can approve or deny applications for things like business license requests, construction permit applications, pet licenses directly from their computers via the cloud. Turnaround times will also be monitored via automated timestamping, making it simple to measure performance. 

2. Employee Retention: Are Employees Sticking Around?

With unprecedented challenges in recruiting government workers , a great metric for local governments to track is the average amount of time employees are sticking around within each government department.

Are government employees leaving? What is the average turnover per department and how long are employees staying on average? These KPIs for local governments will help to make sure that employees stick around and are happy with your culture. 

How Can Local Governments Retain Employees? Explore our guide to find out. 

3. How Much Money is Being Made via Application Fees, Fines, etc.?

Increasing revenue from application fees and fines can expand your government’s budget to get things done. As a result, a key KPI for local governments should be: how much revenue is being generated from fees and fines? How do government revenue numbers compare to previous years?

Pro Tip: Accepting online payments via your government website is a wise way to hit your KPIs by increasing application completion rates and making it easy for people that received tickets to pay their fines. Here are Popular Government Credit Card Processing Services to Consider . 

4. How Long Are Infrastructure Projects Taking to Implement? Are They Coming In Under Budget? 

With funding from recent legislation like the American Rescue Plan Act and Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, your local government should be receiving major funding to put towards your local physical and digital infrastructure. An important KPI to consider is the amount of time it is taking for an infrastructure project to be completed? Are contractors hitting their deadlines? Are projects coming in at or below the estimated budget?

These metrics will make clear how efficient your local government is when it comes to getting projects done and spending taxpayers funds. 

Interested in learning more about how recent federal legislation can impact your local infrastructure? Explore these guides:

• What Does the American Rescue Plan Act Mean for Local Governments? 
• What Does the Infrastructure Bill Mean for Local Governments?

5. How Much Time and Money Are Government Employees Saving Via Automation?

Most menial tasks for government workers should be a thing in the past. Government management software automates things like filing paperwork, IT ticketing , document requests and other boring administrative tasks via robotic process automation so that government workers can allocate their time on more important responsibilities. 

A key metric your local government leadership should consider as a KPI is: what percentage of administrative tasks are still being performed by humans? How much time is being saved via automation? If a high percentage of tedious work is still being done by government workers, it’s a sign that your municipality or county has some work to do to adopt modern digital infrastructure. 

How to Track Data for Measuring Government KPIs?

Government KPIs are meaningless if you’re not collecting measurable data to track performance with. In order to truly assess your performance, you’ll want to use government software that automatically collects data and stores it in the cloud. The real-time data is automatically pulled into customizable graphs and dashboards, meaning you’ll be able to measure actual performance against your key performance indicators in real time. 

To learn more about GovPilot’s software solutions can help across government departments, schedule a free demo. 

Local Government Key Performance Indicator FAQs

What are key performance indicators in local government.

Local government key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to assess a government department’s performance when it comes to budgeting, time allocation, constituent satisfaction, and success rate for completing departmental projects. 

Local leadership needs to consider goals and objectives on a monthly, yearly, and ongoing basis to measure against actual performance.

Why Do Local Governments Need KPIs? 

Government key performance indicators allow local leadership to assess the performance of employees and departments against a measurable objective. For example, if you set a goal for approving permit applications in 30 days or less, and find that it takes local officials 45 days on average to approve a permit, actual performance compared to your KPI indicates that improved permit application processes are needed. 

What Are Popular Municipal KPIs?

Every department in your municipality should have KPIs specific to their objectives and day-to-day responsibilities. That being said, here are some standard KPIs that are relevant across your municipality:

• How long is it taking employees to accomplish relevant tasks?
• What percentage of administrative tasks are being automated with software?
• Are departmental projects coming in under budget?
• How much money is being collected via fees and fines? 

How to Leverage KPIs to Your Advantage With Your Constituents?

Don’t be afraid to let community members know about your accomplishments. Beating your goals is no easy feat with slow moving bureaucracy and limited budgets, so you deserve the credit! Be sure to leverage press releases, council meetings, and public discourse to let constituents know when your government’s hard work reaches levels beyond the goals set by governmental KPIs.

Learn more about promoting important local news via your optimized government website and government social media profiles. 

Read on: 

• Local Government Disaster Preparedness Guide
• Continuity of Government: Government Procedures During a Crisis
• Local Government Accountability: Operating a Truly Ethical Local Government
• Local Government IT Strategy: Improving IT Ticketing Workflows in Your Municipality.
• Government Data Breach Prevention: Preventing Data Loss & Leaks
• Modern Government Trends, Events, & Technology
• Best Software for Government Procurement
• Disaster Resilient Architecture  
• Tornado Mitigation & Disaster Plan
• Flooding Mitigation & Disaster Plan
• Wildfire Mitigation & Disaster Plan
• How to Build a 15-Minute City
• Building Inspections 101: How Municipalities Can Improve Public Safety
• Government Cybersecurity: How to Prevent Ransomware Attacks
• Municipal Planning: Reclaiming Your City Streets
• Government Blockchain: How Local Government Can Use Crypto
• How Local Governments Can Encourage Civic Engagement
• Best Court Management Software: What to Look For

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Guidance on building better digital services in government

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Digital Metrics for Federal Agencies

Digital metrics are critical for measuring, analyzing, and reporting on the effectiveness of your Web, mobile, social media, and other digital channels. Every agency should have a metrics strategy to measure performance, customer satisfaction, and engagement, and use the data to make continuous improvements to serve its customers.

• Part 1: Common Metrics: Guidance, Best Practices, and Tools

Part 2: Reporting Requirements and Common Tools

• Part 3: Rationale and Framework for Common Metrics and Measures
• Part 4: Case Studies, Training, and Additional Resources

Part 1: Common Metrics—Guidance, Best Practices, and Tools

Agencies should ensure that they collect, analyze, and report on a minimum baseline set of performance and customer satisfaction measures. It’s important to collect a variety of metrics—not just visits or page views—to get a holistic picture of how well you’re delivering your digital services and information. While a goal of the Digital Strategy is to have a common set of performance measures and consistent means of collecting data, agencies may have varied approaches to using and interpreting the data based on individual agency and website goals.

Adopting a common set of baseline measures and tools across all federal executive branch agencies has many benefits, including providing an unprecedented, government-wide view of how well agencies serve their customers.

Guidance on common metrics is divided into the following sections, which describe what you should measure, what to do with the data, and common tools to help you collect and analyze your metrics:

• Web performance
• Customer satisfaction
• Social media

Web Performance Metrics

Web performance metrics tell you how well your website and other digital services are performing, and are generally derived from tools that measure usage, traffic, site quality, and performance.

What to Collect

Milestone 8.1 of the Digital Government Strategy calls for GSA’s Center for Digital Services Innovation Center to develop guidance on common performance metrics. The following guidance was derived from extensive research of common practices in industry and government and recommendations from the Federal Web Metrics Community of Practice.

Below are ten minimum common baseline performance metrics that agencies should collect for their .gov websites. They will help you measure different elements of performance, such as how many people are visiting your websites, how much time they’re spending on your site, how often they return, etc.

Minimum Common Baseline Performance Metrics

Definitions above are derived from the Web Analytics Association’s Definitions of Common Metrics Terms (PDF, 111 KB, 34 pages, January 2008)

How to Collect and Analyze the Data

Below are a set of recommendations to help you collect and analyze the common Web performance metrics.

1. Analyze data across various Web Dimensions. While having the core common Web metrics is the foundation for measuring digital services’ performance, the true insights come from being able to slice and dice the data across various Web dimensions. Agencies should use dimensions, such as time, content, marketing, and demographics with the common baseline Web metrics to gather crucial specifics that will give a comprehensive and holistic picture of how your website is performing and where you need to make improvements.

This is the break-down of recommended dimensions and the types of insights each of them would add to your Web metrics reports:

Time (Day/24 hours, week, month, year)

Content (Pages, downloaded files, offsite links, on-site search queries, RSS feeds)

Marketing (Referring domains/sites/pages, referring search keywords/phrases)

Technology (Browser – Web/mobile, browser – version, platform, mobile devices, screen size)

Demographics (Network/ISP/organization, country, state/local, city). A major caveat for the Web analytics Demographics dimension is that most Web analytics solutions are limited to the demographic information derived from an IP address of visitors computer and the network they use. Hence, the traditional, commonly associated with demographics visitor information, such as age, gender, Internet preferences etc., are not typically available via those solutions. To address the need for having the more specific customer-centric demographics, the recommended option is to use panel-based or ISP-based third-party solutions that provide website-specific and comparative analysis of websites across Federal Government Internet category (e.g., usa.gov vs. whitehouse.gov) as well as cross Internet category (e.g., irs.gov vs. yahoo.com).

The use of these five Web dimensions will allow for insightful, sophisticated reporting and research to answer such common questions, as:

• How many of our site visits came from the U.S. vs. internationally? Via a mobile device using a search engine?
• How many visits and page views came from .gov domains vs. commercial sites in the last 12 months?
• What are the top X offsite pages that visitors go to after leaving our website?
• What are our top on-site search queries? Do they contain any content that our website lacks or is hard to find?
• Are our top X pages different for visitors accessing the site from Web browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox) vs. mobile browsers?
• Where/what U.S. location (state/city) are the most/least frequent visitors coming from?
• When (what days or months) does our website have highs and lows in traffic (e.g., visits)? Are those traffic changes driven by content releases or seasonality (e.g., summer, tax preparation time, etc.)?
• What are the most popular search terms from our top referring search engines? Are those terms/phrases closely tied to the name of the website or do visitors find our website by searching the types of services or information that the website provides?

2. Use a variety of data to tell a complete story. The intent of measuring isn’t to collect a bunch of isolated, raw data. The purpose is to collect a diverse set of data that is analyzed holistically and where someone makes connections to tell a complete story about how people are using and engaging with your website or other digital channel.

3. Focus on making continuous improvements. The ultimate goal is to drive a continual improvement of the online experience for your customers. Experts call these “actionable metrics,” as described in this Web Analytics presentation and web analytics blog . Use the metrics you gather to make targeted, data-driven improvements to your site, and track changes you’ve made to measure levels of success. In essence, you’re listening to your customers, and you’re making improvements based on what you hear.

4. Use the data to prioritize resource needs and improvements. In addition to measuring performance and satisfaction, metrics such as total page views will help you identify which content is most heavily used by your customers. This can be used to identify your customers’ top tasks so you can prioritize making improvements to that content first. In many cases, websites follow a “ long tail ” pattern, where a few of the most popular webpages garner the most website traffic. If this is the case with your website, you can make improvements to that content first, which may give you the biggest return on investment and impact on overall customer experience.

5. Be careful not to misinterpret the data. Always be prepared to do a deeper dive and ask critical questions so you don’t inadvertently misinterpret your data. For example, you may think that having a longer average time on site is good because it means people are spending more time on your site and are more engaged. But the flip side could actually be true—people may be spending longer because they can’t find what they need. In this case, you may want to identify your most visited pages to see what is a reasonable amount of time people should spend on those pages and see if that aligns with the actual data. You may also need to look at customer satisfaction data for that content, bounce rates, etc. This is why it’s important to look at a variety of metrics.

6. Provide context. To minimize the chance for misinterpretation of this data, you’re encouraged to “tell your digital metrics story” on your /digitalstrategy page. Provide background or supporting information to help your readers understand what this data means for your agency, beyond just numbers. For example, key measures for a Web portal may be different from an informational site, so take the opportunity to explain how.

7. Set performance targets and make sure they align with agency and business goals. Setting performance targets will give you defined goals that align with your agency mission and particular business objectives. You can identify targets based on prevailing practices from government or industry, or you can set goals to improve a particular metric over time. For example, you could set a goal to achieve a particular bounce rate, knowing that the average bounce rate for websites is 50%, according to Inc.com. Given this information, there might be cause for concern if you have a higher than average bounce rate or if your bounce rate continues to increase (unless of course, you determine that a high bounce rate is good, as may be the case with a link portal site). In this scenario, you’d want to look at other metrics to get a complete picture and identify ways to improve the content and better engage your customers.

8. Measure what matters to your customers. Keep in mind that people may use government websites specifically (when filing tax returns, to get a form), periodically (travel advisories abroad), or continuously (weather site). Depending on your site’s purpose and goals, some measures may be more important and better indicators of success. For example, when looking at average visits per visitor, the expectations of what is good or bad may vary widely by business model, as explained by Web Analytics Demystified. If you have a customer support type website, having a low average visits per visitor may be good since it could suggest that people don’t need to have multiple visits because they’re quickly satisfied with your service or they’re able to quickly resolve problems via other customer service channels (i.e., phone, in-person). But having a high visit per visitor may be good for a website whose primary purpose is a marketing campaign where you’re looking for many people to return often to your site and engage regularly.

9. Create compelling reports that turn data into action. Learn how to present your data in ways that clearly convey key messages for decision-makers and those creating your digital content.

Use the Chart Chooser tool at Juice Analytics to help you find the right chart or graph to illustrate your data.

10. Stay informed with industry research and expert reviews. The metrics landscape is vast and there’s a lot to learn. Check out reviews and blogs such as Occam’s Razor , which explains the complexities of Web analytics in a simple, easy-to-understand way. Sample relevant articles include Web Analytics Success Measurement For Government Websites ; Getting Started With Web Analytics: Step One—Glean Macro Insights ; and Beginner’s Guide to Web Data Analysis: Ten Steps To Love & Success .

Also, stay informed of advances in metrics and measurement by following organizations such as the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, which researches the evolution of the Internet and its impact on American society; they have lots of great data on how people use the Web, social media, and mobile. Review white papers, online books, and case studies from IBM Business Analytics for Government , or Web Analytics Demystified .

Customer Satisfaction Metrics

Milestone 8.1 of the Digital Government Strategy calls for GSA’s Center for Digital Services Innovation Center to develop guidance on common customer satisfaction metrics. The following guidance was derived from extensive research of common practices in industry and government and input from the Federal Web Metrics Community of Practice and Federal Web Managers Council .

Below are minimum common baseline customer satisfaction metrics that agencies should collect for their .gov websites. They will tell you how people perceive the information and services you provide, and are generally derived from surveys or other direct interactions with your customers. As part of an effective Customer Service Strategy, you should collect, analyze, and act upon customer feedback in coordination with performance metrics.

Note that the four baseline metrics below are considered “beta.” Working through agencies, the effectiveness of the measures and questions will be evaluated in the next six months with an eye to developing a strong set of common satisfaction metrics across government.

What to Measure

Other measures to consider:

• Ease of getting information or using your service
• Timeliness of getting the information
• Does the information meet and/or exceed expectations
• Relevancy and usefulness of the information

How to Collect

Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions

To help you collect the common customer satisfaction metrics above, the following are recommended questions to ask via online customer satisfaction surveys. These questions are based on extensive research from Forrester, Gartner, other industry practices, and a review of what agencies are already doing to measure customer satisfaction.

• How would you rate your overall experience today? (Scale of 1-5 or 1-10)
• Were you able to complete the purpose of your visit? (Yes or No — if not, why not?)
• Would you still return to this website if you could get this information or service from another source? (Yes or No)
• Will you recommend this website to a friend or colleague? (Yes or No)

Additionally, these are questions that some agencies have used to gather related insights on customer satisfaction:

• Was the information easy to understand?
• Was the information useful?
• Was the experience enjoyable?
• Was it easy for you to find what you were looking for?
• Is this service being delivered in a reasonable amount of time? [Yes/No]
• Did you get useful information beyond what you were looking for?
• Did the interaction with this organization meet your needs?

Survey Methodology

To assess the validity of the data and provide context, agencies should also consider collecting data on the survey methodology and response rates:

• Number of surveys delivered
• Number of completed surveys
• Completion rate (percentage)
• Survey delivery methodology (e.g., completed at the end of the visit, served up after third click)

Strategies for Analyzing Customer Satisfaction Data

The Customer Experience model recommends three steps for Collecting Customer Feedback:

Define your goals. Establish benchmarks to help your agency set customer performance goals and service standards, typically by either comparison with internal benchmarks, or with other agencies, organizations, or functions.

Determine how you’ll collect customer feedback. Although many agencies will use an online survey to collect customer satisfaction metrics, as described above, there are many ways to collect customer satisfaction data. Also, while many agencies will collect metrics at the aggregate website-level, some agencies have taken a deeper dive to collect satisfaction data at the page-level or for a specific task or application, which can be highly valuable. Agencies that are already collecting customer satisfaction data at a more granular level, are encouraged to look for ways to aggregate data and also report it at the site-wide level so it can be compared with other federal sites.

Take action on your findings. Baseline and benchmark—agencies can take the data and create a baseline of customer perception and benchmark from year-to-year or month-to-month to show improvements in overall experience or increased ability to complete purpose of the customers visit. Look for trends and create an action plan.

Search Metrics

Search is the largest driver of traffic to government content, so it’s critical to publish content that is “findable” by search engines. Agencies should collect and analyze the following search data to help measure performance and customer satisfaction. See best practices for search engine optimization (SEO).

To collect search metrics, you’ll need to pull data from a variety of sources:

1. Register for the commercial search engines’ webmaster tools

• Bing Webmaster Tools
• Google Webmaster Central

2. Collect site search analytics. Many site search tools provide analytics as part of their package. Some tools require additional development to publish the data in a readable format for Web managers. Others provide easy-to-use Web interfaces that provide reports on top search terms, click through rates, etc.

3. Collect Web analytics. Analytics products provide data on visits, bounce rates, etc. (as noted above)

4. Register for application monitoring tools (optional). Many tools are free for limited use. Use to report on site health metrics such as outages, page load times, application responsiveness, etc. (Examples: YSlow, Pingdom, AlertSite)

5. Attend training. The DigitalGov University training, USASearch: Enhancing Your Website’s Search, explains how the free USASearch tool can improve the search function on your government website. Another DigitalGov University training, The Science of Search: Competitive Intelligence for the Government Web Manager shows how to use the “science of search” to improve your search rankings.

Usability (User Experience) Metrics

Usability—now more commonly referred to as User Experience—is how a person feels about using a product, system or service, and how easy a product is to use. While Digital Metrics typically looks at the general behavior of groups, User Experience is important because it focuses on how individuals think and act in relation to a product or service.

Website User Experience focuses on how visitors think information should be organized on a website, what they expect to see when they click on a link, or their ability to find something. It’s important because online services (whether a tax form, an app for finding a bus route, or a phone number for complaints) should be easy to find and use.

Usability Testing

Usability testing provides an opportunity to watch real people using your product. It can give you important metrics such as how long it takes someone to complete a task, or how many clicks it takes to find something. It also gives you general feedback about design and functionality, offering invaluable insights into what you need to improve. If people can’t use your site, all the work you put into writing, coding and designing your site will be wasted, and you will fail in your mission. Usability testing routinely achieves a high return on investment by saving agencies thousands to millions of dollars on development costs.

Two common approaches to usability testing are:

• Large-scale qualitative tests include 20-100 (sometimes more) users. Usually used only by large e-commerce sites and other sizable enterprises to collect performance metrics on a user’s ability to complete tasks. Metrics include success rate , length of time, and error rate for task completion.
• Small-scale qualitative tests ideally involve 3-5 users in successive rounds of tests to observe user behavior and collect feedback on ease of use, design, etc. Qualitative user experience can also be measured by surveys or post-test evaluations such as the System Usability Scale (Word document, 54 K, 7 pages, August 2012).

Most user experience tests are small-scale qualitative , because they are cost-effective and provide good, actionable data. GSA offers small-scale testing to agencies through the DigitalGov User Experience Program , that lets agency staff observe and get trained on how to conduct simple usability tests.

In the DigitalGov University training, Usability Testing and Debriefing Best Practices, you’ll learn how to conduct a simple usability test, and conduct a debriefing session to sift through the feedback and identify fixes. Simple tests like this are a quick way to identify major problems, and give you the tools to take immediate action to improve your site.

User Experience Metrics

User Experience metrics are often diagnostic in nature and provide a practical way to identify the top problems with a particular digital service. But the testing may not give you answers on how to fix the problems. You’ll need to look at a variety of data, make iterative design improvements, and do follow-up testing to ensure that any fixes you’ve implemented have indeed improved the user experience.

There are no pre-defined standard User Experience metrics, because each website has different goals and audiences, and provides different services. Each site should develop its own system for evaluating user experience. What you collect may depend on the resources (staff, time, contractor support) available to you.

• If you have limited resources , you can observe a usability test through GSA’s DigitalGov User Experience Program , and the team may (depending on availability) be able to train you on how to conduct simple tests yourself. Once you’ve run a test, and observed the problems your users are having, you can focus on fixing the problems. After correcting problems, your Web Analytics should reflect the positive changes (e.g., more completed tasks, or lower bounce rate). You can also hire a User Experience contractor to set up a test for you, or create a usability strategy.
• If you have User Experience professionals on staff , or have the funds to hire contractors on a long-term basis, ask these experts to help you identify the best user experience metrics to collect and follow for YOUR site. You’ll also be able to do repeat, or iterative Web design and testing , to evaluate progress over time.

When to Collect User Experience Metrics

Conduct tests and collect metrics as often as you can. There are no hard and fast rules on how often you should test—it depends on budget, development cycle, content strategy, and many other factors. Ideally, you’ve considered your users throughout the entire design process , but you should do at least one usability test of your website either before, or immediately after, launch.

What differentiates usability testing from other performance metrics is that it can give you valuable baseline data before you even launch a website or other digital service. Some organizations conduct usability testing on paper or early prototypes of a website. This can give valuable insights on user expectations and performance that can be used to compare data over time and track improvements.

GSA’s DigitalGov User Experience Program recommends doing a small-scale test of your website every month, to build confidence and expertise, but this may be too much for some agencies. Keep in mind that, the more often you test, the more you will cultivate a culture supportive of usability testing. Once you have that, you can prioritize and test as often as needed.

Reporting Usability Metrics

User experience (usability) testing is extremely valuable but also time-intensive, so make sure you document your findings and metrics. Remember that most people don’t read reports, especially long ones, so catalogue the essential information and summarize the rest. Start off with a summary of the results, next document how you ran the tests and then highlight the data. Here’s a sample usability report from DigitalGov User Experience Program and one from Usability.gov (Word document, 215 K, 6 pages, August 2012).

Mobile Metrics

A centerpiece of the Digital Government Strategy, is a “mobile first” approach, where new Web products and applications are designed for mobile devices first, instead of the traditional desktop design.

Measuring mobile performance, which is a new channel for most agencies, is generally concerned with mobile websites, mobile apps, SMS, or even QR codes. The good news is that measuring for these channels is not markedly different from measuring performance for other digital services listed in the other sections of the Metrics toolkit.

The Mobile Gov Community of Practice is working to define practices in mobile measurement and they have created some mobile measurement and analytics practices on the Mobile Gov Wiki. Below we have listed some general approaches taken by agencies when measuring mobile product performance.

Mobile Web —If you have a mobile website, as covered in the “dimensions” section, your agency should collect data regarding the percentage of traffic coming in from mobile devices. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has shared an ongoing study of how they’re measuring effectiveness and quality for their MedlinePlus mobile website . They measure their performance by asking three questions:

• Who is using MedlinePlus Mobile?
• How are they using MedlinePlus Mobile?
• Are they satisfied with their visit to MedlinePlus Mobile?

SMS —When the Center’s for Disease Control analyzed their SMS health alert pilot program , they asked users these questions regarding the program’s effectiveness, user expectations, and loyalty:

• How would you rate your overall satisfaction with CDC’s text messaging pilot?
• How likely are you to use any of the information in the text messages to improve your health?
• How likely are you to recommend CDC’s text messaging pilot to a friend?
• In your opinion, how effective are CDC’s text messages in meeting your needs?
• How often would you like to receive messages?

Native Mobile Apps —The newest of the digital services applications, agencies are still grasping with proper native performance measurement, but here are four metrics agencies are looking at to measure effectiveness.

• How many app downloads do we have this month?
• How many “active downloads” do we have this month? (A sign of regular users for your app)
• What are my customer reviews on the platform store? (i.e., “rate your app” rankings on the app store)
• How many users are downloading our app updates?
• If you agency app includes a Web page that is accessed once the app is open, what are the number of page views?

Social Media Metrics

Social media is transforming how government engages with citizens and how it delivers service. Agencies are using social media to share information and deliver service more quickly and effectively than ever before. Increasingly, these tools are also being used for predictive and sentiment analysis—using the vast amount of real-time data from these social platforms to predict emerging trends and respond to them quickly (referred to as “social data”).

Analysis of this social data is critical not just for agency communication offices—but also for program managers at every level of your organization. Social media in government increasingly requires accurate, targeted performance analysis to ensure we’re taking full advantage of these tools to deliver better service and engage with our customers.

Here are a set of recommended, baseline social media metrics, developed and maintained by an interagency working group of the Federal Social Media Community of Practice . The purpose is to establish a common, yet customizable approach to analyzing social data using the most cost-effective methods available. It provides a framework for agencies to measure the value and impact of social media in addressing agency mission and program goals. The aim is to move beyond obscure results of social media activities towards more sophisticated and more accurate assessments, leading to better informed decision-making.

The most efficient and consistent way for agencies to collect the common performance metrics is to add a common analytics page tag to their websites. Page tagging is now the industry standard for collecting real-time, detailed page-level performance data; it’s generally low-cost and relatively easy to implement.

GSA’s Center for Digital Services Innovation has developed this Metrics toolkit that provides the following resources for agencies, as part of the Digital Analytics Program .

Read OMB’s guidance to agencies (accessible to federal employees on the OMB MAX wiki):

• OMB guidance to agencies for Implementing Performance and Customer Satisfaction Tools
• Overall guidance on the Digital Strategy

Below is background and steps agencies can take now to prepare for this implementation.

Benefits of Common Page Tagging

• A common tag will collect the required metrics easily and at minimum cost to agencies, and provide a government-wide view of digital services.
• It will allow for data aggregation at the federal level, and provide agencies with robust analytics.
• The tag can supplement existing metrics applications, and offers a stand-alone solution for agencies who don’t currently have a metrics application in place.

How to Implement

1. Determine feasibility and resources. Start now to identify who will take the lead for your agency and the scope of the effort to implement a javascript-based tag on your .gov websites.

2. Update website policies to alert your visitors. Work with your agency Privacy Officer to give him or her a heads up that you’ll be collecting this performance data (if the data is different from what you’re already collecting). Although the baseline common metrics don’t include any personally identifiable information (PII), it’s still a good idea to alert relevant colleagues that you’ll be collecting the data and also to be prepared to update any site policies to alert your customers. OMB Memo 10-22 (June 25, 2010) explains the procedures for agencies when using tag-based analytics and will provide guidance to support the implementation. See the FCC Privacy Policy , which explains how they collect a variety of performance data.

3. Prioritize where you’ll implement the code. Determine if you can implement on all .gov websites and all webpages. If not, consider a phased approach where you implement first on high priority sites, customer top tasks, and most visited pages and be prepared to explain how you will fully implement over time.

4. Identify a method for adding code. If you have a content management system (CMS), it may be fairly straightforward to add the code to all your pages. Your CMS might have options for the automated handling of common code across all pages.

If not, you’ll need a method for adding the code in the most efficient way. Many non-CMS websites include a server-side include (SSI) to manage common elements across many pages of the domain (for example, to maintain a common header or footer). The code can be integrated into existing common elements such as those that are already in use across the site. Alternatively, you can use bulk edit operations that can be performed across large volumes of html files to insert a common snippet into a consistent location within the source code.

5. Attend training and hear what other agencies are doing. GSA will provide training in early September 2012 to help agencies learn about page tagging techniques, preparing for implementation, and how other agencies have implemented similar efforts. Check the DigitalGov University class schedule and subscribe to email alerts to receive notices about the upcoming training.

6. Embed the Javascript-based tag. Embed the tag once the common code is provided by GSA and customize as needed.

7. Do quality assurance testing. Audit your implementation to be sure your data is being collected accurately. The analytics engine will enable a ready view of the pages that are reporting traffic and allow for analysis as to which pages were missed.

Reporting Requirements

Read OMB’s guidance to agencies for Implementing Performance and Customer Satisfaction Tools (accessible to federal employees on the OMB MAX wiki).

Common Survey Tools

At this time GSA is not providing a central tool for measuring customer satisfaction. There are a variety of tools available to collect this data. However, any tool you choose should provide a way to report on the four common baseline customer satisfaction measures described above.

You can use one of the free customer satisfaction survey tools that has a federal-friendly terms of service agreement or an existing contract agreement with federal agencies. These tools include:

• iPerceptions —An online survey tool to measure customer satisfaction and provide Voice of the Customer data to help you improve your agency’s online customer experience.
• WebValidator —A website survey tool that answers critical questions, such as who is visiting and why, so you can measure your customers’ experiences.
• American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)-ForeSee —customer satisfaction survey tool used by multiple federal agencies and organizations in the private sector. One advantage of using the ACSI is that you can compare your results to other government agencies and top commercial websites. Agencies using this tool include CDC and SSA.
• Survey Analytics —survey software that includes a full suite of tools for creating surveys, sending email invitations, and analyzing survey data.
• SurveyMonkey —online survey tool used to create and deliver surveys and analyze data.

Paperwork Reduction Act Clearance

If you’re collecting feedback from more than nine people (via an online survey, focus group, form, or another method), you must get prior OMB approval, per the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The Fast Track PRA process can significantly speed up the approval process. Some tools, such as ACSI, have current PRA clearance, and your agency may have existing approval for other tools.

Part 3: Rationale and Framework for Common Metrics

Over the years, agencies have adopted many different tools, methodologies, and success metrics to measure website performance, resulting in a lack of consistent data around .gov website performance. At the end of 2011, only 10% of the major federal agencies used the same performance metrics to consistently evaluate websites agency-wide, as outlined in the 2011 State of the Federal Web Report.

To improve information and services to the public, agencies must establish standard ways to measure the success of .gov websites.

Common digital metrics and enterprise-wide performance measures offer:

• Cost savings —Central procurement of common tools will save agencies significant time and money, and ensure they have robust analytics tools to effectively measure performance.
• Adoption of industry standards —Common methodology, terminology, and tools will improve the accuracy of data across the federal Web space, making it easier to spot gaps and inaccuracies and fix them on a global scale. Adopting industry standards models the best practices of most successful large organizations.
• Better management and accountability —Publishing real-time, open and transparent data on .gov websites will lead to greater accountability and improved management of public websites, encourage agencies to consistently evaluate the success and usability of their websites, and more easily address gaps or duplications in services across the federal government.
• Improved collaboration —Agencies can more easily share best practices, training, strategies, and solutions when using similar tools and measures.
• High-level comparative analysis —Aggregating data across all federal executive branch websites will deliver precise information on the reach, growth, and impact of digital government services.

In addition, having common metrics provides these direct benefits to agencies:

• Website managers are in a better position to optimize their sites by studying content usage and onsite search behavior. Managers are able to use this data to report on the demand for services and products.
• Marketing and communication teams will be able to track and optimize their online campaigns and understand the online behaviors of our visitors.
• Executives can use this information to report on channel performance and strategically plan for the future. It will help tie metrics to agency mission achievement.

Measurement Framework

GSA’s Digital Services Innovation Center developed the Digital Services Performance Measurement Framework to identify a common approach to collect standard data, and enable aggregation of this data at the federal level.

To ensure that services are measured accurately and consistently at the federal level, as well as individually, this framework will address common government–wide:

• Collection methodology and tools
• Reporting interface and analysis

Key success elements will include:

• Performance measures
• Collection methodology
• Web analytics tool

The framework is based on the following types of measures:

• Breadth —standard Web analytics that provide high–level information on the breadth of traffic to, and content usage of, a given digital service
• Depth —high–level, standard Web analytics that measure the extent (time) and depth of a visit
• Loyalty —standard Web measures of visitor loyalty and site stickiness
• Direct Engagement —measures the extent to which a site visitor uses the site’s search engine (visitor must provide direct input to retrieve the desired information or action)
• Customer Experience —standard customer service measures of quality, experience, and loyalty

To support this common framework, agencies should collect performance and customer service metrics using the following types of tools:

• Performance —It is now an industry standard to use page tagging to collect real-time performance metrics, so this framework calls for the use of a common tool to collect agency performance metrics.
• Customer Satisfaction —Until an industry standard becomes apparent for collecting customer satisfaction metrics, we’re asking agencies to collect a set of four common reporting metrics, based on extensive industry research and and a review of existing agency systems. These are considered in “beta” mode while we test their usefulness during implementation.

Part 4: Case Studies, Resources, and Training

Case studies.

• CDC eHealth Metrics Dashboard —model metrics dashboard, summarizes page views, popular topics, and satisfaction scores, including Top Search Keywords, most popular pages, and mobile.
• EPA Site Statistics —guidance for EPA Web team members on how to gather and report metrics data.
• National Archives Metrics Dashboard —features selected comments from customer surveys, customer satisfaction scores, most popular search terms, website visitors, and more.
• USDA Page-Tagging Metrics Strategy —enterprise-wide implementation of a common web analytics program across all USDA agency and office websites.
• City of Boston —Web metrics dashboard provides high-level view of page visits, popular pages, search terms, and more.

Communities of Practice

• Web and New Media Community —an ad hoc group of over 3,000 federal, state, local, and tribal U.S. government employees.
• Metrics Community of Practice—part of the Federal Web Managers Council , an inter-agency group working to improve digital metrics.
• Social Media Performance Metrics working group .

Get more information about training from DigitalGov University , and subscribe to get email updates on new and upcoming events .

Policy and Other Directives

These are federal initiatives and directives related to performance management and customer service that provide additional context and background:

• Digital Government Strategy Milestone 8.2 : Links to the specific agency requirements for measuring performance and customer satisfaction measuring tools on all federal executive branch .gov websites
• Executive Order 13571 —Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service directs agencies to set standards and use customer feedback to improve the customer experience (April 2011)
• OMB M–05–04 Policies for Federal Agency Public Websites and the related OMB Circular A–130 refer to measuring satisfaction and performance
• OMB M-10-22, Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies (PDF, 102 KB, 9 pages, June 2010)
• Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requires federal agencies to have OMB approval before collecting information from the public, such as from online customer satisfaction surveys.
• Fast Track PRA process streamlines PRA approval to 5 business days
• Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires agencies to establish performance measures to demonstrate mission achievement

Research Bibliography

GSA developed the performance and customer satisfaction guidance with the federal Metrics Community of Practice and based on extensive research, which included the following resources:

• Reichheld, F.; Markey, R. The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World (Revised and Expanded Edition) (Harvard Business Review Press; September 20, 2011)
• Bernoff, J. (June 11, 2011) Competitive Strategy In The Age of the Customer.
• Bodine, K.; and Rogowski, R. (January 14, 2011) 2011 Customer Experience Predictions.
• Burns, M. (February 17, 2011) The State of Customer Experience, 2011.
• Burns, M. (April 18, 2011) How Companies Raised Their Customer Experience Index Scores, 2011.
• Burns, M.; Manning, H., Peterson, J., and Catino, S. (December 7, 2010). The Business Impact of Customer Experience, 2010.
• Burns, M. (April 29, 2010) Three Secrets of Success for Customer Experience Organizations.
• Burns, M. (January 11, 2011) The Customer Experience Index, 2011.
• Dorsey, M. (January 28, 2010) The Future of Online Customer Experience.
• Drego, V.; Rogowski, R., and Bocal, E. (December 20, 2010) How To Craft Your Customer Research Plan.
• Evensen, R. (July 25, 2011) How To Design An Effective Voice of the Customer (VOC) Insights Program.
• Hagan, P. (April 29, 2011) Beyond CRM: Manage Customer Experiences.
• Leggett, K. (May 26, 2011) Forrester’s Best Practices Framework for Customer Service. Retrieved from www.forrester.com
• McInnes, A. (May 20, 2011) Voice of the Customer Programs Don’t Deliver Enough Value.
• Reitsma, R. (June 30, 2010) A Market Researcher’s Introduction to the Future of Online Customer Experience.
• Rogowski, R. (June 15, 2011). Why You Need A Digital Customer Experience Strategy.
• Sage, A.; Burns, M., Bocal, E., and Stone, A. (July 20, 2011) What are the Right Web Customer Experience Success Metrics.
• Alvarez, G. (March 2012) What To Do On Monday. Presented at the Gartner 360 Conference in Orlando, FL.
• Davies, J.; Thompson, E. (March 2012) Putting Plans for Customer Experience into Practice. Presented at the Gartner 360 Conference in Orlando, FL.
• Thompson, E. (March 2012) The Customer Experience Scenario. Presented at the Gartner 360 Conference in Orlando, FL.
• Thompson, E. (November 11, 2011) The Gartner Customer Experience Management Maturity Model.

GSA | Washington, DC

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An official website of the U.S. General Services Administration

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2020

Did you know that GAO saved $77.6 billion for taxpayers in FY 2020? That's a return of about $114 for every dollar of our budget. We did it by recommending ways to prevent payment errors, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs, and prevent fraud.

We also identified 1,332 other benefits—things that improve programs and operations but can't be measured in dollars. For example, our work helped federal agencies:

Provide better medical care to noncitizens apprehended at the southwest border

Oversee drone safety

Strengthen plans for a future moon landing

Presented is GAO's Performance and Accountability Report for fiscal year 2020. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable.

This report describes GAO's performance measures, results, and accountability processes for fiscal year 2020. In assessing our performance, we compared actual results against targets and goals that were set in our annual performance plan and performance budget and were developed to help carry out our strategic plan. An overview of our annual measures and targets for 2020 is available here, along with links to a complete set of our strategic planning and performance and accountability reports.

This report includes A Fiscal Year 2020 Performance and Financial Snapshot for the American Taxpayer, an introduction, four parts, and supplementary appendixes as follows:

A Fiscal Year 2020 Performance and Financial Snapshot for the American Taxpayer

This section provides an overview of GAO's performance and financial information for fiscal year 2020 and outlines GAO's near-term and future work priorities.

Introduction

This section includes the letter from the Comptroller General and a statement attesting to the completeness and reliability of the performance and financial data in this report and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. This section also includes a summary discussion of our mission, strategic planning process, and organizational structure, strategies we use to achieve our goals, and process for assessing our performance.

Management's Discussion and Analysis

This section discusses our agency-wide performance results and use of resources in fiscal year 2020. It also includes, among other things, information on our internal controls and the management challenges and external factors that affect our performance.

Performance Information

This section includes details on our performance results by strategic goal in fiscal year 2020 and the targets we are aiming for in fiscal year 2021.

Financial Information

This section includes details on our finances in fiscal year 2020, including a letter from our Chief Financial Officer, audited financial statements and notes, and the reports from our external auditor and Audit Advisory Committee. This section also includes an explanation of the information each of our financial statements conveys.

Inspector General's View of GAO's Management Challenges

This section includes our Inspector General's perspective on our agency's management challenges.

This section provides the report's abbreviations and describes how we ensure the completeness and reliability of the data for each of our performance measures. For more information, contact Timothy Bowling (202) 512-6100 or [email protected] .

Full Report

Gao contacts.

Timothy Bowling Managing Director of Audit Policy and Quality Assurance [email protected] (202) 512-6100

Office of Public Affairs

Chuck Young Managing Director [email protected] (202) 512-4800

How to Create Government KPIs

Posted on March 9, 2022 in Smart Government

Why Measure KPIs in the Public Sector?

Many large organizations struggle with determining and implementing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Not all indicators relate to performance and not all performance indicators are “key”. Nonetheless, businesses have the advantage of being able to determine KPIs based on profit or loss. The public sector, however, has no such bottom line. 

Government performance management is complex. Many data sources are available to government decision-makers. However, these data sources with their multitudes of measurements may not be relevant to improving government performance in pursuit of policy objectives. Yet, r elevant KPIs are fundamental to public accountability.

What are Key Performance Indicators in Government?

KPIs can provide the focus to simplify government decision-making and make sense of the input-output-outcome nature of performance. Inputs represent budget allocations and spending. Spending results in outputs such as “the number of people served, services provided, or units produced by a program or service. They may sometimes be referred to as activity measures (1) . Outcomes are aligned with objectives because input and output measures demonstrate effort expended and numbers served, but reveal little about whether or not these interventions are making a difference (2) . Public sector outcomes include infant mortality, high school dropout rates, taxation compliance and citizen services satisfaction. Yet, outcomes are the results of budgets as inputs and outputs as activities.

How do you Measure Good Governance in a Government Organization?

KPIs that align with Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to enable government organizations to determine which outcomes to trace back to budgets – the foundation of good governance. This helps governments to measure the cost to improve results by units of outcomes. Getting staff to focus every day on the organization’s CSFs is the ultimate aim of management (3) .

What are KPIs and How Do They Differ From Other Indicators?

There are numerous measurement indicators in performance management systems  including Key Result Indicators (KRIs) that measure important outcomes, Result Indicators (RIs) that measure activities, Performance Indicators (PIs) that diagnoses what can be improved and KPIs that measures how performance can be significantly improved. KPIs differ from other indicators (4) :

• Non-financial
• Frequently measured
• Significant to achieving goals
• Relevant to senior management
• Prescribe action
• Tied to teams
• Positive impact on public servants to improve performance

Therefore, KPIs are not the only indicators that should be measured in the public sector. KPIs have the greatest impact on improving performance.

What are Lag and Lead Indicators?

There is general agreement about KPI concepts except for “lag and lead” indicators. Lag indicators are measured infrequently to show whether targets were met, while lead indicators are more frequently measured to determine how performance can be improved (5) . The public sector organizational context determines whether the concepts of lag and lead are relevant.

How to Develop Government KPIs

KPIs can integrate well into modern public sector performance management methodologies like the balanced scorecard . The complexity associated with government performance requires a rigorous approach. Effective government KPIs are developed by determining outcome relevancy, benchmark consistency and stakeholder relevancy. 

Governments can use scenarios to determine KPIs that consider:

• Decision-making power
• Plausibility
• Alternatives
• Consistency
• Differentiation
• Memorability

How Many KPIs Should a Government Use?

Public sector organizations could become overwhelmed with measurements. ‘Less in more’ in KPIs. Fewer KPIs provide greater focus. 

Expert recommendations (Baroudi, 2014; Parmenter, 2012; Marr, 2008; PwC, 2007) suggest:

• 5 to 8 CSFs
• 4 to 10 organizational KPIs
• 15 to 25 KPIs aggregated among organizational units
• Fewer than 80 performance and reporting measures across all levels of a government organization

Like many management characteristics in government, increased rigour and time spent in KPIs planning has significant long-term benefits. KPIs selected because of easy measurement or lack traceability between outcomes, outputs and inputs results in information noise for decision-makers.

Baroudi, R. Key performance indicators: Winning tips and common challenges. EY Performance , May 2014. http://performance.ey.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/05/EY-Performance-Key-performance-indicators.pdf Marr, B. Managing and Delivering Performance, How government, public sector and not-for-profit organizations can measure and manage what really matters. Butterworth-Heinemann , 2008. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780750687102 Marr, B. Key Performance Indicators For Dummies. Wiley , 2015. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-111891323X.html Niven, P. Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government Nonprofit Agencies. Wiley ,  Second Edition, 2008. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470180021.html Parmenter, D. Key Performance Indicators for Government and Non Profit Agencies.   Wiley , 2012. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118235304.html Parmenter, D. Key Performance Indicators: Developing, Implementing, and Using Winning KPIs. Wiley , Third Edition 2015. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118925106.html —Guide for Developing Relevant Key Performance Indicators for Public Sector Reporting. Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia , December 10, 2010. http://www.bcauditor.com/sites/default/files/publications/2010/report_10/report/OAGBC_KPI_2010_updated.pdf –Guide to Key Performance Indicators. PwC , 2007. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/audit-services/corporate-reporting/assets/pdfs/uk_kpi_guide.pdf

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Government & Public Administration KPIs

Transform your Government & Public Administration with our powerful list of key performance indicators (KPIs). From citizen satisfaction and efficiency to budget execution and compliance, measure and track progress to optimize service delivery and achieve strategic goals.

By Department

• Customer Service

Human Resources

• Information Technology

By Industry

• Accommodation and Food Services
• Administrative and Support; Waste Management and Remediation Services
• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting
• Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
• Construction
• Educational Services
• Finance and Insurance
• Government & Public Administration
• Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Information, Tech, & Software
• Management of Companies and Enterprises
• Manufacturing
• Other Services (except public administration)
• Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
• Real Estate and Rental and Leasing
• Retail Trade
• Transportation and Warehousing
• Wholesale Trade

KPI Examples for Government & Public Administration

Economic development.

• Amount of new retail square footage
• Average number of business days before reported graffiti is removed
• Cost per animal sterilized
• Cost per person trained in workforce development
• Cost per sheltered animal
• Cost per youth placed in summer youth employment jobs
• Development of county-wide infrastructure, land supply, and affordable housing plan within one year, plan implementation and schedule adherence thereafter
• Dropout rate of high school students
• Health and human services
• Housing affordability index/percentage of households that can afford a median-priced home
• Net loss of agricultural or environmentally sensitive areas
• Number of affordable mortgages financed for eligible low and moderate income families
• Number of childcare facilities in areas of need
• Number of childcare facilities with national accreditation
• Number of economic development inquiries received
• Number of emerging technology projects
• Number of existing and startup businesses and agencies trained by the city or county per year that remain in business after two years
• Number of jobs created in the community from economic and community development projects
• Number of loans to low and moderate income persons closed per year
• Number of low-income infants, toddlers, and preschoolers participating in early childhood development services (versus waiting list)
• Number of new assisted living units in public housing
• Number of new businesses related to incentives/coordinated efforts to promote growth in targeted industries
• Number of new incubated businesses that survive at least two years
• Number of special projects completed
• Number of successful placements of training program participants in employment within three years
• Number of volunteer hours
• Number of youth participating in after-school / gap-time programming
• Number of youths participating in employment and entrepreneurship programs
• Per capita income
• Percentage annual increase in new dollars generated for economic development programs
• Percentage increase in graduation rare
• Percentage of businesses trained and subsequently receiving funding
• Percentage of children with insurance
• Percentage of people with disabilities satisfied or very satisfied with service access
• Percentage of residents satisfied with community involvement process with economic development
• Percentage of residents with increased access to primary and specialty medical care
• Percentage of sheltered animals adopted
• Percentage of youth with improved academic performance
• Percentage increase in the number of affordable and special needs housing
• Percentage of businesses satisfied or very satisfied with the city/county's business processes
• Percentage of customers of the health and human services area satisfied or very satisfied with service delivery and customer care
• Percentage of participants who report they learned something that will help them start a business
• Percentage of survey respondents earning less than $25,000 per year that rate the city/county's health and human services as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that agree the city or county government effectively develops low-income/poor areas
• Percentage of users of health and human services satisfied or very satisfied with transit access to health care
• Reduced percentage rate of uninsured in the city/county
• Sick leave hours used per 1,000 hours
• Total infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births
• Total mortality rate (all causes) per 100,000
• Unemployment rate

Neighborhood and Unincorporated Area Municipal Services

• Cost per document released
• Net loss of agricultural designated lands outside the urban development boundary (UDB) or environmentally sensitive lands
• Number of infill development and infill housing units and infill redevelopment projects per year (completed)
• Number of renters assisted
• Percentage of lease payments that will be on time
• Percentage of tree canopy increase
• Percentage of general/nuisance complaints responded to within 48 hours
• Percentage of nuisance incidents remediated within predefined timeframes
• Percentage of residents and businesses aware of critical knowledge factors of code compliance
• Percentage of residents satisfied with information delivery systems
• Percentage of roadways and rights-of-way cleaned and well maintained
• Percentage of survey respondents that agree the city or county employees that helped them went the extra mile to get their issue heard and resolved
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate flooding as a minor or major problem in their neighborhood
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the development and land use/zoning in their neighborhood as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the drinking water quality and sewer service as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the quality of roadways and road signs in city or county as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that were satisfied with their last contact with city or county personnel
• Secret shopper rating for employee customer service
• Total square feet of facilities

Public Safety

• Average fire rescue response time from time dispatch receives life-threatening call from 911 and/ or percentage of total fire calls with a response time under eight minutes from call entry to arrival and/or emergency services average response time from public safety answering point (PSAP) to arrival
• Cost per park safety enforcement action on park land
• Development and implementation of a comprehensive plan for homeland security
• Development of a comprehensive plan for homeland security
• Number of licensed pets
• Number of public emergency shelters
• Number of abandoned vehicles investigated
• Number of collisions related to pursuits
• Number of first responders trained and equipped for an emergency event
• Number of patrol hours in neighborhoods
• Number of pedestrian/bicycle collisions per 100,000 population
• Number of requests for special operations support
• Number of service call responses annually
• Percentage increase in number of volunteers
• Percentage increase in use of non-lethal technology
• Percentage of citizens that state they feel safe in parks and recreation facilities
• Percentage reduction in drug-related incidents
• Percentage reduction in juvenile crime rates
• Percentage reduction in non-emergency calls into the 911 system
• Percentage of survey respondents who generally find police officers and traffic enforcement officers to be friendly and approachable safety services
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate crime in their neighborhood as a minor or major problem
• Percentage reduction in property loss rate
• Police emergency average response time (minutes)
• Rate of reinstitutionalization of offenders processed through the Juvenile Evaluation Center
• Rate of traffic fatalities per 100,000 population

Recreation and Culture

• Average cost per daily servicing acre
• Average safety rating for pools
• Cost per estimated arts center services participant hour
• Cost per estimated museum participant hour
• Cost per participant hour in senior services
• Cost per public event
• Increase in the number of collaborative programs and participants with educational institutions
• Number of acres of natural areas restored and number of acres maintained
• Number of adult sports teams
• Number of attendees at recreational, cultural, and library facilities, programs and services
• Number of cultural, recreational, and libraries collaboration projects per year
• Number of cultural, recreational, and library programs available for the elderly and people with disabilities
• Number of developed park acreage
• Number of estimated arts center services participant hours
• Number of estimated participant hours in after-school programs
• Number of meals served to seniors
• Number of public art contracts completed
• Number of residents satisfied or very satisfied with availability of open or green spaces
• Number of residents satisfied or very satisfied with availability of facilities
• Park acres per capita
• Percentage of free programs offered
• Percentage of library district residents within four miles (or 25 minutes) of a library
• Percentage of organizations and artists satisfied or very satisfied with the city or county gram application process
• Percentage of participants satisfied or very satisfied with availability of quality lifelong learning programs
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the city or county's library services as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the city or county's recreational and cultural activities as good or very good
• Quality rating of residents and visitors for cultural, recreational, and library facilities and places
• Recreation and culture dollars available through all sources of funding, including existing and new sources
• Resident ratings of the appearance of recreational, cultural, and library facilities
• Resident ratings of the range of parks and recreation activities
• Total audience served through public events

Transportation

• Achievement of all major milestones timelines in the city or county's transportation plan
• Annual percentage change of parking operations expense
• Average commute times to work in minutes
• Average dollar value per central purchasing office purchase order
• Average number of days between invoice date and date of check disbursement
• Bond ratings
• Calendar days from requisition to purchase order
• Cost of government - Dollars per capita and per capita by category
• Daily bus and rail boardings
• Dollar amount of purchases made that meet sustainability guidelines
• Dollar cost per accounts payable transaction
• Enabling strategies - Budgets and finance
• Implementation of 24-hour rail and bus operations
• National customer satisfaction ranking for the airport
• Average work-trip vehicle occupancy
• Compliance percentage with local tax collection
• Percentage of public transit trips taken
• Number of visitors to county transit websites
• Customer satisfaction ranking for the seaport
• Negotiated contract savings (dollars saved)
• Net parking income/loss
• Number (and percentage) of facilities meeting regulatory requirements
• Number of audits and special projects completed
• Number of parking tickets issued
• Number of payment transactions processed for departments
• Number of projects managed
• Number of purchases made city/countywide by central purchasing office
• Number of residents satisfied or very satisfied with the implementation of the city/county's transportation plan
• Percentage of audit recommendations "concurred with" by management
• Percentage of cash reserves
• Percentage of strategic plans outcomes supported by business plans
• Percentage of traffic signals synchronized and optimized
• Percentage of vendor solicitations successfully awarded without delay due to rebids or protests
• Percentage of community satisfied with value of city or county's services for tax dollars paid
• Percentage of employees rating the city or county or state as a good place to work
• Percentage of internal users satisfied with procurement timeliness quality, and overall service
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the cleanliness of buses and train cars as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the congestion on the roadways in their neighborhood as a minor or major problem
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the convenience of the city or county bus routes as good or very good
• Percentage of survey respondents that rate the ease of transportation to and from the airport and seaport as good or very good
• Planned frequency of transit service during peak and non-peak hours
• Rate of schedule adherence for bus and rail service
• Receiving Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) distinguished budget award
• Total number of aviation passengers

Enabling Strategies Government Operations

• Cost per page view on the city or county website
• Dollars saved through IT investments
• Electronic access to services and information, and percentage of survey respondents that agree that it is easy to find what they need or want on the city or county website
• Fleet costs (acquisition, operating, resale value) within prescribed industry standards and percentage of department users satisfied with quality and timeliness of fleet management services
• Increase number of employees rating the city or county as a good place to work
• Number of page views on the city or county website per capita
• Number of planned media events (includes news conferences)
• One hundred percent of financial reports filed timely and accurately in compliance with the law
• Percentage of city or county employees aware of their component of performance targets
• Percentage of city or county employees aware of their importance to city or county’s values and priorities
• Percentage of IT projects completed on time, within budget
• Percentage of IT routine problems solved within 24 hours
• Percentage of (facility) projects completed within budget and on time
• Percentage of accuracy between votes cast and votes reported
• Percentage of customers familiar with city or county sources of information
• Percentage of internal customers and residents satisfied with aesthetics of city or county facilities
• Percentage of residents with a positive image of city or county government
• Percentage of users (residents, visitors, employees, etc.) satisfied with city or county services
• Reduced staff turnover
• Satisfaction ratings from service delivery departments
• Value of corporate-initiated media coverage
• Voter satisfaction with process

Why use KPIs in government?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a valuable tool for organizations in the government and public administration industry to measure and track their performance and progress towards specific goals. These indicators allow organizations to identify areas of strength and weakness , make data-driven decisions, and improve overall efficiency and effectiveness.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics used to evaluate the success of an organization in meeting key business objectives. For government and public administration agencies, tracking KPIs can provide invaluable insights into how well programs and services are functioning. As taxpayer dollars fund these organizations, it’s crucial to monitor performance and be accountable. Tracking the right KPIs also enables data-driven decision making to improve efficiency and outcomes. This article will examine why tracking KPIs is vital in the government and public administration sector.

Defining KPIs

KPIs are quantifiable measures used to monitor performance over time. They act like a dashboard, showing how different areas are operating. KPIs evaluate activities, processes and results to determine if goals are being met. Each organization must define KPIs that align with their specific objectives and strategy. Common examples of KPIs used in government and public agencies include:

• Customer or citizen satisfaction scores
• Cost per service/program
• Processing times for applications or requests
• Wait times for services
• Website or call center traffic and resolution rates
• Program enrollment and participation rates
• Service delivery error rates
• Regulation compliance rates
• Employee turnover and satisfaction
• Budget versus actual expenditure

Well-designed KPIs are:

• Relevant - they measure metrics vital to objectives
• Quantitative - they have numerical values that can be measured over time
• Actionable - they point to areas for improvement
• Easy to understand - the meaning is clear to all stakeholders
• Timely - they are monitored regularly using current data

With thoughtfully developed KPIs, government administration can monitor service delivery, efficiency, compliance, cost-effectiveness and more.

Benefits of Tracking KPIs

There are numerous reasons why routinely tracking KPIs is beneficial for public sector agencies:

Enhance Transparency and Accountability

As public administration bodies, government agencies must be transparent about how they are utilizing taxpayer funds and serving citizens. Monitoring and publishing performance data allows oversight to ensure funds are being used appropriately with services delivered efficiently. KPIs enable agencies to showcase what outputs and outcomes are being achieved. This accountability also builds public trust.

Inform Strategic Planning

By benchmarking KPIs over time, leaders can discern strengths to leverage and pain points to address in strategic plans. KPIs help identify what’s working well to replicate and what needs improvement. Analyzing KPI trends also aids in setting realistic targets for the future. Leadership can determine if current objectives are being met or need adjustment.

Support Data-Driven Decisions

KPIs transform operational data into actionable insights. Rather than relying on assumptions or gut instinct, tracking KPIs allows decisions to be grounded in real evidence . Leaders can allocate resources, adjust programs, implement digital solutions and more based on where KPIs indicate the need. This data-first approach enables issues to be proactively addressed rather than reactively managed.

Enhance Efficiency and Productivity

Monitoring efficiency and productivity KPIs, like cost per transaction or processing times, can pinpoint where workflows can be streamlined. By identifying lagging areas, agencies can undergo business process reengineering to eliminate redundant efforts or delays. KPIs also indicate when investments in automation and digital transformation could amplify productivity.

Improve Services and Citizen Experience

Citizen satisfaction KPIs directly correlate with public approval of government services. Tracking website visits, call volumes, case resolution rates and satisfaction scores helps agencies enhance services to be more citizen-centric. KPIs reveal pain points in the citizen journey that can be smoothed out through redesigned processes or technologies. This leads to improved perceptions and interactions.

Compare Performance and Foster Competition

When KPIs are shared publicly, it enables comparison across different agencies and jurisdictions. Citizens can see how their local services stack up, while agencies can benchmark against others. This can motivate organizations to emulate best practices that produce standout KPIs. Internally, KPIs can also drive friendly competition among departments and managers to meet targets.

In summary, routine tracking of KPIs is critical for government administration to oversee operations, boost efficiency, create value for citizens and remain accountable. However, the benefits are only achieved with well-implemented KPI methodology.

Implementing a KPI Tracking Process

To actualize advantages, KPIs must be ingrained through a formalized and optimized tracking process. Simply defining KPIs is inadequate without an infrastructure to regularly monitor, document and analyze them. Here are best practices for implementing a successful KPI tracking process:

Determine Critical Goals and Objectives

The first step is to define the core goals and desired objectives of the organization. These may come from the agency's strategic plan or mission. Goals could include improving service levels, decreasing costs, driving innovation or other aims. The goals should inform what KPIs will be most useful to track progress.

Select Relevant KPIs

With goals in mind, thoughtfully select a focused set of KPIs that will indicate progress to these ends. Overloading with too many KPIs dilutes insights. Keep the set concise with KPIs that align to core objectives and provide the most value. KPIs should also balance different aspects like service quality, efficiency, compliance and expenditures.

Set Realistic Targets

Each KPI needs clearly defined targets that state the value the metric is intended to reach within a set timeframe. Establish realistic yet ambitious targets through thorough analysis of historical data, benchmarking and organizational capacity. Make sure targets are quantifiable, time-bound and aligned across departments.

Monitor KPIs Continuously

KPIs only deliver value if they are monitored continuously, not just annually or quarterly. Determine a cadence for analyzing each KPI, such as daily, weekly or monthly. Automated systems enable continuous monitoring to instantly detect variations. Data inputs should be timely and consistent.

Assign Ownership

To uphold accountability, assign each KPI an owner responsible for monitoring performance. Department heads or managers typically oversee KPIs that map to their domain. Owners must analyze new data, address underperformance, share insights across the organization and recommend improvements based on KPI outcomes.

Analyze Trends and Root Causes

Once new KPI data enters, drill into the numbers to spot trends, make comparisons and identify root causes. Look at historical patterns, make projections and discern what factors influence the KPIs. Consider internal operational contributors along with external market dynamics. Isolate what’s driving change.

Report Performance to Stakeholders

Share KPI performance data with both internal leadership and external stakeholders like oversight boards, legislators and citizens. Be transparent about both achievements and deficiencies. Many government bodies have mandated public reporting around key metrics. The reporting process should be consistent, simple and accessible to all stakeholders.

Course Correct and Set New Targets

The essential final step is to course correct when KPIs underperform targets and to continually set new targets once existing ones are achieved. Underperformance should trigger action plans to remedy issues, while successful KPIs illustrate new heights are possible. Setting ambitious yet attainable targets fosters ongoing improvement.

With this rigorous KPI methodology ingrained organization-wide, government agencies can fully harness the benefits of monitoring key metrics. However, the efficiency of this process is profoundly amplified when technology platforms automate and simplify KPI tracking.

Leveraging Technology for Streamlined KPI Tracking

The prevalence of data and analytics technology has revolutionized KPI tracking with automated systems purpose-built for the task. Government IT leaders realizing the power of KPIs are adopting platforms that:

• Pull data from multiple source systems
• Calculate KPI values automatically
• Provide drill-down analysis capabilities
• Generate insightful visualizations and reports
• Deliver real-time dashboard monitoring
• Offer self-service access to all stakeholders
• Have configurable alerts and notifications
• Integrate advanced analytics like forecasting
• Allow modeling of different target scenarios

With automated solutions, KPI tracking shifts from a manual chore to an always-on effort that empowers data-driven agility. Technology also enhances accessibility for non-technical users while centralizing insights from across siloed source systems. Let's explore key capabilities:

Integrated Data Hub

A unified data foundation is vital for consistent KPI tracking across systems. Solutions ingest and integrate data from source systems like HR databases, case management systems, financial systems, citizen feedback surveys and more. IT no longer needs to manually aggregate data sets.

Customizable KPI Configuration

Leading solutions allow central definition of KPI formulas drawing data from connected sources. This enables IT to build customized KPIs aligned to strategic objectives without coding. Users can also configure reporting parameters, targets, responsible owners and analytics needs for each KPI.

Automated Calculation and Monitoring

Once configured, KPI values automatically calculate using real-time data and clearly display on dashboards. No manual tabulation is required. Values instantly update as new data enters the system, enabling continuous monitoring. Alerts trigger when thresholds are breached.

Interactive Visualizations

KPI analytics leap off the page through interactive charts, graphs and geospatial maps. Users can drill down into visualizations to filter KPIs by categories like time, region or department. Visual context makes trends user-friendly to interpret. Users can also customize views.

Scenario Modeling

Forward-looking modeling tools allow users to forecast future KPI values based on assumptions. Leadership can model how potential changes to operations or targets could impact KPIs. This enables scenario planning and estimation of different courses of action.

Operational Analytics

Smart platforms analyze KPI outliers, trends and root causes using statistical methods to provide users explanatory and prescriptive context. This augments internal analysis to sharpen insights. Some solutions even prescribe recommended actions based on analytics.

Collaboration and Commentary

Solutions should facilitate discussion and knowledge sharing around KPI results. Comment streams, task assignment and integrations with platforms like Slack and Teams allow context to be captured. This builds alignment across the organization .

External Stakeholder Access

Public sector platforms enable external stakeholder access through read-only portals. Oversight authorities and citizens can self-serve KPI reports and visualizations without accessing internal systems. This expands transparency.

With automated solutions, the complete KPI lifecycle from data to insights to action happens quickly in one place. And benefits are multiplied when adopting an enterprise platform that covers KPIs across the entire government organization.

Implementing an Enterprise KPI Solution

While individual agencies can drive value from KPI analytics, an enterprise platform that standardized KPI tracking across all departments and public bodies unlocks immense strategic potential. Let's explore key advantages:

Standardization and Consistency

An enterprise platform provides a shared schema that standardizes which KPIs are monitored and how they are defined. This ensures continuity and alignment across all agencies. Strategic goals cascade down to consistent localized KPIs.

Holistic Visibility

With all entities feeding into a unified platform, leadership gains holistic data visibility not possible in siloed systems. Insights can be drilled down to the departmental level or aggregated to see the overall entity perspective. This enables holistic strategic planning.

Cross-Departmental Benchmarking

Shared KPI data allows benchmarking across departments and regions to uncover best practices and pain points. Underperforming groups can emulate high KPI scorers. Healthy competition and collaboration bolsters improvement.

Elimination of Data Silos

Data silos plague government bodies, making organization-wide reporting challenging. An integrated KPI platform built on modern data architecture eliminates siloed data traps. This breaks down information barriers between operating units.

Enhanced Analytics

Sophisticated analytics techniques like forecasting, predictive modeling, and machine learning gain power with more data points from across the enterprise. Large-scale KPI data amplifies analytical potential for enterprise leaders.

Single Source of Truth

Decision-makers gain one truthful dataset for the whole entity rather than separate versions of the truth in fragmented systems. Enterprise KPI data becomes a single source of truth for guiding strategy.

Government IT Benefits

To realize these benefits at scale, government IT leaders are adopting agile KPI platforms with microservices, open APIs and cloud-native architectures. This alleviates integration hassles while enabling scalability. Let's explore key technology enablers:

Interoperable Microservices

Microservices split software into independently deployable modules aligned to business needs like KPI management, data integration and analytics. This makes platforms enterprise-ready and scalable while allowing flexibility.

Open APIs and Connectors

Platforms should expose open APIs and provide pre-built connectors to smoothly integrate with surrounding government systems at scale. This allows easy yet secure data access without vendor lock-in.

Cloud-Native Foundation

A cloud-native platform built on containers, Kubernetes and serverless computing grants scalable power along with reduced operational overheads. Cloud delivery also enables anywhere access and simplifies upgrades.

Service-Oriented Architecture

KPI platforms should be oriented as a set of shared business services usable across the enterprise rather than a rigid monolithic system. This service-oriented approach makes rollout smoother.

Modern Data Infrastructure

Powerful data ingestion, transformation and warehousing capabilities create a robust data foundation for large-scale KPI tracking. Hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP) also enables speed.

With enterprise-grade architecture, an organization-wide KPI solution future-proofs and amplifies analytical capabilities while taming complexities.

In summary, implementing an enterprise-wide KPI analytics platform allows government bodies to modernize performance tracking across all departments and operating units. This grants leaders unified visibility with shared data and standards to guide strategic decisions across regions and agencies based on hard evidence. The transformational potential of enterprise KPI analytics makes it a worthwhile investment for public sector IT modernization.

Use Cases by Government Function

To provide additional context, let's explore common KPI tracking use cases across different government functional areas:

HR leaders can monitor KPIs like:

• Time to hire
• Recruiting costs per hire
• Training expenditures per employee
• Voluntary turnover rate
• Internal hire rate
• Absenteeism rates
• Employee satisfaction and engagement scores

Tracking HR KPIs enables data-driven workforce planning, talent acquisition and employee experience improvements.

Finance and Administration

Common financial KPIs include:

• Budget vs actuals by department
• Revenue and expenditures trends
• Return on assets
• Accounts payable/receivable cycles
• Grant money awarded and disbursed
• Procurement cycle times

These KPIs oversee budgets, costs, asset utilization and fiscal health.

Public Health and Safety

Health agencies may track metrics like:

• Disease incidence rates
• Immunization rates
• Response times for emergency services
• Healthcare wait times
• Health violations and interventions
• Recidivism rates for offenders

Monitoring these KPIs helps safeguard community health and safety.

Transport bodies can track metrics like:

• Road safety indicators
• Infrastructure maintenance backlogs
• Public transit passenger volumes
• Average commute times
• Sustainability metrics like emissions
• Traffic congestion and delays

These KPIs oversee delivery and usage of transportation services and infrastructure.

Key economic KPIs include:

• Unemployment rates
• Number of business licenses issues
• Tourism revenue and visits
• Investment in innovation hubs

These metrics gauge economic health, business growth and vitality.

Environment

Environmental agencies track KPIs like:

• Air and water quality
• Waste diversion rates
• Energy efficiency
• Carbon emissions
• Conservation area
• Frequency of weather events

Tracking these allows oversight of ecological health and sustainability.

Across all government functions, KPI analytics unearths insights that inform policies, planning and service delivery. The use cases are endless.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges

However, simply investing in KPI technology is not enough. To ingrain enterprise KPI tracking, leaders must address procedural and cultural challenges:

Secure Buy-In at All Levels

Stakeholders across the organization must buy into KPI tracking for it to take hold. Leadership, management and staff should all recognize KPI benefits and provide input into metrics selection to foster adoption. Change management is key.

Define KPIs Collaboratively

Avoid top-down dictatorship of KPIs. Drafting KPIs collaboratively, with every department shaping metrics aligned to their goals, ensures alignment. Subject matter experts must be involved to capture all perspectives.

Provide Training and Support

Smooth user adoption requires training on KPI methodology, the tracking platform and data literacy. Ongoing support and documentation should be provided as users navigate the new way of working. Assign change ambassadors across groups.

Make KPIs Part of Workflows

Build KPI analysis and response into core organizational workflows like weekly staff meetings , monthly reviews and quarterly planning. This habitualizes data-driven performance management .

Communicate KPI Narratives

It’s crucial to communicate the “why” and strategy behind KPI use through regular messaging from leadership. This builds buy-in and helps staff contextualize how KPI tracking benefits the collective mission .

Incentivize Usage

Drive adoption by incentivizing teams and managers to meet KPI targets through positive recognition, financial rewards, greater autonomy or other benefits. This motivates engagement with the process .

Govern Data Diligently

Strong data governance must safeguard the quality and reliability of KPI data. Governance policies for security, access, data quality and lifecycle management give stakeholders trust.

Reinforce KPI-Driven Culture

Regular training and messaging should reinforce a culture focused on achieving outcomes based on data insights. This keeps KPIs top of mind over time after initial rollout andembeds it into operations long-term.

With a gradual rollout, stakeholder education and cultural realignment, KPI tracking soon becomes business as usual. The insights uncovered dramatically elevate data-driven decision making across the government enterprise.

This examination illustrates the immense strategic value derivable from ingraining effective enterprise-wide KPI tracking across government administrations. By implementing solutions to automate and enhance the process, leaders gain unprecedented visibility into performance while improving accountability to citizens and oversight bodies. KPIs empower public agencies to proactively address issues, optimize efficiency, allocate resources effectively and refine strategic planning using hard data rather than hunches. As governments at all levels modernize operations, integrating KPI analytics lays a data foundation that drives transformation well into the future.

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Our dedicated publications, resulted from the extensive Government performance research conducted, offer multiple learning and development possibilities, from KPI selection and documentation through the Top KPI Reports and KPI Dictionaries to insightful best practices from all around the world, through the articles published in PERFORMANCE Magazine.

The Top KPIs Report Series are aimed at sharing our valuable knowledge regarding the use of KPIs in measuring performance in Government. The reports gather the most popular KPIs from smartKPIs.com, our database of documented Key Performance Indicators. Gain rich insights on the best KPIs to use for both Local and State/Federal Government entities!

Top 25 Local Government KPIs of 2010

Top 25 Local Government KPIs of 2011-2012

Top 25 State Government KPIs of 2010

Top 25 State Government KPIs of 2011-2012

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Our experts have documented and published a vast collection of articles, meant to inspire professionals in improving their performance in both Local and State Government entities.The highest-rated topics of interest concern KPIs, Strategy, Balanced Scorecard, but also less technical sections such as personal performance.

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Energy efficiency will be a growing challenge, as stated in the 2015 UAE State of Energy Report, since population and economic growth and high consumption rates make servicing citizens a strenuous task. The popular belief tends to be that the United Arab Emirate’s speedy economic growth and development stems from its electricity framework, which receives its power from oil.

A Malaysian Story: the Balanced Scorecard and Health Service

The Health Service Sector in Malaysia is one of the most complex industries, in which high-quality patient-centred treatment is key to surviving against competition, and to being compliant with state regulations. See how this rewarded service manages to successfully integrate the Balanced Scorecard into its day to day tasks.

Performance Management in the U.S. Department of Justice

In 2010, the United States government passed the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, which sought to bring great improvements to their justice department. In line with this act “quarterly performance assessments of government programs for purposes of assessing agency performance and improvement, and to establish agency performance improvement officers and the Performance Improvement Council” are required.

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Performance Management

50 modern municipal government performance measurement ideas.

By Mary King

14 august 2023.

• 1.1 Local Government KPIs vs Performance Measures
• 1.2 Five Steps to Getting Started
• 2.1 Resident Satisfaction and Engagement
• 2.2 Community Trust
• 2.3 Financial Performance
• 2.4 Public Safety and Security
• 2.5 Infrastructure and Public Works
• 2.6 Community Development
• 2.7 Public Health Performance Measures
• 2.8 Education and Culture
• 2.9 Economic Development
• 3 Get the Guide ↓

Developing Modern Municipal Government Performance Measures

Developing key performance measures in government is an essential part of strategic plan implementation, effective service delivery, the successful roll-out of new initiatives, and ensuring the core functions of local government are running smoothly. When scoped correctly, performance measures can be the compass that guides your local government towards large-scale strategic accomplishments and positive community outcomes.

Performance measurement in local government ought to include measuring program activities or successes (sometimes called output measures), the resources used in any given effort (the inputs ), and the outcomes of an effort or plan. Performance measurement is a best practice that should be used in every local government department.

Municipalities are under a lot of pressure to get things done quickly and correctly, while trying to serve a wide range of people, often with conflicting needs and interests. Doing something efficiently, but not effectively, can have disastrous results in the public sector—and doing something effectively, but not scoped realistically enough or broken down enough over time—can risk urgent changes taking way too long. Having meaningful metrics that measure progress towards specific goals and objectives can ensure your strategies are reaching who they need to reach, and that actions are having their intended effect.

Local Government KPIs vs Performance Measures

Choosing the right things to measure can be a daunting task! The thing is, there are So.👏 Many.👏 Things.👏 To.👏 Measure.👏 It’s easy to get lost and miss seeing the forest for the trees, when you start diving into every single possible key performance measure or key performance indicator (KPI) for every single dimension of local government life.

If we wanted to really make a comprehensive list of every single KPI a local government could measure, this blog post would take a really long time to read (and write) and would not be particularly useful. Instead, this post will explore what we increasingly see as more meaningful and useful measures from across our customer base of more than 150 cities, counties, towns, and special districts.

It’s 2023. Today, we all have a much deeper understanding of the importance of measuring what matters, not just tracking data points for the sake of it. This blog post will provide ideas and suggestions from our local government customer base on what to measure to actually help keep you on track, make decisions, and understand the impact of your work.

Let’s start with understanding our performance measurement definitions.

In the public sector, when it comes to measuring inputs, outputs, and outcomes, you’ll probably hear both “KPIs” and “performance measures” being used.

Just so we’re all on the same page on what these terms mean:

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) – A quantifiable expression of progress toward a specific strategic goal. KPIs quantify ongoing results of a program, and are typically tightly scoped questions, the answers to which can help us better understand how well something is working. For example, “Length of time it takes for employees to submit reports” is a KPI related to an overall strategic goal of organizational productivity and efficiency.

Performance Measure – A KPI is a performance measure, but not all performance measures are KPIs. Rather, KPIs are a type of performance measurement. Performance measurement refers to the broader, typically numerically quantifiable, practice of measuring and expressing a feature of a particular service or program—such as how effective, efficient, expensive, or how many resources something requires. Performance measurement often includes measuring input/output ratios. Performance measurement typically is used to mean quantifying and evaluating overall activities and processes (usually broken down into KPIs).

All that said, most experts agree that the terminology you use between these two is not as important as ensuring everyone is on the same page! For this blog, because we are looking at performance measurement more broadly, that’s the term we will focus on.

Let’s get started first with our step-by-step guide on how local governments can select those key municipal government performance measures to ensure improved governance and enhanced services. Then, we’ll present 50 top local government performance measures drawn largely from our customer database of more than 150 of North America’s top performing local governments. We’ve spent time analyzing what they’re measuring, and then we’ve divided that up based on theme. There’s five performance measures per theme. And while this list is by no means exhaustive, we hope it gives you some inspiration and ideas to get started!

Five Steps to Getting Started

Step 1: Define Objectives and Goals Clearly define your objectives and goals, and figure out if you want to be focusing on leading indicators (possible future outcomes), or lagging indicators (looking to past trends and changes, to get a sense of patterns), or a combination of both. Also, your goals should be aligned with your community’s needs and expectations. Goals might include enhancing public safety, or ensuring environmental sustainability: your actions and KPIs should map onto these objectives in a way that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Step 2: Identify Data Sources Determine the data sources available to track progress towards the defined goals. This also doubles as, “Identify the stakeholders involved.” Is this an internal KPI? Or does this particular performance measure concern the community? It may sound like a no-brainer, but knowing who is at stake is a critical part of measuring performance and capturing the right data. This data could include surveys, reports, existing databases, national datasets, or information collected from various departments within your local government organization.

Step 3: Keep Purpose Scoped (Avoid Vanity Metrics) It’s easy to get scattered. Focus on those indicators that directly impact the outcomes, align with the community’s priorities, and tell you a useful story of how the organization or department is performing. Avoid measuring too many KPIs, as it may lead to data overload and distract from the core strategic objectives. (“Wait, why were we measuring how many permits were issued, and how many permits were requested, and how many permits were declined… when all we wanted to know is if people are finding it easy to apply for a permit? Why don’t we just ask them in a survey after they’ve applied for their permit, what their experience was?”) We all want local governments to be able to avoid that often-leveled criticism of being inefficient and impractical.

Keep it tight. Staying focused helps strike a balance between metrics, the team’s capacity to analyze and use them, and the practicality of data collection.

As one of our favorite local government leaders likes to say “focus on the The Vital Few: those key performance measures that will actually tell you how the organization is performing.”

Step 4: Communicate and Collaborate around your Performance Measures The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) stresses the importance of communicating with clarity and transparency in the process of developing KPIs and measuring performance. Governments should be able to clearly articulate why they’re trying to measure something. Incorporating feedback from the community and engaging with local government staff during the KPI selection process will likely go a long way in bolstering results. A collaborative approach ensures that KPIs reflect a comprehensive understanding of the community’s needs and the government’s capabilities.

Step 6: Consistently Monitor, Review, and Take Action on Key Performance Measures Once your key performance measures are chosen and implemented, set up a monitoring and review process. A tool like Envisio—which is made to help measure performance, deliver strategic plans, and help with progress reporting all in one place —can help with this process. Regularly track and analyze the data collected, and compare it against established targets. If any KPIs consistently fall short of targets, it’s essential to identify the root causes and take corrective actions to address the issues effectively.

Now, without further ado, let’s look at some of the top local government key performance measures for a modern approach to municipal performance measurement.

Resident Satisfaction and Engagement

1. Resident Satisfaction Index – Measure overall satisfaction levels of residents with local government services. Take a look at the City of Irving, TX, and how they measure resident satisfaction in every pillar–from sense of community to sense of satisfaction with infrastructure–on their Future in Focus dashboard!

2. Service Response Time – Track the time taken to respond to resident inquiries and service requests. Keep it simple: if a resident inquiry or request consistently takes a long time (or starts to increase), that’s actually great information to have!

3. System Usability Scale – Evaluate your local government’s communication of bureaucratic processes by soliciting community feedback on how usable, or easily accessed, particular features are. How long does it take to do something? Is there a process that can be digitized that hasn’t yet been digitized?

4. Community Events Attendance – How many folks showed up? Who showed up? These are metrics that can be used to improve future events.

5. Social Media Engagement – Tracking the level of engagement on social media platforms can be a great way to see whether or not your city’s plans are getting the kind of buzz you want! Tracking who engages, what they engage with, and how often your content is shared, is a great KPI for indicating interest and engagement levels.

(Sidenote: We recognize the importance of not conflating resident engagement with resident satisfaction. More on that in the Community Trust section below!)

Community Trust

Trust is a difficult concept to measure (once described to me as a “squishy” concept, which I love). Despite its squishiness, local government organizations should be able to consistently measure community trust over time through a set of proxy measures.

Through extensive research with academic and private sector partners, and incorporating local government practitioner input, we identified some common constructs of trust. The next set of suggested municipal measures are all measured through resident surveys.

To learn more about measuring trust in local government, and our work in this area, please get in touch !

1. Overall Trust – Using a survey question such as “How much do you trust the city?” with a scale (ideally a 5-point scale) of available answers and an optional free-form text area for a short explanation of the answer given can be a useful way to get a baseline measure of trust. Survey respondents will likely use the open-ended space to air grievances or speak about specific events, but these are all part of the process of learning to listen and measure trust with your residents.

2. Competence – Ask residents how they would rate the quality of services provided by the city; again, using a 5-point scale. Low levels of perceived competence generally indicate low levels of trust in the ability of the city to carry out their plans, or low levels of trust in the city being able to handle challenging situations or crises.

3. Openness and Inclusion – This is a measure of the perception of how well, or how much, the city includes residents in its decisions. Ask “How much is the City willing to show you behind-the-scenes?” Municipal governments that want to score well in this area should be fostering two-way communication with stakeholders, where relevant and usable information is provided, and interaction is fostered as a means to improve transparency, accountability, and engagement.

4. Reliability – Ask “How much can you rely on the City to do what it says?” The reliability construct of trust addresses the ability of the local government to minimize uncertainty in the economic, social and political environment of their residents, and to act in a consistent and predictable manner.

5. Helpfulness – Ask “How useful and helpful is the information that you receive from the city?” This is a measure of the perception of how effectively the city or county is keeping residents informed about issues facing the community.

Financial Performance

1. Budget Execution Rate – This refers to the amount of the original budget implemented. How much was actually spent? Measuring the rate of budget execution is a good tool for problem solving; by regularly checking to see if the budget is actually being spent in any given area, you can prevent problems like uneven implementation. Benchmarking can really help with this (what’s your budget execution rate compared to municipalities that you aspire to be more like? Or those that are similar to you?)

2. Input to Output Ratio Measurement – Simply put, dividing the output by the input. Referred to as I-O in macroeconomics, this is a classic efficiency and productivity measure; how much is going in, and how much is coming out? This is a key step in outcomes-based budgeting.

3. Debt per Capita – Debt in government is a tricky thing. Often blasted as a thing to avoid at all costs, utilizing municipal debt can actually be a valuable strategy in accomplishing plans. It’s important to measure things like bond to debt ratio, and benchmark your debt relative to other local governments. Have a look at the Village of Mount Prospect’s public dashboard to see how they chart this particular performance measure:

4. Increases in Taxable Value per Dollar – Measuring the shifts and changes over time in how much value is generated through each taxable dollar.

5. Grants and Funding Acquisition – This measures the success rate of obtaining grants and external funding. This can help you determine how much time is worth spending on trying to snag those grants in the first place.

Public Safety and Security

1. Crime Rate – A commonly used municipal performance measure is the number of reported crimes per capita. It is important, however, to split out the types of crime being reported (violent crime versus property-based crime), and canvas a wide area to avoid negative bias disproportionately impacting areas with higher-rates of poverty. For instance, areas with high rates of poverty are likely to result in higher rates of desperation, inequality, and will therefore have higher rates of needs-based crimes.

2. Emergency Response Time – Evaluate the efficiency of emergency services in responding to crises. Check out our piece on fire department performance measures , as part of our Measure what Matters series, for more.

3. Cybersecurity Preparedness – A preventative measure that assesses the level of preparedness against cyber threats and attacks: this can be assessed internally, through measurements such as number of hardware updates. One of our customers, Clayton County, measures the modernization of their software and hardware as a means of tracking their cybersecurity.

4. Traffic Accident Rate – Monitor the number of traffic accidents per capita.

5. Feelings of Safety – You can engage your community in a collaborative process and solicit ongoing feedback on how they feel about the public safety services provided in your community. This can be measured in a number of ways, and we suggest looking to Tempe, Arizona, and how they reimagined their community safety plans, for more guidance on this:

Infrastructure and Public Works

1. Number of Preventative Maintenance Projects – All infrastructure gets a lot of wear and tear on its use over the years, and data-driven infrastructure maintenance is a game changer. Local governments may choose to do preventative maintenance – either by routinely maintaining something on a set schedule, or maintaining something if certain conditions are met (“It was a particularly rainy season, and we know this road had small potholes already, so let’s repair them now.”)

2. Green Initiatives Adoption – Monitor the implementation of environmentally friendly policies and programs. Have a look at The City of Montpelier’s dashboard for more inspiration on this. They are measuring their performance carefully towards their goal of becoming the first State-capital city to achieve carbon neutrality.

3. Parks and Recreational Facilities Satisfaction – Evaluate resident satisfaction with local parks and recreational facilities through a survey, or through an analysis of how often these services are being used.

4. Water Usage: This can be measured either as gallons of drinking water produced daily, or by residential water usage; City of Woodbury’s “Residential per Capita Served Water Usage (gallons per day)” chart can be seen below, tracking data from 2014 to 2022.

5. Energy Consumption Reduction – Track efforts to reduce overall energy consumption. One place to start is in buildings already owned and used by the city; measuring a tangible energy reduction in government buildings will help iron out any kinks before you start measuring this across your city.

Community Development

1. Graduation Rate – Track the percentage of students graduating from local educational institutions.

2. Poverty Rate/Supplemental Poverty Measure – Statistics on poverty are usually deflated. Many statisticians and advocates argue that only measuring by the poverty line doesn’t adequately capture data on the number of people living very close to the brink of total financial destitution; it’s best to track both “official” poverty rates, and Supplemental Poverty Measures. Tracking the number of people living in poverty will be a major leading indicator of a number of overlapping elements, including (but not limited to), literacy, graduation rates, poor health, and unemployment rates.

3. Childcare Services Availability – Measure the availability of childcare services for local families. One way to determine this is to see how close the most affordable childcare service is.

4. Cultural Diversity Index – Evaluate the level of cultural diversity within the community–one method could be starting by counting how many cultural institutions are available to members of different communities, and then systematically surveying those institutions (separate surveys for attendees and leadership) on how satisfied they are with those services. Another way is to survey all neighborhoods generally, and ask if they feel comfortable identifying their background, and if they feel their culturally specific needs are met or able to be expressed in their community.

5. Number of Accessible Housing Options – Increasing low-cost and accessible housing that promotes community is a metric that you’ll want if you intend to measure either long-term or short-term moves towards promoting aging in place , or ensuring people with disabilities can still thrive and participate in their communities.

Public Health Performance Measures

1. Health Insurance Coverage – This KPI measures the percentage of the resident population covered by health insurance.

2. Individuals Experiencing Homelessness – Tracking your local government’s current tactics towards those suffering homelessness is a key component in responding compassionately and effectively. Benchmarking can be especially useful in this practice – for this, we encourage you to take a closer look at Sonoma County, CA . They have a goal of reducing homelessness by 10%, and they recently engaged in a practice of peer review with neighboring counties and local governments to see if their process of solving homelessness and providing shelter could be improved.

3. Public Health Program Participation – How many residents participated or attended public health programs and initiatives? How many public health programs were held?

4. Number of ‍Immunization Clinics – Combatting vaccine disinformation involves a public health department that is mobilized and able to be integrated into the community. Checking how many immunization clinics are being used can help public health officials get a clearer idea of what’s needed to ensure accessibility.

5. Mental Health Support Availability – Assess the accessibility of mental health services for residents.

Education and Culture

1. Public Library Usage – Measures the number of visitors and resources borrowed from public libraries. Denver Public Library measures things such as number of active cardholders, circulation per capita, and new library users!

Check out our piece on library performance measures as part of our Measure What Matters series for more examples of commonly used public library performance measures!

2. Arts and Culture Events Attendance – Measure resident attendance and participation in cultural events and festivals. An additional metric to measure is the demographic of residents participating in which activities: how many people attend free events vs paid events? Are the events held often at night or in the morning? These questions can help your municipality curate cultural programming in your community for people with children, access needs, and varying income levels.

3. Number of Educational Opportunities for Language Minorities – Monitor the number of non-English speaking educational programs and workshops.

4. STEM Education Support – Track support and initiatives for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

5. Arts and Culture Program Funding – Arts and culture tends to be supported by a combination of private donorship and funding. Tracking the amount that comes in, and from where, will help you refine your granting “ask” when it comes time to reapply. In sum – measure the funding allocated to support arts and cultural programs, including diverse or minority arts programs.

Economic Development

1. Unemployment Rate – Number of people in a community who are unemployed. Another good metric for this is measuring how many residents are part-time workers, or precariously employed. The type of employment opportunities available to residents is an important indicator of economic health in a community.

2. Jobs Created — Measure the rate of new job opportunities being created.

3. Business Vacancy Rate — Number of businesses that opened or closed during a fiscal year.

4. Business License Issuance – Measuring how many licenses are issued, or how long it takes to get one, might help you see obstacles to young business owners. This information can help you diversify your city’s economic portfolio. Simply track the time taken to issue business licenses. Have a look at Clayton County’s Public Dashboard, where they track things like the Number of Business Licenses issued to Women and Minority Owned Businesses.

5. Number of Entertainment and Restaurant Businesses – Tourism activity and availability of local entertainment options provides useful indicators of the economic well-being of a community. Measuring the development – or loss – of these spaces is an important metric for ensuring longevity of a community.

These are some of the most important, and increasingly common, local government KPIs and municipal government performance measures. By tracking these, municipalities can focus on areas that matter the most for their communities—and improve where necessary!

Tracking these metrics regularly empowers local governments to identify strengths, address weaknesses, and work towards creating a better and more sustainable future for their residents.

Each of these metrics plays a vital role in ensuring the effective functioning and prosperity of the community, leading to a happier, healthier, and more humane society.

Get the Guide ↓

Get more municipal performance measurement examples and a complete step-by-step guide to creating effective local government performance measures with our guide on How to Develop Local Government Performance Measures. This, our most popular guide, helps you to determine what you should measure and how you should measure it.

Mary King is a professional writer and researcher based in Toronto. She comes to Envisio with a Masters Degree, where she researched the relationship between the disappearance of urban public spaces, and high level decision-making processes in local governments. For nearly a decade, Mary has worked as a community organizer, promoter, and supportive researcher in a variety of nonprofits and think-tanks, and her favorite area of focus was in connecting local artists with marginalized youth. Since 2017, her writings and research on policy, local governance, and its relationship to public art and public space has been presented at conferences internationally. She has also served as both a conference chair and lead facilitator on professional and academic conferences across Canada on how to better bridge academic research with local change-agents, policy makers, artists, and community members. Envisio’s mission of excellence and trust in the public sector maps onto Mary's interest in local government and community mobilization. She loves working at Envisio because she cares about having well organized, strategic, and transparent public organizations and local governments. Mary is also a creative writer and musician and has been supported in her practice by the Canada Council for the Arts. Her stories can be found in literary journals across Canada.

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Grantmaking Lifecycle

The Right Grant Metrics and KPIs to Report Your Grants Impact

By WizeHive

November 16, 2022

Sponsored by WizeHive

It’s no longer status quo for foundations , associations , universities , corporations , and governments to assume that, with good intentions alone, their grant program is producing the desired outcomes for the community it serves. Today, data is crucial to helping grantmaking organizations measure their impact. The most impactful grantmakers are able to back up their good-faith efforts with real results rooted in performance insights. By taking time to establish the right key performance indicators—or KPIs—from the beginning, you’ll be able to measure a grant’s impact over time and empower your grantees to better serve the communities you care about.

Choosing the right impact reporting kpis.

While data might initially feel like a secondary thought when designing valuable grant programs, numbers can be extremely powerful if utilized with intention. There are dozens of KPIs to consider, but the best ones for your organization are the ones that are specific to your grantmaking program’s goals and obligations.

We understand this can feel overwhelming. So, we’ve compiled a list of five KPIs here that affect virtually all grantmakers, keeping in mind that every organization will have a personalized list of factors to consider as well. As you get started, think of these KPIs as the general backbone of any impact reporting.

1. Collect historical data. When beginning to compile data for your impact reporting, it’s best to start at the beginning. To calculate the most accurate value of your grants over time, tally your past grantmaking activity. Consider your mission and goals, and then work through these questions:

• How many grants have you awarded?
• Which program areas have you supported, and which do you currently fund?
• How much money have you allocated each year?
• How many grant applications did you receive last year, quarter or month?
• What kinds of organizations submitted grant applications in your niche?

By taking inventory of your trends and successes, you’ll build a strong framework upon which to make informed decisions.

2. Measure grantee participation. After you have your baseline historical data, it’s helpful to review how your grantees have recently been carrying out your foundation’s work. Look for any data here that gives you an idea of a grant’s momentum in the communities that align with your organization’s mission and goals. Here are a few examples of questions to consider:

• How many people did your grantees collectively serve last year?
• How many programs did grantees complete? How many people participated?
• How many volunteers did programs attract?
• Did you attract a diverse applicant pool and conduct an equitable review process to meet diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals.

3. Gather grantee milestones. At its heart, your foundation wants to collect information that teaches you about how the funds you’re allocating are impacting grantees and the communities they serve. Grantee performance metrics can be difficult to compile. Sometimes a grant’s impact is difficult to quantify because its mission spans years. Other times it may be because the goals it’s working towards are intangible. By taking the time to understand the right metrics from each grantee that best align with your organization’s goals, you’ll be able to adapt your grantmaking efforts and improve your overall impact. 

Grantee success statistics can vary widely, but try consider things like

• how much equipment grantees bought;
• how many tangible products they built or delivered;
• sentiment or statistical impact on people served; and
• survey results.

You might consider surveying grantees and participants regularly through a grant progress report to find out whether or not the desired impact was not only achieved, but maintained over time . These regular reports can provide valuable information about whether a project is on track, how funding is being used, and what grantees have accomplished while receiving your support.

4. Analyze progress over time. One of the greatest values you can bring to your impact reporting is long-term analyses of the grantmaking performance indicators that tell your mission story best. Through robust and targeted tracking and reporting, you’ll be able to educate your team on successes and opportunities. Traditionally, grantmaking organizations did much of this by hand. Now, many companies, foundations, universities, governments, and nonprofits rely on grantmaking software, such as Zengine by WizeHive, to collect, analyze and share data that helps foundations track mission-critical KPIs. 

Grantmaking software helps grant managers compile and track data over time, providing organizations with customizable visual dashboards that can be used to evaluate KPIs and build rich impact reports, while streamlining overall processes. As you begin to analyze trends over time, you’ll start to get an idea of

• the cycle of your grant applications’
• the volume of recurring vs. new grants and their respective processing times;
• the costs associated with administering grants in each program; and
• your overall return on investment.

By reducing the barriers for current and past grantees to share valuable information with you, and using technology to consistently track, report and analyze grant activity over time, you’ll increase the long-term effectiveness of your efforts.

Key to your impact story is how your grant program is impacting the community at large.

5. Tell your community impact story. Key to your impact story is how your grant program is impacting the community at large.  This grant performance metric might be more easily quantified by larger grantmaking foundations, such as corporate and private foundations, with larger-scale projects. But smaller organizations and generalist programs should also work towards this goal when applicable. 

In many cases, public data plays a factor in trying to benchmark your organization’s work against community changes. For this, it’s helpful to think outside the box of the programs themselves. For a program that teaches people from marginalized communities how to code, for example, you can measure the rate of hiring from these communities for tech jobs over time. For a program that creates local jobs or entrepreneurship opportunities, you can evaluate how the program has impacted a city’s unemployment rate.

This is not an easy task and may sometimes require additional work and broader reporting that expand the confines of the program and its resources. However, community impact can provide invaluable information about how grantmaking activity is addressing communities’ fundamental needs and what tweaks can be made to further accelerate an organization’s mission.

Utilize technology to track mission-centric KPIs

If there’s one thing that we understand, it’s that effectively tracking grantmaking impact can take time and effort.  Perhaps you already collect some of this information. Perhaps important information is spread across a combination of spreadsheets, databases, whiteboards, emails, and even, dare we say, paper.

To really understand the impact of the money you’re allocating to heroic missions, grant management software can streamline your administrative activity, KPI tracking, and impact reporting. By using a platform such as Zengine that’s trusted by a wide variety of organizations — from local and state government to corporate social responsibility (CSR) teams and corporate foundations—you’ll be able to track the metrics that matter most to your mission in one convenient place.

Once you’ve launched your platform and established your KPIs, begin setting up processes that enable ongoing tracking. This may mean editing your application to request more information up front, requesting additional data from current applicants or grantees, or sending out post-award surveys through the system. By consolidating grantmaking activity and associated data, your reports will be rich with accurate and consistent information that helps your organization meet and exceed impact goals. As administrative duties are streamlined in the cloud, you’ll be able to more easily communicate with applicants, donors, grantees, and participants; centralize and follow activity; track data; and compile reports that support your mission’s return on investment.

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KPI management in Government

Jun 19, 2023 | Uncategorized

KPIs in Government

In recent years, the UK Government, at both the national and local levels, has increasingly utilised KPIs to manage , monitor, and improve the efficiency of its services. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable measurements that objectively gauge a company’s or organisation’s performance over time. Through examples such as the Forestry Commission, Wandsworth Council, and others, this article will delve into the government’s use of KPIs, illustrating the benefits and challenges inherent in this approach.

The Role of KPI Management in Government Operations

The UK government’s use of KPIs in managing its operations can be attributed to the pressing need for increased efficiency, transparency, and accountability. KPIs allow government bodies to set measurable goals, track progress, and improve performance. In the ever-evolving public sector, KPIs provide invaluable data that allows for informed decision-making and the optimisation of resources.

KPIs form a central part of a government’s performance management framework. For example, Spider Strategies’ Spider Impact, resold in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa by Intrafocus, is a software tool commonly used in the UK to link KPIs to objectives and initiatives. These tools facilitate KPI management by tracking organisations’ progress towards their goals in real-time with visual dashboards and alert systems.

KPIs in Public Sector Management

Key Performance Indicators are measurable values organisations use to track progress towards strategic objectives. In the public sector, they are crucial for ensuring accountability, demonstrating transparency, and managing performance effectively. The public sector differs from the private sector in that its ‘bottom line’ is not profit but delivering services to meet the community’s needs. Hence, the selection and use of KPIs must reflect this mission.

Government agencies like the Forestry Commission use KPIs to highlight their contributions towards broader environmental goals in England. For instance, their KPIs reflect their commitment to expand, protect, improve, and connect England’s woodlands. In contrast, Wandsworth County Council uses a variety of KPIs to monitor service efficiency, value for money, and user satisfaction across a wide range of activities, including adult social care, education, and housing.

Applications in Different Government Sectors

Forestry commission.

A prime example of KPI usage within the UK government is found in the Forestry Commission , which employs KPIs to monitor its contribution towards the forestry and woodland sector in England. The Commission’s KPIs reflect their commitment to expanding, protecting, and improving England’s woodlands. These indicators provide insights into how the Forestry Commission contributes to major environmental initiatives, including the 25-Year Environment Plan, the England Trees Action Plan 2021-2024, and the Tree Health Resilience Strategy 2018.

The KPIs are internal tools shared publicly in annual reports, demonstrating accountability and transparency. This sharing of performance data increases public trust and allows for external input and critique, a fundamental aspect of a democratic society.

Wandsworth County Council

At a local level, Wandsworth County Council exemplifies the use of KPIs in managing diverse areas, including adult social care, children’s social care, education, housing, and street cleansing, among others. By setting challenging targets for each indicator, the Council strives for excellence and continually aims to improve its services.

Their adoption of a ‘traffic light’ system provides a quick visual cue of the areas where performance has met targets and areas that need improvement. In addition to service-based performance monitoring, the Council conducts biennial residents’ surveys to assess their perceptions and experiences, thus incorporating public sentiment into their performance review process.

The Local Government Association

The Local Government Association (LGA) has outlined an effective strategy for local councils to adopt KPIs. The LGA emphasises that each Council needs to identify a small number of PIs for different outcome levels. It recommends using existing data sources, wherever possible, to aid in efficiency.

The LGA suggests an outcome-oriented approach with PIs at service, intermediate, and overarching strategic outcome levels, as well as service output indicators. These indicators should reflect a council’s departments’ and major partners’ specific contributions.

The LGA further stresses the importance of challenging the effectiveness of each performance indicator to ensure they meaningfully contribute to demonstrating the intermediate and overarching strategic outcomes. A critical part of this approach includes considering the data source for each PI, ensuring that it is both cost-effective to collect and easy to gather year after year.

Expanding the Scope: Additional Examples

National health service (nhs).

The National Health Service (NHS) is another UK government agency where KPI management plays an instrumental role. For instance, patient waiting times, treatment success rates, and patient satisfaction are measured as KPIs. These KPIs help to ensure that the NHS continues to deliver high-quality care while identifying areas where improvements can be made.

UK Police Forces

The UK’s police forces also use KPIs to measure performance. Indicators such as crime rates, detection rates, response times, and public confidence levels are used to assess the effectiveness of policing strategies and inform policy changes.

Department for Education

In the education sector, the Department for Education uses KPIs to assess the performance of schools and colleges. These KPIs include student attainment and progress, attendance rates, and the number of pupils progressing to further education or employment after leaving school. These measures help to ensure a high standard of education across the country and identify areas where interventions are required.

A Cross-Sector Approach

While the specific KPIs may vary depending on the sector, the principles of KPI management remain broadly consistent across the UK government. It begins with establishing clear, measurable, and relevant KPIs that align with the organisation’s or department’s goals and objectives. Then, it’s about collecting and analysing data on these KPIs, using this information to make informed decisions and drive improvements.

One essential aspect of effective KPI management is regularly reviewing and adjusting these indicators. As the goals and priorities of an organisation change, so too should the KPIs. For instance, as seen with the Forestry Commission, changes in government policy or public attitudes towards the environment might necessitate a shift in focus for their KPIs.

It’s also crucial to have robust systems for collecting and analysing KPI data. As the Local Government Association suggests, these systems should be as cost-effective and efficient as possible. They should also be flexible enough to adapt to changing needs and priorities. In many cases, government departments are turning to digital solutions to help with this. 

Strategic Alignment and Performance Improvement

Setting KPIs in the public sector requires thoughtful consideration of the agency’s goals, objectives, and metrics that can meaningfully represent progress. For example, Wandsworth County Council sets challenging targets for each KPI, aligned with their policy of ensuring their services rank among the best in London. This approach underscores the importance of setting ambitious, realistic goals driven by a clear understanding of current performance levels and the resources available to improve them.

In implementing KPIs, tools like Spider Impact play a pivotal role. Developed by Spider Strategies, it allows organisations to link measures to goals, objectives, and initiatives. It offers a dynamic way to present output through aggregated dashboards, reports, and charts. Echoing the Local Government Association’s guidance on KPIs, these tools enable organisations to identify and select indicators that accurately reflect their service output and outcomes at multiple levels.

Many public sector entities worldwide have adopted the Balanced Scorecard method, a strategic planning and management system that aligns business activities with the vision and strategy of the organisation, improves internal and external communications, and monitors organisation performance against strategic goals.

Another instructive example is Australia, where the government has adopted an Outcome-Based Management system. This approach closely integrates KPI management with strategic planning, ensuring that all activities and resources are geared towards achieving high-level outcomes.

The Role of Technology in KPI Management

The advancements in digital technology have made it easier for government bodies to manage KPIs effectively. Platforms such as Spider Impact provide comprehensive solutions that help organisations manage and link KPIs to goals, objectives, and initiatives. They can present the output as aggregated dashboards, reports/charts, and documents in multiple formats. These technological solutions have made it easier for UK government bodies to maintain an overview of their performance and make informed decisions based on the data.

This digital approach also allows for real-time data collection and analysis, meaning performance can be evaluated continuously rather than at fixed points throughout the year. It will enable organisations to react to trends or issues as they arise rather than after they have become significant problems.

Moreover, with mobile-enabled features, decision-makers can access and review KPI data from any location. This accessibility is crucial in a modern working environment, where remote and flexible working has become commonplace.

Future Trends in KPI Management

With the rapid evolution of digital technology, KPI management is entering an era defined by advanced analytics and data visualisation. Tools like Spider Impact facilitate real-time tracking and KPI data presentation, enabling more agile decision-making. Furthermore, integrating AI and machine learning in KPI management is set to revolutionise how public sector organisations monitor their performance. These technologies can provide predictive analytics, enabling proactive public service management.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also underscored the importance of resilience and adaptability in public sector KPIs. In this light, future KPIs are expected to increasingly reflect the need for public services to be responsive and adaptive to sudden changes in circumstances.

KPI Management in the UK Government

KPIs within the UK government at all levels – from local councils to national agencies – are not just about measuring performance. It’s about setting strategic goals, driving improvements, and providing accountability to the public. It allows government bodies to assess the value they are providing to their constituents and make data-informed decisions to enhance their service offerings.

Set clear, relevant, and measurable KPIs to ensure effective KPI management. They must collect and analyse this data effectively and use it to inform their decision-making processes. As the needs and priorities of an organisation change, so too should the KPIs. Regular reviews and adjustments are necessary to ensure that KPIs remain relevant and continue to drive performance improvements.

Finally, as we enter the digital age, technology will play a vital role in KPI management. Platforms that simplify the process of collecting, analysing, and reporting KPI data will be instrumental in helping UK government bodies improve their performance and deliver better value to their constituents.

In essence, the effective use of KPI management within the UK government is instrumental in ensuring transparency, efficiency, and accountability while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence in service delivery.

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9 Sales KPIs Every Sales Team Should Be Tracking

More sales data isn't always better. You need a clear focus on metrics that matter. Here are 9 critical sales KPIs to drive confident decisions and grow revenue.

Jeffrey Steen

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Ever been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of sales data you’re tracking — and confused by the metrics that matter? You’re not the only one. Research firm  McKinsey  highlighted this as a troubling trend: Too much data and no focus has made it difficult for sales leaders to reach clear “aha” moments that drive confident decisions and sustainable growth.

Fortunately, there’s a clear path forward. To ensure you’re maximizing the ROI of tools, teams, and customer relationships, zero in on sales key performance indicators (KPIs) that make the most of what you have while delivering recurring revenue: a combination of tried-and-true targets, like lead conversion rate, and those that measure long-term value, like customer and employee retention.

Below, we give you everything you need to know about sales KPIs that ensure a healthy, productive, and growing business.

What you’ll learn:

What are kpis in sales, why are sales kpis so important, what are sales metrics vs. sales kpis, what are the most important sales kpis, how do you track sales kpis, what sales kpi dashboards should you use, hit key kpis with real-time pipeline insights.

What could you do with relevant insights at your fingertips? Sell smarter, take action, and hit your forecasts. That’s how Sales Analytics works.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) in sales are the metrics used to measure how closely the performance of a sales team tracks to predetermined goals and how this performance impacts the business as a whole. This includes metrics like average leads generated per quarter and deal conversion rate.

Instead of different reps focusing on different metrics — or leaders eyeing a definition of success that sales reps aren’t thinking about — KPIs keep everyone aligned on the metrics that contribute to company growth. It’s important to note that KPIs themselves are not sales targets , but metrics that gauge activity with significant business impact. Sales leaders define target KPIs to ensure teams are tracking to specific revenue goals.

Here’s an example: Joy’s Toys, a toy manufacturer, is focused on growth but doesn’t have a clear target KPI for lead generation that incentivizes reps to keep their  pipelines full . Fast-forward a quarter or two and its revenue is “stop-and-go” with reps scrambling to find new opportunities after periods of focusing only on closing deals already in the pipeline. As a result, company growth stalls.

Competitor Saul’s Dolls, on the other hand, has mapped out a clear path to revenue growth that includes target KPIs for lead generation, quota attainment, and customer retention. These are shared with every rep so they can prioritize their time and efforts on prospecting, nurturing , and closing deals with new customers while  upselling existing customers — and no critical sales effort is ignored. With this focus, Saul’s Dolls is more likely to hit or surpass its revenue goals.

Your sales KPIs have a close relationship with your sales and business goals. For example, if the overarching business goal is 1,200 sales in a year, the KPI might be 100 sales each month. (100 sales per month x 12 months = 1,200 sales)

Sales metrics are any quantifiable measure of sales performance. This could look like the number of activities completed by sales reps, the number of leads in the sales pipeline, or anything else sales-related that can be measured. The key difference is that your sales metrics don’t necessarily have to connect with these broader goals.

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Historically, sales KPIs have focused on things like new leads in the pipeline, number of  closed deals  per quarter, and individual quotas. These are still important, but they often hinge on unpredictable one-off sales. To ensure your company is generating long-term, predictable revenue and maximizing ROI, it’s important to track both foundational sales KPIs and those that gauge the lifetime value of customer and employee relationships.

Here’s a closer look at the most critical sales KPIs:

1. Annual contract value (ACV)

What it measures: The average sales amount of a customer contract over the course of a year.

Why it’s important:   ACV  helps sales reps and managers identify opportunities for upselling and  cross-selling  that increase customer contract value and, ultimately, company revenue. If upselling or cross-selling are not possible (due to product portfolio, pricing structures, etc.), a low ACV may indicate a need for new customers that can drive revenue growth.

How to calculate: (Total sales value of contracts in a year) / (number of contracts) = Average ACV

2. Customer lifetime value (CLV)

What it measures: The value of all purchases, including upsells, cross-sells, and renewals, that a customer makes over the course of their relationship with your company.

Why it’s important:   CLV  is a clear indicator of how successfully your team is building the kind of trusting, value-first, and loyal customer relationships that lead to upsells, cross-sells, and renewals, and, as a result, predictable revenue. If your CLV is on the lower end, then try going over the call transcripts from your best customers. Use AI to generate call summaries that identify what moved the deal forward, then use these same tactics in future deals.

How to calculate: (Average purchase value per year) x (average number of purchases per year for each customer) x (average customer lifespan in years) = Customer lifetime value

3. New leads in pipeline

What it measures: The number of new leads added to each rep’s pipeline during a single quarter.

Why it’s important: Based on your conversion rates (four deals closed for every seven leads, for example), you will likely need a specific number of leads to hit sales targets. If reps’ lead count falls below your target KPI, it can be a sign that you need to spend more time on prospecting . A popular way to engage with more prospects is to up your presence on LinkedIn. Follow potential prospects, interact with them by liking and commenting on their posts, and then send a connection request.

4. Average age of leads in pipeline

What it measures: How long leads remain in the pipeline without becoming a closed deal. Usually calculated per rep.

Why it’s important: Reps know a full pipeline is a healthy one — but only if leads are actively moving toward a sale. Stalled deals are a drain on rep time that could be spent moving more viable deals down the pipeline. If you see a trend in stale leads for a particular rep, consider examining their pipeline and remove leads unlikely to close. AI insights help to quickly identify the stallers in real time so you’re not spending hours scanning through your pipeline and analyzing the data.

How to calculate: (Total age of all active leads per reps) / (Number of active leads) = Average age of leads in pipeline

Reps fall in love with deals, even if they’re stagnant. When I think about pipeline aging, if it’s stale — it’s trouble. Larry Long, Jr.

5. Conversion rate

What it measures: Also known as win rate, this is the percentage of each rep’s leads that are converted to closed deals. Usually tracked by quarter, per rep.

Why it’s important: If a single rep’s conversion rate is higher than the target conversion rate, that rep may be using sales strategies or processes that are particularly effective and can be operationalized for the entire sales team. If lower, you might need to fine-tune or streamline sales tactics to increase conversions.  Call recording and analysis  tools, alongside regular one-on-one  coaching , can help.

How to calculate: (Number of deals closed during a quarter) / (number of leads in the pipeline) x 100 = Conversion rate

6. Rep retention

What it measures: Percentage of reps who remain in your organization a set period of time after hire. Typically measured yearly.

Why it’s important: A low rep retention rate can disrupt carefully nurtured customer relationships, which can result in lost upsells/cross-sells — or just lost customers. It can also mean more money spent onboarding reps hired to replace those who leave. When rep retention is high, customer relationships remain intact and team stability is maintained.

How to calculate: (Number of total reps at the end of the year – new reps hired during the year)/(total number of reps at the start of the year) x 100 = Rep retention

7. Average rep ramp time

What it measures: The amount of time it takes a rep to get from the first day on the job to first prospect outreach.

Why it’s important: A quicker ramp time indicates your  sales enablement platform  and training are effective, your tools and processes are intuitive, and you’re hiring qualified candidates.   This results in faster sales and more engaged reps. If you find ramp time is slow, consider revisiting onboarding programs and sharing AI transcripts of winning sales calls with new reps, changing your tools, or streamlining your processes.

How to calculate: (Total time in days it takes all new reps to get from day one to first prospect outreach) / (total number of new reps) = Average rep ramp time

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8. referrals.

What it measures: The number of referrals for new customers from existing customers secured by each rep during a given quarter.

Why it’s important: When your customers are over-the-moon happy with your products or services, they can serve as advocates, promoting you to prospects who otherwise may not be familiar with your brand. This makes it easier for reps to sell, leading to faster  sales cycles  and more closed deals.

9. Customer retention

What it measures: The percentage of customers who continue to buy and use your products/services. The inverse is churn rate — the percentage of customers who decide to stop buying or using your products/services.

Why it’s important: While new customers add to revenue, they also take  significant resources to secure . By watching customer retention and focusing on opportunities to upsell and cross-sell, you’re generating predictable revenue with a loyal customer base — and maximizing ROI. If you see customer retention slip, you may need to revisit rep engagement strategies to ensure your team is prioritizing existing customer relationships.

How to calculate: (Overall number of customers at the end of the year – net new customers acquired during the year) / (number of customers at the start of the year) x 100 = Customer retention

A CRM uses customer and sales performance data to gauge progress toward sales KPIs. To help with interpretation, most CRMs offer visualization tools or dashboards that can be customized with the KPIs most relevant to your business. The dashboard provides a clear picture of sales and company health so everyone from sales reps to leaders can make decisions that keep revenue flowing.

We’re in noisier, more competitive markets, and businesses are relying on new data sources to scale against competition. You can still build a seven-figure business with a phone and Excel, but if you want to do it better, you need the right technology. Alex Alleyne

To make sure everyone is in the loop, you need dashboards that provide high-level status updates to C-suite executives and more granular, deal-based dashboards for your reps. You don’t have to worry about updating dashboards manually — automation and  AI-powered CRMs  can pull data directly into customized dashboards to help you see progress toward KPIs without manual lift. Use these insights to improve performance, like tracking the fastest rep ramp times and checking in with those reps to see what worked that you could replicate.

Here are the dashboards we recommend for how to track sales KPIs:

For chief revenue officers (CROs) and sales leaders:

• Home “State of the Union” Dashboard: This provides an overview of top-level, year-to-date performance by target KPIs. It gives you the most important metrics for your business on one screen, including notable open and closed deals (usually the biggest accounts by value), top sales reps by quota attainment, and overall sales performance vs.  forecast .

For sales managers:

• Pipeline Dashboard: Get a snapshot of each rep’s pipeline with this dashboard, including average sales cycles, average deal amounts, and conversion rates. You’ll get clarity on the progression of deals in each pipeline and identify problem areas you need to address quickly.
• Team Activities Dashboard: See what your team’s doing to stay on top of active deals. Look at their total, completed, and overdue tasks and review each rep’s call and email logs. Dive deeper into conversations by looking at AI-generated call summaries. Use these summaries to identify customer sentiment and help move deals forward. Overall, this dashboard is key for monitoring rep engagement and  sales process  efficiency.

For sales operations (sales ops) teams:

• Performance Dashboard: Drill into closed deals by region, account, or product so you can see what’s contributing to high deal win rates or slowing conversions. Once you know the “why,” you can recommend strategy shifts for your team.
• Stage Analysis Dashboard: This dashboard shows how deals across all reps are moving through the stages of the sales process, revealing bottlenecks and at-risk opportunities. Trends and patterns identified with AI can reveal opportunities for process improvements.

For sales reps:

• Rep and Team Leaderboard Dashboards: This is an overview of individual rep and team performance data, including  sales quotas  attainment, leads in pipe, pipe generation, closed/won deals, average sales cycle time, and sales activities.

For more guidance, check out our article on key sales  KPI dashboards  that can help you hit or exceed your revenue targets.

Home in on the sales KPIs that matter to you

There’s no shortage of sales KPIs to track — but zeroing in on the right ones depends on what’s important to your business right now. First, identify overarching goals. For example, are you focused on driving growth or maximizing revenue with existing resources and investments?

Once you’re aligned on larger goals, you can select relevant sales KPIs to track and target metrics that will ensure you hit your broader business goals. Be sure to set up dashboards in a  CRM  accessible to all teams so you can see a clear view of progress toward the goals you’ve defined.

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As a business and marketing writer for 15 years, Jeffrey specializes in skill-up content at Salesforce. His work touches on everything from sales fundamentals to employee coaching, leadership best practices, and growth strategies.

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Increasing supervisory findings and declining ratings at banks of all sizes; focus on governance/controls and IT/operational risk

KPMG Insights:

• Regulatory Findings Increase: There are increasing numbers of outstanding supervisory findings for institutions of all sizes. Only about one-third of the large financial institutions have satisfactory ratings across all three rating components: 1) capital planning and positions, 2) liquidity risk management and positions, and 3) governance and controls.
• Span of Findings: Approximately two-thirds of large institution's outstanding findings relate to governance and control issues (including operational resilience, cybersecurity, and BSA/AML compliance). For CBOs and RBOs, the top outstanding findings relate to IT/operational risk and risk management/internal controls.
• Market Challenges: The FRB acknowledges challenges due to changes in depositor behavior, higher funding costs, reduced market for investment securities, and increased commercial real estate and consumer loan delinquencies. 

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The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) issues the semiannual reports on Supervision and Regulation and Financial Stability.

1.  The Supervision and Regulation Report assesses current banking conditions and transparency into the FRB's supervisory priorities and actions. For institutions of all sizes, highlights include:

• Increasing numbers of outstanding supervisory findings.
• A supervisory focus on liquidity, interest rate, and credit risk management.
• Declining numbers of institutions with satisfactory ratings.

2. The Financial Stability Report presents FRB's current assessment of the stability of the overall U.S. financial system, noting:

• Increasing asset valuations, improving financial conditions for households and businesses, sound levels of overall leverage, and ample liquidity in the financial system.
• Concerns around interest rates and inflation, geopolitical tensions and policy uncertainty, and deteriorating real estate market conditions, particularly around commercial real estate (CRE).

Details of the reports are outlined below.

1.  Supervision and Regulation Report

Highlights of the FRB's Supervision and Regulation Report follow.

Banking System Conditions. The FRB states, "The banking system remains sound and resilient. Most banks continue to report capital and liquidity levels above applicable regulatory requirements. Deposits have increased overall since the last report. Some banks still face challenges navigating changes in depositor behavior, higher funding costs, and reduced market values for investment securities. Asset quality generally remains sound. However, CRE and consumer loan delinquencies have been increasing. Earnings have declined as banks have increased loan loss provisions and incurred higher funding costs."

Regulatory Developments. The report highlights regulatory developments since November 2023, including an interagency (FRB, FDIC, OCC) request for comment on reducing regulatory burden and guidance on third-party risk management (TPRM) for community banks.

Supervisory Developments. The FRB states that it "conducted examinations and closely monitored liquidity positions and risk management at large financial institutions, including reviewing recent deposit trends, deposit and liability management strategies, liquidity risk-management practices, access to secured funding, liquidity stress test projections related to deposits, and liquidity buffer composition." Supervisors also completed examinations to assess the following:

• Interest rate risk management practices.
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• Cybersecurity risk management.

Similarly, the FRB states that it "intensified" monitoring of CBOs and RBOs that appeared most vulnerable to funding pressures (including access to contingency funding, liquidity asset buffers, and deposit outflow assumptions) and those with large CRE concentrations.

2024 Supervisory Priorities. The report outlines FRB's supervisory priorities for the remainder of 2024 for large financial institutions (with $100 billion or more in total assets), community banking organizations (CBOs) (with less than $10 billion in total assets), and regional banking organization (RBOs) (with between $10 and $100 billion in total assets). These priorities are outlined in the table below.

Trends in Supervisory Findings and Ratings

The report includes the following data indicating that supervisory findings for large financial institutions, CBOs, and RBOs continue to increase. For large financial institutions, the FRB states that approximately two-thirds of the outstanding conclusions relate to governance and control issues (including operational resilience, cybersecurity, and AML/BSA compliance), followed by an increasing number of findings related to liquidity and interest rate risk management practices. For CBOs and RBOs, the top outstanding findings relate to IT/operational risk and risk management/internal controls.

The report also finds a declining number of institutions of all sizes with satisfactory ratings. Weaknesses at large institutions were found in liquidity and interest rate risk management and governance and controls, with only about one-third of institutions receiving a satisfactory rating across all three components (capital planning and positions, liquidity risk management and positions, and governance and controls). Weaknesses at CBOs and RBOs were also found to relate to liquidity and interest rate risk management.

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The FRB's Financial Stability Report distinguishes between shocks to and vulnerabilities of the financial system, and primarily focuses on vulnerabilities across four categories and several near-term risks to the financial system, each of which is highlighted below.

Overview of financial system vulnerabilities. The report provides an overview of financial system vulnerabilities in four areas:

• Asset Valuations: The report states that asset valuations have increased to elevated levels relative to fundamentals, corporate credit spreads have narrowed, residential real estate valuations remain near their peak, and CRE market conditions (e.g., vacancy rates, rent rates) continue to deteriorate, particularly for the office sector, since the October 2023 report.
• Borrowing by Businesses and Households: The FRB notes businesses and households continue to improve their financial condition (e.g., reducing outstanding debts, leverage), but vulnerabilities remain moderate as measured by indicators for businesses and households (e.g., overall leverage, interest coverage ratios (ICRs), household debt, mortgage credit risk, and general consumer credit risk).
• Leverage within the Financial Sector: The FRB states that the overall banking system remains sound, with bank profitability remaining robust. Despite rising delinquency rates in some consumer and CRE loan segments, credit quality also remained sound. However, vulnerabilities associated with financial leverage remained notable, reflecting fair value losses on fixed-rate assets for some banks and elevated leverage at some nonbanks.
• Funding Risks: Overall, the report states that there remains a high level of liquidity in the banking industry. However, structural vulnerabilities (e.g., rapid outflows/runs) persist at money market funds, other cash management vehicles, and stablecoins, and liquidity risks persist in bond mutual fund asset holdings and with central counterparties amid interest rate volatility.

Near-Term Risks to the Financial System. The FRB highlights possible interactions between the existing vulnerabilities and the following near-term risks to the financial system:

• "Higher-for-longer" interest rates in the U.S. and other advanced economies could strain the global financial system.
• Worsening global geopolitical tensions could lead to broad adverse spillovers and policy uncertainty.
• Weaknesses in economic activity could compound existing strains in real estate markets, both domestically and globally (particularly CRE), and amplify risks to the global financial system.

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