CITY LAUNCHES ON-LINE PERFORMANCE TARGETS DASHBOARD
The City of Saskatoon today unveiled a new online dashboard for citizens to monitor the City’s progress and performance toward our strategic goals. The dashboard’s launch follows consultations with citizens on their priorities for the City and performance targets that should guide City planning and investment.
“The best way to make progress is to measure it,” says Catherine Gryba, General Manager of Corporate Performance. “We are highlighting 25 bold targets and indicators based on citizen feedback and the goals outlined in our 10-year Strategic Plan. Going forward, we will use these dashboard targets and indicators to measure how we’re making strides toward greater efficiency, more savings and service improvements.”
Gryba adds the new dashboard is the product of an overall effort to promote continuous improvement and deliver programs and services that are better for citizens and the City’s finances.
“People want their City to deliver programs and services that are better for them as citizens and for the City’s bottom line,” she says. “They want to know tax dollars are being invested wisely, services are being delivered efficiently and we are dedicated to continuous improvement. That’s why -- on top of the dashboard -- we’re focused on three initiatives aimed at improving our efficiency, savings and service. “
Three initiatives will drive this effort:
* Annual Civic Services Reviews
* Internal Process Reviews
* Innovation Teams
Civic Services Reviews will examine all aspects of any given program or service with a view to improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Process Reviews will focus on a single stream of activity or service with a view to eliminating waste and redundancy.
Innovation Teams -- a new strategy -- are front-line employees and other staff who will take a fresh look at how services get delivered and propose better ways of meeting the needs and expectations of citizens.
While saving tax dollars and improving service have always been priorities for the City, Gryba says this new push on performance will sharpen the City’s focus.
“This is not a new effort. It’s a renewed effort,” Gryba explains. “By making performance improvement a formal priority, and by incorporating performance measurement into everything we do, we’ll find better ways to save money, serve citizens and reach our goals.”
The new dashboard is intended to keep performance improvement front and center and serve as a running progress report on the strides the City is making toward key goals and targets. Progress will be updated annually or more regularly, depending on the target area and availability of fresh data. Background information, including comparative data from other cities, will also be available to citizens through the website.
“We are following City Council’s lead in wanting to improve transparency and involve citizens in the decisions and actions that affect them,” Gryba says. “This dashboard tool will give citizens a look into how we are doing as a City, both where we need to improve and where we are making strides.”
To view the City of Saskatoon’s new performance monitoring dashboard, background materials and other resources, visit saskatoon.ca/strides.
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