An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved plans by the Brown administration to implement a statewide data-driven and performance management framework.
The Data-Driven Management Initiative by the Government Operations Agency is an attempt to measure, report and monitor organization results across state departments.
“Departments often focus on process that emphasize compliance, rather than processes that emphasize outcomes,” the summary prepared by the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 4 on State Administration stated. “This leads to inefficiency, less results, and higher than necessary operating costs.”
The governor’s budget asks for $160,000 and one position to develop the Data-Driven Management Initiative in 2017-2018 and 2018-1019.
The initiative builds upon a successful program that GovOps began in 2014 known as the “lean” process re-engineering training program, which helps departments identify, analyze and modernize outdated business processes and streamline operations for better results.
More than 600 state workers have received lean training as of July 2016. And 18 departments and agencies have participated in almost 60 Lean Six Sigma efficiency projects to date. Those projects showed “significant improvements can be made through empowering front line staff and equipping them with the right tools,” according to the administration’s budget document.
For example, when the Department of Toxic Substances Control reduced the steps to process a permit application from 33 to seven, it completed 90 percent of permit applications within 13 months, up from 80 percent within 20 to 38 months. At the Department of Transportation, streamlining 24 steps to 10 allowed the department to reduce the time required to investigate and resolve workplace violence allegations from an average of 150 days to 60 percent of cases being resolved in just five days.
The Data-Driven Management Initiative seeks to build upon the lean program, as well as other data projects, by integrating its training tools and sharing best practices used by other states and public agencies.
Under the governor’s budget proposal, GovOps would create a director position to research, establish and implement the data initiative statewide. The temporary two-year position proposed in the governor’s budget would develop a strategy for implementing a data-driven performance management framework that integrates various tools, including strategic, workforce and budget planning; risk management; data management and analysis; lean process re-engineering; and leadership development, according to the request.
“This approach will help departments take a holistic view of their operations, strategies and risk; and help them better integrate and coordinate programs, prioritize activities and eliminate redundant processes, improve communication, and focus on results,” Stuart Drown, GovOps deputy secretary for innovation and accountability, wrote in the GovOps budget request.
“Departments that implement the framework will be able to determine whether or not they are maximizing their resources and will be able to demonstrate improved results to others in government and the general public,” he added.
