Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
monitoring measures. The aim of performance
monitoring is to track performance in a timely
and scheduled manner using a range of measures
related to agency programs providing information
to managers, stakeholders and policy makers.
It can assist agencies to assess how a program
is operating and the extent to which program
objectives are being achieved in the service de-
livery. Where objectives are not fully achieved,
performance monitoring can assist in rethinking
aspects of delivery. Performance monitoring uses
client satisfaction measures and can report on cost
effectiveness and productivity.
Performance monitoring may be imposed by
funders to compare services or deliberately used by
agencies as part of their operations. For example;
in the Australia health care system, performance
monitoring is imposed with hospitals required
to measure and report indicators such as patient
waiting time for elective surgery or the number of
patients who wait longer than 24 hours in emer-
gency. Within a human service agency, similar
measures track can what is happening with pro-
gram outcomes. Measures collected are descriptive
and it is not possible to attribute causation. The
value of some measures can also be challenged.
For example, the size of a case load may not reflect
the actual workload of individual practitioners as
some cases are complex and other cases have a
relatively simple intervention. Similarly, the length
of a hospital waiting list may mean that there is a
very effective early detection of problems rather
than a queue of more serious problems. Once
these measures have been developed and there
is clarity about their reliability, they can then be
used in a variety of different ways by the agency
including;
•
Productivity measures (cost per investiga-
tion of child abuse)
Service quality especially turnaround time,
•
accessibility, safety, waiting time for diag-
nostic assessment or time from application
for a pension or benefit until a decision is
made and provided to the customer
Outcomes or the extent to which a program
•
is effective
Cost effectiveness or the ratio of costs to
•
outcomes (cost per discharged consumer)
Customer satisfaction (for various aspects
•
of service delivery such as therapy, finan-
cial assistance, child care or home help)
(Poister 2004, pp.99-102).
Much of the information described above
can be taken directly from the data management
system. The data can be raw numbers, percent-
ages, averages, or indexes which are generally
composites representing a particular characteristic.
Some performance measures require additional
information for collection but this can be part of
the intake, assessment and intervention process.
This can include questionnaires such as the Health
Status Questionnaire, measures of risk factors,
social functioning, observations by therapists,
follow up data on clients after a set period and
surveys. It is important to bear in mind that mea-
sures should be specific and oriented to results,
understandable, and be reliable, (objective and
dependable) and valid (fair and unbiased).
WHat Do We intenD to acHieve?
Software management programs provide agen-
cies with a tool to record information about their
clients and services and then use this information
deliberately for a variety of administrative and
research purposes. Unfortunately, many social
service organizations do not utilize software man-
agement programs or management information
systems to their full potential if indeed they do
•
Use of particular resources used in pro-
gram areas (e.g. number of support work-
ers needed to care for an older person in
their home)
Output measures (number of cases or cli-
•
ents serviced)
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