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For
the past several months, an executive level Strategy Team
consisting of the County Administrator, the Treasurer, the
Commissioner of the Revenue and other Senior Staff members has
been working on a process to improve the County Government's
ability to support/achieve the Board of Supervisors' long term
objectives, as contained within the County's Vision Statement.
The
specific objectives identified by the Strategy Team are:
- Balance
Quality Service with Fiscal Integrity;
- Manage
Growth in a Manner which Protects the County’s Agriculture,
Environment, Quality of Life, and Historic Resources; and
- Conduct
County Government Openly.
To
achieve this goal, County Administration has selected the Balanced
Scorecard as the management system to translate these objectives
into tangible strategies
and measures. The Balanced Scorecard uses four perspectives to
ensure a balanced approach to evaluating performance related to
organizational objectives. The four perspectives are: customer,
financial, internal process and learning and growth.
The
Balanced Scorecard will allow the County to translate strategy
into operational terms that everyone can understand. By creating
this understanding, the County departments and offices can more
easily align their activities around the strategy; therefore,
making strategy everyone’s job.
The
projected benefits of the Balanced Scorecard to the County are:
- Clarifying
the County’s vision;
- Aligning
County operations to achieve that vision;
- Integrating
strategic planning and resource allocation; and
- Improving
management effectiveness by providing appropriate information
for directing change, i.e. measurement.
At
this time, a Measurement
Team, consisting primarily of department heads and key division
heads, is developing the Strategy Team on supporting performance
targets and measurements to measure each strategy and progress
toward long term objectives. It is hoped that these measures will
be ready for Board consideration by the end of Summer 2002.
It
is anticipated that the "corporate scorecard" will be
completed prior to the FY 2004 budget year. The development of key
business unit and departmental scorecards, including measures, is
also envisioned to be a major focus in the upcoming fiscal year.
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