Miami-Dade County: Becoming a Results-Oriented Government with ActiveStrategy Enterprise (p.2)

The Challenge
Efforts to align operational objectives and initiatives with the county's strategic plan began as far back as 2003, but in an organization as large and complex as Miami-Dade County, this was a monumental undertaking. It soon became clear that some new structures and tools would be needed. One such structure came in July of 2005 when the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners adopted the Governing for Results ordinance, which formally established a Results-Oriented Government framework. It codifies and requires performance measurement, monitoring, and reporting, along with performance-based program reviews for all departments within the county. Not only did Miami-Dade County want to move toward a performance-based organization, it was now mandated to do so. The county also created a "strategic business office," based on best practices identified in the private sector.

Another major step toward strategically aligning the organization's nearly 30,000 employees was the decision to partner with ActiveStrategy to first build a comprehensive Balanced Scorecard-based performance framework and then automate it in ActiveStrategy Enterprise (ASE) software.

Building Scorecards & Automating Them in Software
With full knowledge of the complexity of the project he was about to undertake, Mr. George Burgess, County Manager, sponsored the move to a Balanced Scorecard framework in which all levels of the county government would be affected. Realizing that automation would play a crucial role in facilitating the effort to link objectives and initiatives with the county's strategic plan, Mr. Burgess approved the use of ASE as the county's performance management software tool.

Miami-Dade County began by working closely with ActiveStrategy consultants to build aligned, strategic Scorecards for the top several tiers of the county, which were then automated in the ASE system (example shown at right). By the summer of 2005, strategic plan goals and outcomes, as well as key performance indicators, were loaded into ASE and an ambitious training program began.

The county's goal was to have 500 users trained within the first year of deployment. With ASE's ease of use, that goal was easily surpassed. As of May 2009, the county had over 2,200 active users and more than 600 scorecards, including a high-level Balanced Scorecard that reflects the countywide strategic plan, 60 departmental Scorecards, and an evergrowing number of division Scorecards.

Every department has its own designated and trained ASE "power-users" who are able to assist new and existing employees in the use of the software, as well as in performance measurement concepts and processes. In addition to the technical training, ActiveStrategy's ongoing consulting and business methodology training helps the county continue the successful deployment at a steady, sustainable pace throughout the many departments.