AWWA JTMGT64454

Today's heavily regulated and financially limited utility environment necessitates improvementthrough a structured program of continual Performance Management. This paperexamines the implementation of a Performance Management System and a structured program ofcontinuous improvement for one of the country's largest municipal water and wastewaterutilities, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD).In order for DWSD to continue to strive toward meeting its goals in a cost efficient manner in today's operating environment, it must continually improvethrough a controlled program of performance management. Essential to the successfulimplementation and execution of a robust performance management program is the ability toeasily monitor and hold accountable appropriate managers and supervisors for Key PerformanceIndicators (KPIs). To this end, the Department has developed such indicators. Appropriateresponsible managers and supervisors have also been identified for each indicator. However,what was needed was a structure that groups and organizes the indicators in such a manner thatmanagement can quickly identify and isolate areas that are experiencing difficulties or thatrequire additional resources. If an area of an organization is not performing as anticipated orexpected, it is unlikely that only one performance indicator is being impacted. Structuring of the KPIs in a visual format can quickly provide organizational management with awide-range of information needed to make decisions and adjust activities to positively impactperformance. A properly structured performance monitoring program can also provide supportneeded to recognize outstanding performance of teams, groups, or divisions. As such, DWSDhas worked with Black & Veatch to develop the Performance and Dashboard System (PaDS) toleverage best business practices and focus its combined water and wastewater experience onperformance management issues and challenges within the Department without impacting theoverall quality of service.In addition to strategic benefits such as enabling DWSD to focus on results, enhancingcommunication at all levels in the organization, and providing the "Big Picture" perspective,PaDS has enabled DWSD to realize operational benefits, including allowing its management tomake informed decisions in a timely manner, helping to prioritize actions based on reliableperformance metrics, and keeping the focus on performance-related issues through visualrepresentation of cause-effect relationships. This paper discusses these strategic andoperational benefits, as well as positive quantifiable results achieved since PaDS was fullyimplemented at DWSD. Includes reference, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

02/01/2007

Number of Pages:

11

File Size:

1 file