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Common Management Culture and Language
Until recently performance measures and program analysis was limited primarily to the Agency's budgeting and planning community. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and OMB's Program Assessment and Reporting Tool (PART) provided some common language but there was a limited performance management culture within the Agency. Over the past few years, that has changed. Two factors have contributed to this change: a consistent and persistent use of performance measurement in the Agency's strategic planning, indicator, and performance management arenas; and EPAStat has made performance management principles, tools, uses and results commonplace.
EPAStat
EPA's integrated performance management system has evolved to a point where it has been consolidated and is now referred to as a single program: EPAStat. This provides a common language and provides Agency employees a shorthand way to communicate information about meetings, reports or materials related to the Agency's performance management system. Best yet, every time a staff member uses the term, the Agency's performance management culture is advanced.
New Web Tools
EPA's Deputy Administrator launched one of the first Federal blogs, Flow of the River, launched in 2007. The use of performance management was a common thread among blog entries and provided the content and framework for subsequent comments and dialogues. In early 2008, the EPA launched an official blog of its own, Greenversations. Greenversations provides the opportunity for agency-wide dialogue with the EPA staff and the public on everything EPA does.
Institutionalizing Performance Management
In 2008, EPA created a new division, the Program Analysis Division, whose primary mission is to improve operations and outcomes through performance management and program analysis. The group complements the Agency's existing management processes and focuses on the use of performance management throughout the Agency. Specifically, the group works with EPA regional and program offices to:
- identify and engage customers and stakeholders to define success;
- facilitate and encourage the use and dissemination of program analysis and performance information;
- foster data-driven decisions and policy making at EPA; and
- identify, evaluate, and disseminate successful, results-oriented practices.
This group visits EPA regions to learn about regional performance management activities, discusses performance management and program analysis at mid-management meetings, analyzes performance for regional and program office EPAStat meetings; and identifies and shares successful practices identified through program and measure analysis.