1 Improve Your Steering with Dashboard Reports 2006 National Environmental Partnership Summit Breakout Session: Creating Positive Change: Tools and Techniques for Driving Environmental Stewardship Tuesday, May 9, :30 AM to 12:00 PM Tiffin Shewmake PRIZIM, Inc.

2 NO GAS GAUGE...

3 DON’T DRIVE LIKE MY MOTHER

4 DON’T FLY (OR MANAGE) Without the right information

5 DASHBOARD REPORT Short report, typically one or two pages Designed for management Uses graphics and color to present key indicators Produced on a frequent or regular basis

article in the Harvard Business Review “Graphic Shorthand as an Aid to Managers." BUSINESS DASHBOARD

7 DASHBOARDS CAN BE: Paper reports Interface for a computer system For public communication

8 Most reports are not designed for managers Too long Essential information buried in background data Format makes it hard to see trends and spot problems Too infrequent WHAT! ANOTHER REPORT? Dashboard Reports are Designed specifically for managers Short, easy to understand quickly Format helps highlight trends and potential problems Frequent enough to support decision making

9 USING DASHBOARD REPORTS Evaluate progress towards goals See if the trends are positive or negative Stay informed about the status of priority areas Identify potential problems Raise questions that need further analysis or information Track efficiency and resources Shift resources to achieve the best results Most valuable when actively used to evaluate and manage programs

10 USING DASHBOARD REPORTS Compstat Approach Pioneered by the NYC Police Department Data-centric, meetings revolve around the data to identify, track and solve problems Adopted by many other agencies Washington State, including the Department of Ecology, uses a variation--Government Management Accountability and Performance or GMAP

11 A dashboard report has three main elements Indicators Capture progress towards the program’s goals Characterize the program’s operations Usually a mix of outcomes (what was achieved) and outputs (what was done) Context Information to help you understand the meaning of the indicators Goals, health standards, staffing or budget data, size of the regulatory universe Format How the data is displayed DASHBOARD ELEMENTS

12 DASHBOARD ELEMENTS

13 INDICATORS You tend to get what you measure If you reward police for writing speeding tickets what do you get more tickets or reduced speeding? Important to include outcomes Include environmental measures Also need to track of activities Indicators should reflect the program’s mission, goals, and priorities

14 INDICATORS Ambient measures—air and water quality Impact on Habitat – impervious surface, protected areas Wildlife Invasive species Direct environmental indicators are important because they help keep your focus on your ultimate mission—protecting the environment

15 INDICATORS Net and troll catch of Chinook Salmon

16 INDICATORS Not provide feedback quickly enough Cause and effect hard to track Monitoring may not be extensive or timely enough Agency or program does not control all the variables One solution is to use indirect environmental indicators such as emissions and waste volumes. Understanding environmental problems, especially if combined with measures of programmatic goals, can help show where new solutions are needed or highlight the need for more resources. Direct environmental indicators don’t provide all of the information you need

17 INDICATORS Activity or Outputs Need to measure program activities and results Should reflect priorities (example permit backlogs) Understand where program resources are allocated Used in addition to environmental measures

18 CONTEXT Goals show what you are trying to achieve Trends show if you are getting to your goal Dimension or relative size of program Context is information that helps make sense of the indicators Restoration Goal 185,000 acres by 2010

19 Adding context to environmental and programmatic measures should tell the story of the program Graphics from the 2003 Annual Ocean and Bay Water Quality Report County of Orange, Health Care Agency, Environmental Health’s Ocean Water Protection Program CONTEXT

20 INFORMATION TO HELP FIND THE PROBLEM Graphics from the 2003 Annual Ocean and Bay Water Quality Report County of Orange, Health Care Agency, Environmental Health’s Ocean Water Protection Program

21 PRESENTATION Design graphs based on The purpose The target audience The graph needs to fit the data Be careful of using gauges Too many data elements makes it hard to understand Scale can obscure the meaning of the data Use color to add meaning Use text to add meaning

22 Select the right time span and make sure that the scale works for the data PRESENTATION

23 CHARTJUNK

24 Time span?

25 Good dashboard indicator?

26 INDICATORS Minnesota Pollution Control Agency -- Environmental Information Report

27 Trend? Context?

28 Environmental Measures

29 Time Span Raises Questions

30 Remember– don’t drive like my mother. Use information to help steer your program, achieve your goals and protect the environment.