Collins Center Working on MassGOALS Extension
|  "... I have been instructed to launch a project to extend performance management - in breadth and in depth - across all Secretariat responsibilities and to all programs Commonwealth-wide." With these words, Jay Gonzalez, Secretary of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance (ANF), kicked off what potentially may become the most significant project in the history of the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management. Working side-by-side with a team from Accenture, the national management consulting company, the Collins Center team of Russ Meekins, Ed Burke and Bill Hodges has brought their extensive performance management experience to ANF's MassGOALS Extension Roadmap project that, when fully implemented, will position Massachusetts as a national leader in results-driven performance management, government transparency, and performance-based program budgeting. (MassGOALS: GOALS= Government Outcomes to Achieve Long-term Success)
Over the last several months, the team has been following an ambitious development timeline, working collaboratively with officials within the various Secretariats and from other states. Many performance management projects stall before full benefits are realized, and the team thoroughly analyzed what causes this to ensure that the Commonwealth program would have the greatest likelihood of success. Roundtable discussions were held with state officials from Washington and Virginia, both nationally-recognized leaders in the use of performance management to achieve results for their citizens. The team also worked carefully to understand relevant projects either recently completed or currently underway, to ensure those investments were appropriately integrated into this major program. A key consideration was ensuring that the Massachusetts Legislature's budget transparency requirements (that become effective in January) were not only met in the short term, but became part of a larger effort to openly and completely share the results achieved for the scarce taxpayer resources spent.
The end product is a four-phase roadmap covering six workstreams, based on the best practices available and the uniqueness of government in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Three "content" workstreams: performance management; transparency and performance-based program budgeting; and three "support" workstreams: program management; technology, and communications and change management. The project phases are: mobilize, launch, implement and enhance.
ANF brought the Collins Center in to work on this project because of its recognized expertise in performance management, building upon its foundational principle of "Helping Governments Work Better". David Sparks, Director of the Collins Center, commented, "The team eagerly anticipates helping the Commonwealth government serve its citizens more effectively for decades to come.
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Center Coordinates Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Personnel Association
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 | | Kendra Amaral, Deputy Director of Lowell's Department of Planning and Development, Michael Ward, Collins Center Associate, Stephanie Hirsch, Collin Center Associate |
The Collins Center coordinated the 54th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Personnel Association, the professional organization of the Commonwealth's municipal Human Resource (HR) directors. The conference took place on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at the UMass Hoagland-Pincus Conference Center in Shrewsbury. The meeting was hosted by the Collins Center with facilities provided by the UMass Medical School. The Collins Center conducted three panels of experts on topics relevant to cities and towns: CitiStat and Human Resources: Performance Management for Municipalities; Regionalism Revisited; and Professional Development in the Public Sector. UMass Medical also presented a session on Managing Disability Costs, which dealt with how local governments could better manage the increasing severity and cost of injuries to municipal employees.
The first session of the day, CitiStat and Human Resources: Performance Management for Municipalities was presented by a six member panel consisting of Collins Center Associates Michael Ward, Stephen Lisauskas and Stephanie Hirsch together with Kendra Amaral, Lowell's new Deputy Director of Planning and Development; Paul Foster, Chief Information Officer of the Springfield Public Schools and William Mahoney, Springfield's Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations. The panelists used examples from human resource administration to demonstrate the value of developing and maintaining performance management systems to track data and use that data to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of municipal departments. The examples used showed how managers were able to analyze sick leave usage, hiring timelines and worker compensation claims, among other aspects of human resources administration.
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Potential for Town-School Collaboration Analyzed in Ipswich
|  The Town of Ipswich, like many Massachusetts towns, has begun the process of coordinating or consolidating administrative functions carried out by the Town and School Department. In Ipswich, (population approximately 13,000) there has always been some collaboration between Town and School administrations and Town-School relationships have traditionally been positive. However, in light of the current financial stresses Ipswich formed a Town-School Collaboration Committee early in 2010 to more closely examine these functions. The Committee included the Town Manager and the School Superintendent, as well as representatives from the School Committee, Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee. The Town contracted with the Collins Center to help the Committee focus on three functional areas: Information Technology, Recreation, and Human Resources. The Committee asked the Center to assess the current condition and status of these functions and provide guidance on where opportunities for enhanced service or efficiencies might lie.
To address the needs of the Committee, Collins Center staff prepared a report on each function and presented their findings to the Committee. The reports will be available shortly on the Collins Center web site.
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Collins Center Promotes Public Sector Employment
Opportunities at UMass Boston Accounting and Finance Career Fair
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 | | Sandy Blanchette from the Collins Center and Joe Valchius from the Association of Government Accountants |
At a career fair sponsored by UMass Boston's Career Services and the College of Management's Department of Accounting and Finance and dominated by private sector accounting firms, the Collins Center provided a window to the interesting opportunities for young accountants in the public sector. Sandy Blanchette, Collins Center Education Program Developer, Steve Lisauskas, Collins Center Associate and Joe Valchius, from the Association of Government Accountants, gave participating students a wide variety of information about current job opportunities in the public sector. Most students were surprised to learn that state and municipal agencies and offices had such a wide variety of positions, from entry level accountants to Chief Financial Officers. Career opportunities advertised by the Center included jobs in municipal government, local public school districts, and state colleges and universities. The Commonwealth's Human Resources Division also sent representatives to provide information on employment opportunities in state agencies. Over 75 students stopped by the Collins Center booth and were able to take away a list of websites that regularly advertise job openings. Many students were interested in pre-graduation internships, an area that the Collins Center is pursuing further with the Massachusetts Municipal Personnel Association.
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StatNet Holds Fall Meeting on Customer Service and Constituent Relations
|  New England StatNet held its fall 2010 meeting on Friday, October 15th in Worcester City Hall on the topic of customer service and constituent relations. StatNet is a network of municipalities in New England using CitiStat or other data-driven performance management approaches. The group is coordinated by the Collins Center, with additional support from Harvard's Rappaport Institute and the Pioneer Institute. New England StatNet gathers three times each year for in-depth discussion of municipal governance issues and works on other collaborative efforts.
Ten communities participated in the fall meeting, representing municipalities that constitute over 20% of the population of Massachusetts and over 16% of the population of Rhode Island. (Past meetings have also included participants from New Hampshire and Connecticut.)
Topics of discussion at last week's meeting included effective uses of municipal websites for providing services; staffing and organization of municipal call centers or phone lines; and alternative strategies for communicating with residents, among others.
Formerly known as MassStat, StatNet is now into its third year of existence. To date, meeting topics, in addition to customer service and constituent relations, have included public works, inspections, and police. The winter meeting topic is personnel, and the meeting will likely be scheduled for sometime in early 2011.
If you are interested in learning more about StatNet, please contact Michael Ward at (617) 287-4876 or Michael.Ward@umb.edu.
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The Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125
Phone: (617) 287- 4824
FAX: (617) 287- 5566
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About Ed Collins
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Throughout his outstanding public career, Edward J. Collins, Jr. epitomized the spirit and goals of the Center that now bears his name. We at the Collins Center are proud to continue the work of Ed's life - helping governments work effectively and productively for the benefit of their citizens.More about Ed |
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