The Collins Center Report
Municipal Performance Management Program Changes Name and Expands Service Offerings for FY16  

The Renamed Government Analytics Program (GAP) Will Offer Enhanced Menu of Analytical and Performance Management Services to Governments and Government Agencies

 

The Collins Center's Municipal Performance Management Program (MPMP) is now the Government Analytics Program (GAP). While the mission remains the same - to strengthen government's use of data, measures, and goals, to make it a permanent feature of management practices, and to accelerate the sharing of ideas and best practices among governments and government departments - GAP will expand its services offerings and accept non-municipal government clients.

 

Why the new name? Government Analytics Program better reflects GAP's role in providing governments with a wide variety of analytical support needed to improve operations, implement best practices, and undertake bold new initiatives.

In the three years since its founding, MPMP/GAP has evolved to better serve governments and government agencies. In addition to the particular expertise in long-term department analytical support for municipalities, MPMP/GAP has begun accepting project work and has added a fire district and a housing authority as clients. In addition, GAP will absorb the Collins Center's parallel schools analytical program (known as the Massachusetts In-District Data Analysis Support program - MIDAS) in FY2016, adding expertise in school data and best practices.

In addition to the traditional department analytical support and performance management services, which are still available, GAP has developed a menu of service options. GAP analysts are also available to help develop other project ideas from the earliest brainstorming phase. Below are examples of commonly requested projects.
  1. Overtime versus hiring analysis
  2. Work order system implementation
  3. Fleet management assessment
  4. Internal process mapping
  5. GIS hotspot mapping for calls for services or crime

For additional project ideas, please visit www.umb.edu/cpm/gap  or contact us at 617-287-4824 or collins.center@umb.edu.

Note that GAP will be re-launching New England StatNet meetings sometime in FY16.  See the following article for information about the next School StatNet meeting.
School StatNet Meeting: How Data Analysis Happens
in Districts
Thursday, August 13, 2015

8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission
2 Washington Square, Union Station, 2nd Floor
Worcester, MA 01604-4016
Breakfast and lunch will be served 

The next School StatNet meeting will be held on August 13, 2015.  Staying consistent with the theme of data and data-informed decision making, the topic of this meeting will be on how data analysis happens in districts.  As with all StatNet meetings, the focus of the sessions will be on the synthesis of the information that districts have submitted in advance and will consist of a mix of facilitated discussions and case study/best practices presentations by practitioners.

For this meeting, the data collection will be done using an online survey.  The survey can be filled out by anyone in the district who is involved in, or knows about, how the data analysis tasks are carried out in your district.  More than one person per district is welcome to fill out the survey, which would be appropriate if there are multiple, yet different approaches to analyzing data in the district.  For example, one respondent may focus on data analysis for student achievement and another for budgeting.

The data you submit through the survey will inform all parts of the meeting, and having your district's data gives the conversation more substance.  The survey should take approximately 15-25 minutes.

TO RSVP: Please send an e-mail to Amanda Achin at amanda.achin@umb.edu with name, title, affiliation and email. Second, attendees from districts should complete this online survey.  

Please complete the survey by close of business, Wednesday, July 29, 2015.
The link to complete the survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K26NWRW

School StatNet was launched in 2013 by the Somerville Public Schools - in partnership with several other school districts, education-related organizations, academic institutions, the Commonwealth, and the Collins Center - as an effort to increase data-informed decision-making relating to education and to support collaborative problem-solving on topics that impact student achievement and the efficiency of school operations.  It is funded through a Community Innovation Challenge (CIC) Grant awarded by the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance, and it is now being coordinated by the Collins Center.  School StatNet carried out three meetings in FY14. At these meetings, participants have engaged in lively discussions of consolidated data to surface best practices and identify concerns that are common across participating districts.
Collins Center In the News
Amesbury CFO Heading Back to Haverhill - The Daily News Online, June 26, 2015

Holliston: Selectmen OK Salary for New Town Administrator - MetroWest Daily News, June 25, 2015

County: Power to the Chief - The Barnstable Patriot, June 12, 2015
 
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Edward J. Collins, Jr.  Center for Public Management
John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
 www.umb.edu/cpm