| Target Start Value Examples | |
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When to use Target Start Values:
The default target start value (TSV ) for a performance target is zero. This is fine for targets that start from nothing for example number of e-transactions for Council Tax Bills paid online when the facility has only just been introduced, or number of council houses fitted with energy efficient boilers where before none had been installed.
However, in many cases progress has already been made or at least a baseline is in place. In these cases, if the target is running year on year the TSV will automatically populate with the previous outturn anyway (this default will be an option in later releases beyond 5.0) but for new targets the user can put in the baseline number forcing a more realistic assessment of performance through the target duration.
In some cases the target may in fact be a threshold level that mustn't be exceeded, e.g. the number of homeless cases in which case the TSV would be set the same as the target level.
Examples:
Example 1:
A target is set for 75% tenant approval running one year and measured and reported quarterly as a snapshot. High is good.
The previous year the measured approval was 73.23%. The new target's start value is therefore a default of 73.23%.
Without any phase targets the system will calculate the expected level of approval each quarter until the target ends (in this example Q1=73.69, Q2=74.13, Q3=74.56 and Q4=75 - agreed, not a very ambitious target). If in the first quarter the measured value is 74% approval the system will show that the measure is over-achieving.
Example 2:
A target is set of 5 homeless cases running one year and measured and reported monthly as an average. Low is good.
The previous year there was an average of 17 homeless cases per month. The new target's start value is therefore a default of 17.
Without any phase targets the system will calculate the expected level of homeless cases each month until the target ends (in this example the first month would be 16, the second 15, etc). If the reported homeless cases was 14 for the first month,the system would report the target as overachieving.
Example 3.
Similar scenario as Example 2 except the Council expects to maintain levels of monthly homelessness to be below 5 each month. In this case, the Council should set the target start value as 5. Any values less than 5 for any months would show over-achieving or on target and any values greater each month would show behind or failing.