Help: Performance Targets

Performance targets are the "success measures" of the organisation's performance management system and are defined by performance indicators. Without performance targets the organisation's vision cannot be quantified.

Performance Targets	Help Home Page

A performance target is assigned to a measurable strategy map item and run over a specific period of time and defined by the performance indicator is is assigned to. A target is assigned a measurer, reporter, validator and owner. In theory these roles could be occupied by the same post but in practice typically the measurer is a distinct post from the reporter/validator/owner. Targets running continually over successive time periods can be added using the target setup wizard (e.g. Target1 (2008/9), Target2 (2009/10), Target3 (2010/11) etc.

Note: Performance targets can be assigned to any of the organisation's strategy map items, providing those items are set to measurable. The set up of strategy map items and their naming convention is entirely in the control of the organisation (Escendency systems come with four default strategy map items: Vision, Aims, Objectives, and Targets and these items can be edited, added to, or deleted based on the organisation's needs).

To avoid confusion, it is simpler for only one person within an organisation to supply measurements for a specific peformance target at a time. However, the system does allow for multiple measurement assignments (see target setup up: multiple measurers or Measurement entry below).

To view and / or add targets, right click on a strategy map item that has, or is about to be assigned, a performance target and select Add/View Targets (figure 1):

The system performance target wizard goes step-by-step through linking a Performance Indicator to a target item in order to create a performance target. For an explanation of the fields in the target set up see Description of target fields below.

Adding a new target to a measurable item on the strategy map when one already exists (e.g. in figure 1 above) will, by default, automatically produce a second target based on the first for the next time period. This new target will have the same performance indicator, measurer, owner, validator, and reporter, and run for the same length of time. All these parameters can be changed. However, the target will be scheduled to start the day after the previous target ends and will require a new title. The new target value default will be the forecast 1 value of the previous target (if there was one), the default history 1 value will be the last calculated target value and the target start value (all of which can be changed if required).

Click here to step through an additional target set up based on the target in figure 1.

To create a new target for a measurable item on the strategy map when one does not already exist differs from the additional target setup only in that the user will have to select the performance indicator and posts for reporting, validation and ownership from the performance indicator dropdown list and the browse post icons

Note: it is possible to use a performance indicator that is already associated with another target if even if the duration of the two targets overlap and they are located on the same strategy map item. Performance indicators can be used as many times as required (typically, for consecutive targets, e.g. 2005/6, 2006/7, 2007/8 etc).

Target types reflect the settings of the performance indicator they are associated with. Specifically, Measurement type (whether numeral, e.g. interger, percentage and currency, yes/no, or date), High/Low/Range value, and Current Value Type (whether cumulative, average, or snapshot).

Additionally, provided the associated performance target is not a date and its measurements return values greater than 1 the target can have phase targets associated with it (see phase targets below) allowing targets to reflect anticipated changes in data collection during the reporting period.

If a performance indicator is in a range then the target will show two fields during set up for high low range values (figure 2).

Figure 2: Target setup view for a target assigned to a performance indicator that has High/Low/Range set to Range

An example of a range target could be the number of new housing units built in a three year period on Council land (too few new houses impacts residents waiting for a home whereas too many new homes might impact environmental targets).

In this example, if home building was set to increase between 12 and 30% of the current number of residential units (say 100,000) in three years then three sequential performance targets could be set up with the percentage targets calculated in the following way for each year:

Note: In the example above the performance indicator has its scale factor set to x1000 so the system will multiply the values above by 1000 to get the true house number targets.

From the Add/View Targets window (figure 1) it is possible to edit the target parameters, edit past measurements and to delegate measurement tasks. It is not possible to edit the target value here - this must be done in the 'Edit Target Values' window that is accessed from the 'Add/View Responsibility option (see below and figure 5.1) and then only if the target date has not been passed.

To edit target parameters, click on the 'View/Edit Target' link. In the target edit window it is possible to change existing target's phases (if applicable), historic values, forecast values, benchmark values, family group values, upper and lower quartiles, and owner/validator/reporter assignments (figure 3.1a).

To save any changes made in the View/Edit Target window, click on the 'update' button. To delete the target click on the 'delete' button. The user will be asked to confirm deletion. After deletion the target is no longer active or visible anywhere on the system and the action is not reversible (other than by contacting Escendency support).

To edit target measurements, click on the 'Edit Measurements' link (figure 1) and enter in the corrected measurement values (figure 3.2).

Measurer and validator comments can be edited from the Edit Measurement option from the Add/View target window and clicking on the

icon (figure 3.3 and 3.4).

Figure 3.3: Edit Measurement window accessed from Add/View target option on a measurable strategy map item showing Edit measurer/validator comment speech bubbles. Clicking on these accesses the comment edit window (figure 4.2).

Figure 3.4: Edit comment window example. Comments made here generate an audit trail (user name, change made and date/time change is made).

To delegate target measurement task, click on the 'Edit Delegation' link (figure 1) to list all the pending measurement tasks for that target and select the post to accept the new measurement task (figure 3.5). This is a useful feature if the assigned measurer will be absent during measurement period/s. The delegated measurer will then receive the tasks in their inbox. Note: the assigned validators will still see that the measurement responsibility belongs to the original measurer. Note: To change the measurer, rather than just delegate one or more tasks, see Changing Measurement Responsibility, a function of Add/View Responsibility below.

To end a target click the 'End Target' button. Ended targets will still be displayed in the system (until year end rollover then they will only be visible in the historic CPO along with completed targets). There are 3 options to end a target (figure 4):

Note: Option 2 and 3 will affect the target wizard if subsequent targets have not already been completed (i.e. a new target created after one ended today will default start tomorrow).

Phase targets This field will not be present unless the performance indicator associated with the target has a reporting frequency greater than one. When present this field can always be edited. The number of phases available is the duration of the target divided by its reporting period (not measurement interval); e.g. a target that runs for a year and has a six-month reporting period will have two phases available.

Phase targets allow the expected progress of a target to be taken into account. For example, if the implementation of a recycling program will take 3 months a phase target can for example, be set lower for the first three months and then higher for the remainder of the target period. Note: phase targets are not available when adding a peformance target to a "date" measure.

Target Start Values This field can always be edited. For new targets, if there are no pre-existing targets for the strategy map item, the default Target Start Value is zero. When there are pre-existing targets the Target Start Value is populated from the last target's last calculated measurement. If there are no phase targets, the system will calculate performance over the target's duration based on the Target Start Value and the target itself.

Historic values These fields can always be edited. Historic 1 values default populate with the previous target's last calculated value while Historic 2 value populate's with last target's historic value 1 (etc).

Forecast values These fields can always be edited. Entering in these values allows the target to be automatically forecast for the next time the performance target is run (if ever). If the target is set to run an additional duration then the Forecast Value 1 will be automatically set as the new target value and the Forecast Value 2 will be set as the new Forecast Value 1.

Quartiles / Benchmark values These fields can contain values to rate the organisation's performance against other comparable organisations and / or internal or outside authority guidelines.

Risk: Likelihood / Risk: Impact These fields can accept any whole number value, thus allowing simple risk assessment to be added to strategic targets. Risk scores are reported on group reports.

Use this option to view the organisation responsibility for a target, to remove and reassign measurement responsibility and to change a target value (if the target end date has not passed). A performance target can have an owner, a validator, and a reporting post chosen from posts within the organisation The holders of these posts have overall responsibility for the measuring of peformance targets and are indicated accordingly (see figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1: 'Add/View Responsibility' window for a performance target (also showing alt tag for the post owning a performance target) and showing keys for owner, validator and reporter posts. Measurement posts are signified by a number next to them (in this example Evaluator 18 is the sole measurement inputter.

The target owner is ultimately responsible for the measure of peformance targets and target reports that they can access from "my reports" page on the control panel. The target owner can see reports on a particular target at any time.

The reporting post holder is alerted when reports on a target are due. Periods at which reports are due are set by the performance indicator's "reporting interval" field (see performance indicator help).

The validation post holder is responsible for validating measurement data entered by the measurer/s and will receive validation tasks on their "my tasks" page on the control panel. Periods at which validation tasks are due are set by the performance indicator's "validation interval" field (see performance indicator help). A yellow triangle icon with a post name on the right of a validation task in the validator's task tab, alerts the validator to the post that has measurements overdue.

Data entry: Each user in a responsible post will also get data entry tasks for the target on their "my tasks" panel in the control panel, at intervals determined by the performance target's performance indicator's "reporting interval" field.

If more than one user is responsible for entering data for a performance target, more than one validation task will appear on the validator's control panel. One validation task will appear for the data entered by each user.

From add/view responsibility window it's possible to change measurement responsibility by first removing the current measurer/s and then adding in the new one/s:

x2. If you accept the loss of existing measurements click 'ok' and this will bring up the responsibility ratio window (figure 5.3):

Figure 5.3: Post responsibility ratio window. This example shows the ratios calculated up the organisation tree after the Save Ratios button has been pressed.

x3. Enter in a number next to the new post/s that are to have measurement responsibility and then click the 'Save Ratios' button. The system will then calculate up the ratios (figure 5.3). Any number can be entered though 1 is normal for single measurement responsibility. For multiple measurers the ratios are more important because they can weight individual's contribution (e.g. if there were two measurers and one had a ratio value of 1 and the other of 2 the one with 2 would contribute twice as much to the parent's performance status as the one with 1).

Note: if losing measurements already input into the system is not acceptable it's always possible to delegate the remaining measurement tasks (see Edit delegation above, a function of the Add/View Targets option).

Responsibility and contribution: Responsibility can be spread amongst more than one post. Each responsible post can also be weighted differently. For example, a post with a weighting of 2 will have to contribute twice as much as a post weighted with 1 to have the same effect on the organisation's performance. Contributions are relative to other items with the same parent item in the tree. All of the performance target contributions to the performance plan can be viewed in the Strategic Contributions module.

Numbers rolling up: The organisation structure items between the first contribution and the root of the tree will be populated with a 1. These numbers can be edited if necessary to adjust contributions. However, entering a zero anywhere in the tree forces all items below to also be changed to zero.

Performance target values are edited from the 'Add/View Responsibility' option and only if the target end date has not been exceeded. To edit a target, select the Edit Targets option (in the 'Add/View Responsibility' page) for the relevant performance target. Only targets with an end date later than the current date will dispaly this option (see figure 6.1). This will open the Edit Target Values page (figure 6.2).

Figure 6.1 and 6.2: Edit Target Values from the 'Add/View Responsibility' option for targets that have not reached their ending date

This page shows the part(s) of the organisation tree that have been assigned responsibility for measuring/achieving the required target with their current target in the text boxes alongside.

To edit a target for a part of the organisation, simply enter a new value into the relevant text box.

If all parts of the organisation are to have the same target value (as would be the case if there is only one post with measurement responsibility), entering a value in the 'Assign to all' field will force all items to this target.

When targets have been assigned, clicking the 'Save Targets' button will update the target values and return the user to the 'add/view responsibility' page.

WARNING: The system does not check that assigned targets are consistent across all items within the organisation. It is possible for post-level targets to be greater or less than their parent items. This behaviour is by design.

Target Year	Low % Range	Low Target Range	High % Range	High Target Value
2006/7	4	104	10	110
2007/8	8	108	20	120
2008/9	12	112	30	130