ARCHIVED - Performance Measurement for the Government On-Line Initiative

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The measurement regime

As experience with on-line service delivery was acquired from 2000 onward, a broader range of outcomes expected over a longer horizon was defined, focusing increasingly on the results for citizens/clients and the benefits for the federal government, such as client take-up of on-line services, higher levels of user satisfaction with service delivery, and cost savings or efficiencies as a result of ESD.

This approach was consistent with what other jurisdictions were learning, as well as what external performance measurement experts working in this field had recommended. For example, Gartner argued that

government organisations need a much wider range of metrics…Instead of measuring success based on rankings in Web service availability studies, governments should focus on metrics that demonstrate operational efficiency and value to constituents ("The Gartner Framework for e-Government Strategy Assessment", Strategy Analysis Report, 2002, p. 5).

In 2002, therefore, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) collaborated with Accenture, a multinational consulting firm with an extensive e-government practice, and a group of GOL departments and agencies to develop a more results-based measurement regime. The first step was a review of existing literature on e-government performance measurement. Overall, the findings were that this was a relatively new area, and that little work had yet been done. Nevertheless, the review did identify two good examples from which Canada could learn: Singapore and Ontario. Singapore uses an on-line self-assessment questionnaire to measure e-government progress in multiple areas. Ontario includes client satisfaction as one of the key expected outcomes of e-government, which (like the Government of Canada) it assesses directly with clients using a standardised methodology, the Common Measurements Tool (CMT). The environmental scan also incorporated learning from other jurisdictions, including a recent report from the National Audit Office in the United Kingdom, which argued for more emphasis on monitoring the take-up and marketing of on-line services (Better Public Services Through e-Government, 2002).

The second step was to establish the principles – a foundation – from which the GOL initiative could evolve its measurement regime:

• develop a broad perspective of success;
• recognise that ESD is one of several delivery channels that departments and agencies use;
• recognise that developing on-line services is only an intermediary step;
• ensure that the approach taken is flexible; and
• make reporting easy to implement, and useful for departments and agencies.

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