sahr2001 - Health Systems Trust

7 • Annual Reports and the Public Finance Management Act
makers, decision-makers and the public. Developing service delivery indicators
is not an end in itself. Setting targets and measuring progress towards those
targets are the next steps in improving service delivery information in the
budget. Service delivery indicators help the Department to set delivery levels
and assess performance against the targets.
Service Delivery Innovation (SDI)
SDI can be described as an optimum mix of flexible service delivery
mechanisms and tools that can be strategically utilised to achieve the
Department’s delivery objectives either directly or in collaboration with other
sectors such as the private sector or Non-Governmental Organisations. SDI
is aimed at creating a more accessible, responsive, customer-oriented and
affordable service delivery environment.
Developing Performance Measures/Indicators
Performance measures can be defined as the aspects relating to an activity (a
single activity, a project or all the activities of the Department). In order to
make a meaningful evaluation of the performance with regard to a specific
activity, appropriate performance measures need to be identified and
developed. In developing a single performance measure, the following
questions need to be addressed:
◆ What should be measured – economy, efficiency or effectiveness?
◆ On what basis should performance be measured?
◆ What should be used as the indicator of performance?
It is suggested that a number of performance measures should be developed
for measuring the performance of an activity or project and should be
communicated in workshops to all the employees in the Department.
What aspects of performance should be measured?
The first step in deciding what is to be measured is to identify the objectives
of the enterprise concerned or the specific activity or project. Objectives should
be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and within a
Timeframe). In the public sector, objectives can be complex. Sometimes the
political intent may be different from the stated policy or the initial reason
for the policy has been overtaken by changes in the political environment.
The second step is to define the appropriate standards and targets for each of
these objectives. As a minimum there should be a defined measure of
performance for each of the objectives. Targets represent a quantified step
towards achieving an objective, and are usually specified as a planned output
or level of performance to be achieved within a set time. Targets should
include not only financial targets but also targets for other aspects of
performance, e.g. to reduce the waiting time at the outpatients. In this regard
time is a performance indicator. There is a worldwide trend to give greater
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