CDOT Performance Data Business Plan - Cambridge Systematics

CDOT Performance Data Business Plan
Table 3-1
Assessing CDOT Practices
Performance Element
Strategic Planning
CDOT Alignment
with Best Practices
Vision/mission High Vision and mission statements are documented in Policy Directive 14, the Strategic Plan and the Statewide Transportation
Plan (long-range plan).
Goals and objectives High Policy Directive 14 provides goals and objectives by investment category, and the objectives are referenced in subsequent
performance reports.
Initiatives Low The Statewide Transportation Plan (long-range plan) provides investment strategies by corridor. The Strategic Plan provides
general strategies by investment category. However, their treatment in the Strategic Plan is inconsistent; with some of the
strategies lacking details required to track progress towards. For example the strategy for mobility includes “changing
traveler behavior”, although this term in not defined. The Annual Report alludes to some strategies throughout the document.
Overall, the study team found no consolidated list of CDOT’s priority strategic initiatives.
Performance Management
Measures Med CDOT tracks and reports a wide variety of measures. An annotated inventory of existing measures can be found in
Appendix B. Overall, the measures tend to support the documented goals and objectives, reflect a mixture of system
measures and organizational measures, and are actionable. In terms of coverage, CDOT’s vision and mission contain a
multimodal aspect, which does not appear to be accounted for in the measures. The vision also highlights enhancing quality
of life, which is not addressed.
As illustrated in Appendix B, the number of measures tracked and reported by CDOT is quite large. Most agencies calculate
more measures than they report in formal performance reports. However, maintaining a large volume of measures can make
it difficult for internal staff and external audiences to understand agency priorities. In addition, superfluous measures can also
unnecessarily burden data collection and IT efforts. Measures that are not reported externally or used internally to influence
decision-making should be removed.
Targets Med CDOT has two sets of targets – annual targets and longer-term, aspirational targets. Although the longer-term goals are
described in the executive summary of the Annual Report, the use of annual targets throughout the report tends to mask
overall progress (or lack of progress) towards them. This is because green lights are assigned to areas in which annual
targets have been obtained, regardless of the relationship between current performance and the longer-term targets.
Notes
The Deficit Report addresses this disconnect directly. It indicates a significant gap between aspirational targets and current
performance. It also describes that significant additional funding would be required to achieve these targets. It appears as
though financial constraints were not a major consideration when the aspirational targets were initially set. This decreases
their strategic value because they do not represent true relative priorities (e.g., if CDOT cannot afford to do everything, these
areas are its priorities), and because the department’s day to day decisions cannot influence their obtainment. In addition,
tracking chronically unmet targets may eventually desensitize external decision-makers to the need for transportation funding.
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