ROLE 2: Assess Performance Information:
Practice 2a.Test relevance or reliability: Test or certify performance measurement relevance, reliability, or both.
Austin, Texas, Corporate Internal Audit [Profile]
The City's Corporate Internal Audit Office has been conducting formal performance measurement certification audits since 2002. Currently, Corporate Internal Audit devotes 500 to 1,000 staff-hours per year to this practice. The City of Austin's process for certification audits is modeled after a system developed in 1994 by the Texas State Auditor's Office, similar to the ten steps in the Texas example above. The Austin certification process formally runs 17 steps by incorporating additional steps common to most performance audits (see list of steps and audit program under “tools”). To date, Corporate Internal Audit has completed audits of performance measures in five departments and has performed follow-up reviews in three. On average, the time necessary to audit a single performance measure is 30 to 40 staff hours.
In 2003, the Corporate Internal Office developed a process that departments can use to assess the accuracy of their own measures, and trained department representatives in conducting self-assessments. The performance measures self-assessment steps, available below as a “tool,” are available to city departments on the web as Appendix A of the City of Austin's Managing for Results Resource Guide for Business Planning (revised 2005).
Tools:
Reports:
Managing for Results Resource Guide for Business Planning (revised 2005) |
