Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 16th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview I. Working Group on Local Government Author(s) Jana Voldanova Training Centre for Public Administration (Vzdelavaci Centrum pro Verejnou Spravu) Prague 8 Czech Republic Jana Voldanova, FALA, Czech Republic Title From comparing to quality improvement: Benchmarking and bench-learning in the Czech local government File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract The paper will focus on process, tools, results and outcomes of the Benchmarking Initiative 2005, a bottom-up informal initiative enabling their members, over 100 cities in the Czech Republic, through applying benchmarking cycle, to measure and compare their performance and quality of services, to analyse processes, to find the best practices and their own gaps in performance, to learn lessons, to get inspired and to implement changes in their own processes in order to improve the performance and quality of services. In 2003, in order to bring the services closer to citizens, (within the Czech public administration reform), district authorities - purely state administration bodies - were abolished; their tasks were taken over by 205 selected municipalities. The process of this transfer was very quick; local authorities had hardly any time to prepare and there was a lot of improvisation. The management of the cities, both the elected, and C.E.s were motivated to find out how effective, efficient and quality these new competences were performed. Benchmarking seemed to be an appropriate method to measure and compare the performance and quality of areas of competences transferred. Research method: The benchmarking cycle, originally developed by Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative and slightly adapted to comply with Czech local government situation, can be described in 7 steps: 1. Select the areas and / or services to be compared 2. Develop the area / service profile; formulate and define the data and comparable indicators 3. Collect and process data 4. Analyse the data and indicators, identify the best performances and your own gaps 5. Select and define the best practical processes and procedures 6. Develop the strategies and action plans to improve / optimise processes and services 7. Repeat the analysis of results achieved and optimised processes Methodology of 53 areas of performance (local government, delegated state administration, personnel management, management of supporting services, etc.) were developed. 392 data items were collected in each of the 102 municipal authorities and processed in 648 comparable quantitative and qualitative indicators describing the processes. The comparisons processed by an on-line software application show the best performers as well as the weak ones and give the managements of the municipalities figures and background information for decision-making concerning the performance management and operation of the authority. The same data have been collected since 2003. Which means that each city will have collected their own data for 5 years: 2003 - 2005. Around 200 000 data have been collected, processed ana analysed. The added value of the method is that the local government staff members have been directly involved in the whole process. They themselves have chosen for the areas for benchmarking and develop the methodology deciding relevant and important for them. This regulates the processes and keeps it very practical. The database is a valuable source of background data on various analyses focused on an issue and / or a single member´s performance. Moreover, the learning process based on learning from each other´s best practices, experiences and approaches is very valuable and has generated a number of best practices that have been described and distributed over other Benchmarking Initiative members. Contact: Jana Voldanova- Training Centre for Public Administration of the Czech Republic voldanova@vcvscr.cz www.benchmarking.vcvscr.cz www.vcvscr.cz
