Executive summary

This performance measure guide will provide Washington state agencies with information on:

• The importance of performance measures
• How to develop well-rounded measures that assists agencies with measuring their progress towards their overall mission, vision, and strategic goals
• Criteria to include within a measure set to meet the requirements for statewide reporting under current law
• The process to submit, update, and review measures being reported at the statewide level

This guide is designed to meet a wide variety of agency needs (whether your agency is just beginning to create measures or currently has established measures in place) and is tailored to all levels of performance management expertise.

It is purposely open as to what measures need to be reported so agencies feel empowered to propose measures they believe are crucial to measure, monitor and report on at the statewide level. Agencies have varying business needs, partners, and community members they serve, so it’s imperative that they lead with what information will help them serve their customers best.

By the end of this guide, agencies will have the necessary information to create new measures or update existing measures that include the following criteria:

• Establish quality measures for each major activity in your budget
• Develop a diverse set of measures that represents your agency’s core programs and services, budget-related activities, legal requirements, and strategic planning
• Identify specific measures required by enterprise-facing agencies and how they align with your other statewide measures
• Create measures that:
  • Provide an overview of your work and its challenges
  • Answer questions to guide future work
  • Are specific, relevant, actionable, understandable, timely, reliable, cost-effective, inclusive, equitable, accessible, and sustainable
  • Include information at all levels of the agency (front-line staff, management, and executive leadership)

If you need additional guidance and support on creating performance measures, reach out to Results Washington’s Statewide Performance Management team. 

For a full PDF version of this guide, click here.