[Durham INC] Durham Debuts Strategic Plan Reporting System

Mon Aug 8 16:08:28 EDT 2011

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

News Release

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 11253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov

For Immediate Release: August 8, 2011

Durham Debuts Strategic Plan Reporting System

New Website Provides Snapshot of City's Progress on New Goals

DURHAM, N.C. - Durham residents looking for more information on how the City of Durham is doing on emergency response times, crime clearance rates, or employment growth can now easily find this information and much more with just a click of a mouse.

Now that the City has adopted its first-ever Strategic Plan, which details the organization's road map for its future direction and how it will allocate its resources, a new website has been developed to serve as a report card to Durham residents highlighting how the City organization is doing in achieving results in its new goal areas.  

The new Web page, www.Durhamnc.gov/StrategicPlan/Goals, was developed with the assistance of City staff, a Citizen Oversight Committee, and Ascendant Strategy Management Group, the City's vendor who supplied the new reporting software. 

According to City Manager Tom Bonfield, completion of the website is another step in fulfilling the City's promise to be transparent and accountable to Durham residents, which is vital in being a well-managed city. "Since this plan impacts annual budgets and daily operations, it's important that the administration stays on track with sound measurements of progress, and that we share that progress with the City Council and Durham residents," Bonfield said. "Since this plan changes the way we do business, residents need to be informed every step of the way on how we're doing, what's working, what's not working, and what our plan is for fixing the areas that need improvement."

The City's new website uses reporting software that allows residents to easily view progress made on citywide measures and initiatives as well as identify positive and negative trends. The data will be updated monthly, quarterly and annually, and published to the residents two times per year in July and December through an interactive progress report. The new website provides easy navigation into each of the City's five goals ― Strong & Diverse Economy; Safe & Secure Community; Thriving, Livable Neighborhoods; Well-Managed City; and Stewardship of City's Physical Assets. Behind each goal, website visitors can delve into the outcome measures, objectives and intermediate measures, or initiatives and tasks for that specific goal to learn more about why it matters, an analysis of the issue, an improvement plan to impact results, and numerous charts and graphs to show data and trends. The new Strategic Plan website is also compatible with the City's Browsealoud software. When enabled by the user, it reads Web text out loud, making content more readily available to people with learning disabilities and vision impairments, as well as those for whom English is a second language. 

According to Jay S. Levy, chair of the Strategic Plan Citizen Oversight Committee, the system navigation and details of the data that are displayed were reviewed by the committee on a regular basis to ensure the website was user-friendly. "By engaging residents in this process, the reporting system is more understandable to anyone that has not been involved in the strategic plan," Levy said. "Our voices were heard by City staff on what we felt would be beneficial for our fellow residents to see on this new website. I feel this new website will help others be better informed about their City government and how it's using their resources to achieve the goals specified in the Strategic Plan."    

According to Ted Jackson, managing partner with Ascendant Strategy Management Group, the ClearPoint software that is being used by the City makes it easy for viewers to see a snapshot of the City's performance. "We have been pleased to partner with the City of Durham since it fits nicely with our strategy of helping cities and other mission-driven organizations become more transparent in the execution of their strategies," Jackson said. "We were able to configure ClearPoint to meet the needs of the City and provide a way to rapidly update results and communicate with the residents of Durham through an easy-to-use website."  

Approved by the City Council in April 2011, the Strategic Plan is the result of a two-year endeavor to develop a business plan for the City, which established priorities and objectives for the organization and defined selected actions and activities within the financial limits set by the City Council. The ClearPoint reporting software cost $16,000 to implement and was paid for through funds from the City's Budget and Management Services Department.

To learn more, visit the City's website at www.DurhamNC.gov/StrategicPlan, or contact Jay Reinstein, strategic initiatives manager with the City's Department of Budget & Management Services, at (919) 560-4111, extension 20102 or via e-mail at Jay.Reinstein at DurhamNC.gov. 

For more information about ClearPoint Strategy, visit www.ClearPointStrategy.com. For more information about the Ascendant Strategy Management Group, visit www.AscendantSMG.com. 

About the Budget & Management Services Department

The mission of the City of Durham's Budget & Management Services Department is to inform and enhance management and City Council decision-making to ensure the accountability of all City funds and to evaluate and recommend the best use of public resources. To learn more, visit www.DurhamNC.gov/Departments/BMS. 

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