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10.6 Performance Management, Measurement and Monitoring

10.6.1Performance management concerns tracking the success of a policy, programme or project in achieving its objectives and in securing the expected benefits. For appraisal and evaluation purposes, it involves the systematic collection of data relating to the financial management and outcomes of the policy, programme or project during implementation.
10.6.2Monitoring involves checking at regular intervals that a project, programme or policy is being implemented on target, on time and within budget. This provides an essential source of information, indicating the extent to which objectives are being achieved, giving an early warning of potential problems, and of the possible need to adapt the policy, programme or project to ensure success. Monitoring also provides information for the evaluation stage. To be fully effective, plans for monitoring must form part of the initial planning of a policy, programme or project.
10.6.3The Northern Ireland Audit Office has stressed the importance of careful monitoring of all projects from the outset, particularly any projects being delivered by a new organisation without a proven track record of successfully delivering publicly funded projects; financial management systems and procedures should come under particular scrutiny. (Grants Paid to Irish Sport Horse Genetic Testing Unit Ltd., NIAO report HC 396, para 52).
10.6.4The use of formalised capital works management procedures should provide senior management with a hierarchy of performance measures/indicators on the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of their management of capital works.
10.6.5The facility to compare performance measures/indicators against targets, over time and between sub-groups is an essential aspect of the development of capital works' management procedures.
10.6.6

Effective performance measurement and monitoring means tracking all categories of benefit and ensuring that:

  • Projects have defined target benefits and outputs;
  • Ownership of the delivery of benefits remains with the SRO;
  • Outputs of a project or policy remain consistent with changing government objectives;
  • Costs are closely monitored and managed; and,
  • Forecast costs and benefits are frequently reviewed.
10.6.7

A monitoring system should establish:

  • Whether management data is actually calculating what it purports to measure; and
  • Sufficient controls to ensure that the data is accurate.

Financial Reporting
10.6.8Regular financial reporting on policies, programmes and projects should be performed. Reports may be integrated into the normal financial reporting cycle of an organisation, issued separately, or possibly combined with the reporting of progress against plan, benefits, and risks. For example, they may be included in highlight reports from Project Manager to Project Board.
10.6.9

Finance reports are likely to show expenditure to date, forecasts for the year, and variances against budgets. In large complex projects, the financial reporting is likely to integrate with contract management, with contractors providing regular 'Work In Progress' statements.

Contract Management
10.6.10When contracts have been let, it will be important to ensure that the respective roles and responsibilities set out in the contract are fully understood and fulfilled to the contracted standard. The likelihood of the benefits being realised will be affected by the contractual terms, and any incentives built in to the contract. Where contracted standards are not fulfilled, the contracting public body should apply mechanisms established in the contract to rectify any under-performance. Guidance is available from CPD on dispute resolution.

Read on to Benefits Management and Realisation

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