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3 Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the Research Across the country, state transportation agencies of various modes have been required to incorporate performance measures (PMs) into their core business functions. With this trend developing nationwide, the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) member- ship recognized a growing need to develop PMs for their respective state aviation agencies. The issue was brought to ACRP leadership through a specific NASAO outreach effort. The purpose of this research is to identify PMs that agencies reported using to demonstrate the agenciesâ value to elected officials, regulators, and stakeholders. As will be explained in more detail later, the PMs used by agencies varied greatly due to variances in definition and purpose. 1.2 Reason for Development and Intended Audience With the increasing pressures of limited state funding for transportation projects, agencies must frequently demonstrate the value that agencies bring to their state. That value can be represented in a narrative manner to address qualitative value, where appropriate, or statisti- cally to address quantitative value. This is often seen during budget review; to justify funding and staffing; when there is consideration to consolidate departments; or when regulators, legislators, or other stakeholders request reports. In addition, agencies may also compete for limited resources with other modes of transportation in the state. Based on survey efforts and follow-up outreach to the agency leaders responsible for performance management, this guidebook provides examples, case studies, and tools that have been used to establish or enhance the tracking of PMs. This guidebook is intended to be a resource for agencies, acknowledging that where each agency may be along the spectrum of using various measures to gauge its performance is signifi- cantly diverse. In addition, it is essential for agencies to recognize that the implementation of PMs requires active engagement with aviation stakeholders and legislative leaders at the federal, state, and local levels. As agencies establish or enhance their PMs, they need to understand what functions or responsibilities to track. For example, some may be looking to initiate PMs that track external or internal performance. An external PM may be focused on enhancing specific statewide airport system pavement criteria. An internal PM may be focused on how agency staff are processing payments or tracking capital projects funding. Agencies may be looking for ways to enhance existing performance management systems. This could be accomplished by determining what PMs add value to the core functions of the agency or statewide system of airports. These agencies may be looking to gain a better understanding of the potential benefits that tracking PMs can bring to them. The ability to highlight, in a transparent manner, agency performance with limited state resources can greatly assist state aviation leaders in educating state legislative leaders C H A P T E R 1
4 Performance Measures for State Aviation Agencies related to proposed budget requests and can even convey the value of a state aviation system and the associated agency to those legislators and the general public. 1.3 How This Guidebook Was Developed The research for this guidebook centered around several tasks that were guided by collaboration with and outreach to a number of agencies. These tasks included general data collection, including numerous one-on-one interviews, and case study assessments. Throughout the process, the research team collaborated with relevant stakeholders. The data collection effort began as early as the development of the proposal, for which the research team sought resources to assess what research had already been completed on this topic. This effort demonstrated that there was previous ACRP work that focused on airport-related PMs but not necessarily agency-focused measures. This led the project team to the next focus area, which was one-on-one contact with agency directors. This effort was intended to meet the studyâs objective of determining what PMs agencies were using. Many of the PMs being used had an airport or system focus as opposed to an agency focus because agencies tended to rely on their airport system plans for guidance and to report the PMs they used. With so few agencies using PMs in a robust manner, if at all, it became apparent that using airport- or system-focused PMs might be the best starting point for some agencies. Acknowledging that there may be more agency-focused PMs that agencies could be using could be a subject for future ACRP research. The one-on-one interaction with the state aviation directors included four specific compo- nents. The first was a presentation at the NASAO Annual Conference in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 2018. This presentation began the outreach by disseminating information about the project and engaging the attending agency directors and staff in a dialog about PMs within their states. After the conference, the second element of engagement began, with a brief survey that was emailed to all NASAO members to collect preliminary information on their use of PMs. This was used to help inform the third element, the one-on-one phone interviews with agency representatives. Once the interviews were completed, and all the PMs that were identified were developed into a summary, the project team held three webinars to provide the NASAO members an opportunity to comment on the list of PMs. The NASAO members were encour- aged to assist in identifying any missing measures, suggest any prioritization within the list, and suggest any removals of PMs. In all, the project team was able to connect with 43 states in one way or another, with 12 states attending the opening presentation, 25 completing a survey, 33 participating in the interviews, and 15 taking part in one of the webinars. There were some states that participated in each phase, while others only engaged in a single element. The project team used the results from this engagement to inform the development of the guidebook around a few themes: ⢠The need to keep PMs manageable from a resource perspective; ⢠The need to acknowledge that external factors may guide the use and selection of PMs; and ⢠That the use and selection of PMs should align with the mission, vision, and goals of an agency. Specific contents of the guidebook are outlined in the following section. 1.4 Contents of This Guidebook The guidebook examines PMs that agencies across the country have been tracking based on research gathered from those agencies. It also includes information from a review of relevant research from TRB in addition to academic and business literature.
Introduction 5 Chapter 1: Introduction provides an explanation of why the guidebook was needed, including its purpose, reason for development, and how the team developed the final document. Chapter 2: Context and Fundamentals introduces the concept of performance measurement and provides some definitions of terms related to the topic. It also provides a general summary of some of the basic elements of performance measurement. Chapter 3: Considerations in Selecting and Defining a Performance Measure describes how agencies can choose the characteristics that will shape and define the specific PMs to address their individual needs and situations. The chapter is meant to stimulate thought on the variety of ways that PMs can be fine-tuned to fit an agencyâs mission, vision, and goals. Chapter 4: Detailed Performance Measure Summaries provides specific details for nearly 100 different PMs. These PMs are organized by general functional area to provide structure for the document. Some PMs may fall into more than one functional category, but for the purposes of this document, only one functional area has been used. In some instances, a state-specific example is included to provide additional detail on how the PM has been applied. Chapter 5: Conclusions contains general conclusions from the research. Key takeaways are noted to guide the reader for development of PMs. Appendices to this guidebook provide supporting material that readers may find helpful in expanding their knowledge related to PMs. Appendix A contains the state agency case studies that summarize five different state agenciesâ use of various PMs. These are included to provide context on the diversity of PMs that have been used and how they have been used in each state. Appendix B has a summary of various resources related to the topic of PMs, and Appendix C contains an annotated summary of several TRB resources that were used in the data collection effort. Finally, Appendix D has a summary of various FAA performance measures. The refer- ences follow the appendices at the end of the guidebook.
