City Launches Website To Track Performance of Various Departments

The City of Seattle recently launched a new website to track the performance of about 25 City departments.

On the website you can check out the lists of the goals for the many city departments, track their progress, as well as view details about the individual departmental budgets and employee head counts.

The website says:

As Mayor I am committed to the need for transparency and openness in city government. Last year I asked my team of department directors to prepare 2011 performance expectations and align them with my administration’s values, organizational priorities and priority initiatives. The goal was to see at a glance how the work of an individual department helps make Seattle an even better place to live, work and play.

The performance expectations for each department consist of several elements:

• Key Goals – The big-picture view of what a department hopes to achieve for the city.
• Milestones – Interim targets that must be completed to achieve a key goal.
• Targets - Numerical targets against which a department marks its actual progress.
• Due Dates - The expected date or deadline for meeting a target or milestone.

I am pleased to present departments’ current expectations on this website. By clicking on the appropriate link, you can sort the expectations to view them by department, by value, by organizational priority, or by priority initiative. Departments will provide quarterly updates starting in April.

You can leave comments or questions here.