Deciding the scope of the performance measurement system

One approach for deciding the scope of the performance measurement system might be to limit those goals used as guides in identifying what is to be measured to corrections-oriented goals (e.g., retribution, rehabilitation, restitution) and to exclude non-corrections-oriented goals (e.g., employment, business opportunities, career advancement, "doing easy time").

This approach is broad enough to include information addressing the following sorts of questions about corrections programs:

What did the program spend?
What did the program produce?
How was the product produced?
How good was the product?
What was the cost per unit of product?
What was the cost per unit of benefit?
What needs remain unmet?

The advantage is that such a broad approach to performance measurement includes the information that many of the potential users--program managers, chief executives, legislators, and the public--consider important. The program manager, if he or she so chooses, is free to concentrate upon performance measurements that indicate what the program does and costs, how it does it, and how well it does it. The legislator, on the other hand, is free to concentrate upon performance measurements comparing the results of a program relative to cost with the results and costs of other programs. (Rogers Davis, 1995.)

Although such a broad approach to developing a performance measurement system is conceptually appealing, implementing such a system is likely to be expensive. Designing a system that responds to the specific information needs of selected users would be more economical. In practice, the performance dimensions included in the system may depend upon who pays for its implementation and how much that person is willing to spend. Such a practical resolution of the scope problem has the disadvantage of leaving some groups of people interested in government performance with performance data that do not fit the decisions they must make. For example, performance measurements designed to answer the questions raised by the program manager may not be relevant to the decisions the legislator must make.