An elected Board of County Supervisors sets policy and an appointed County Executive manages the operations of the government. This case study would be particularly relevant to local governments as well as any government organization interested in developing an integrated system of managing for results. This case study shows how a general purpose local government successfully established a performance management system using a Strategic Plan, its budgeting system, and a reporting system to manager for results across all program areas. Using the system, Prince William County met fiscal challenges by shifting resources into the areas of strategic importance in the community. The budget process now uses performance measurement based service levels to track results expected with budgeted resources for every program.
Managers track and report actual performance to help improve service delivery.
Results are reported to the community and decision makers through the budget, an annual Citizen Survey and a Service Efforts and Accomplishments report which compares both inputs and results with comparable communities. Since inception of the system, citizen satisfaction with government services and the value received for their tax dollar increased significantly. An important key to success is the long term commitment made by the County leadership to implementing a strategic plan which set out a vision for the system. Charles Gene Lyle, Sr. A new division within the department, the Office of Research and Evaluation, was responsible for developing an evaluation system for all County-contracted services.