City Recognized For IT Program

By Amber Lester Saturday, September 11, 2010

Left to right: Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Williamsburg Finance Director Phil Serra, IT Director Mark Barham and Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey.

The city received a 2010 Governor’s Technology Award for its Performance Management System. Winners were announced during a Tuesday ceremony at the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium.

Finance Director Phil Serra and Information Technology Director Mark Barham were on hand to receive the award from Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey.

Williamsburg beat more than a dozen other entries in the category of “IT as Efficiency Driver,” and was the smallest locality to receive an award.

The Governor’s Technology Awards program honors outstanding achievements and recognizes innovative technology initiatives in the public sector. Entries are judged by an independent panel of government executives from the state executive branch, independent entities, localities, the legislature, judiciary and higher education.

The city created the Performance Measurement Program as part of a larger effort to find systems that measure operational progress and lead to better performance. The program provides data for making assessments and enables staff, City Council and citizens to understand the connection between performance, productivity, the budget and the achievement of goals.

A software module was created to expand data collection and reporting capabilities using departmental operating reports with real-time data. The software standardizes and automates several hundred performance metrics for the monthly operating reports for each department. City staff, council and the public have access to those reports, which inform council decisions.

In May, the city introduced a new part of the system that produces charts, graphs and dashboards to display performance metrics, monitor department budgets and track long-term trends. The dashboards are updated continuously from live databases; the next phase of the project will make the dashboards available to the public.