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Ramdeen, Sweden
"The Balanced Scorecard has been proven a success in corporate companies because the unit of measure is based on financial success. However, is it more difficult to identify the unit of measure in the public sector, mainly because the unit of measurement is not always financial, depending on the various levels of government. This is my opinion based on the experience from the public sector in developing countries."
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BSC in Public Sector: Social and State Welfare Aspects
Ashok A kella, India
"The BSC in public sector is equally useful for performance recording.
However, the criteria for standardizing the measurement unit are indeed different, with reduced importance to financial performance and more room for social as well as state welfare aspects." |
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Public Sector BSC: Collecting the Data
Daniel Briones, Argentina
"I worked with the BSC at a Department of Housing and Urban Development in my country. The main trouble that we had was collecting the data from the various sources, but not to define the units of measure." |
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Dimensions of BSC in Public Sector
Ana, Brazil
"A unit of measurement is not just used for financial issues. When we talk about performance in government we have to remember the following dimensions: financial, operational, political and social besides of the perspectives (employee, operational, financial,citizens).
The BSC is a good methodology for the Public Sector too, even in the developing countries." |
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BSC Measurements in Public Sector
Fraoua, France
"It depends on the sector the measurement is done. In some cases it can be purely financial, and in some case the performance must be measured by a social indicator." |
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Balance
Ian Black, UK
"The whole point of "balance" is to remove the emphasis from financial matters, so achievement of training, coaching, staff development etc are just as relevant as say revenue.
Even though the units of measurement may be brought back to a financial base, the underlying performance is the critical element. So there is no problem with the Public Sector...." |
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Mitigate this Challenge by Keeping It Simple
Owen Skae, Switzerland
"It is important to note that the the BSC can be applied wherever a strategy has been formulated & has to be implemented. As Norton and Kaplan say, "you can't manage what you can't measure and measure what you can't describe".
I have seen the BSC being used for National Strategies incorporating a multi-institutional approach. The difficulty of data collection and institutional buy-in can be mitigated by keeping the measures simple.
E.g. in working with a number of service providers who assist exporters to find export markets, I applied a three step approach:
1. Is the service available? (as expressed as a need by the exporter) e.g. directory of contacts, web-based or face to face client adviser
2. Is the service being used? e.g. how many clients have accessed the service? What frequency?
3. What is the impact of the usage? e.g. Has there been an increase in sales? Over what time horizon?
Once a simple baseline is established, then you could build upon it." |
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BSC Challenges in the Public Sector
Marcel van der Heever, South Africa
"The BSC framework can be applied to any organisation, whether private or public sector based. The problem in the public sector is that leadership at senior level changes as often as the political order changes, so, continuity of strategy and commitment to measurement becomes a much greater challenge than within the private sector. Another key problem in the public sector is the assumption that legal compliance is more important than operational output. or service delivery. Operational output, in turn, is often severly affected by inefficient, non-standardized and undocumented business processes - all affecting the ability communicate effectively about performance and for everyone to learn/innovate. Even if all of these challenges are overcome, one still has to find reliable data." |
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Limitations of BSC in Nor for Profit Sector
Stephen Pitt, UK
"The key limitation of BSC in a public sector / not for profit setting is that the 4 prescribed perspectives can narrow focus, and potentially make the organisation too inward looking. Mark Friedman's Results (or Outcomes) Based Accountability (see Friedman, M. (2005) trying hard is not good enough. Fiscal Policy Studies Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a simpler approach that uses 3 Core Performance Measures:
- How much did we do?
- How well did we do it?
- What difference did we make?
Usually organisations major on the first, do a little of the second but regard the third as just too hard. In reality, 'how much..' measures tell very little of value, whereas 'what difference' measures are well worth investment." |
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Sample BSC for Public Sector Organization
Paul Maguire, USA
"Bukekile, the comments above provide many good suggestions. Kaplan books also include case studies for non-profits. I have also worked with non-profits (schools and foundations) and can provide you with examples." |
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