On April 21st, Mayor Sarno’s office and the Finance Control Board announced the release of the latest progress report on the work of CitiStat.  Efforts undertaken by CitiStat over the last 13 months (from February 2008 through March 2009) will result in savings and efficiencies of at least $1.7 million for the City of Springfield ($7 for every dollar invested).

The report summarizes progress made from the launch of regular CitiStat meetings at the end of January 2008 through the end of March 2009.  In that period, CitiStat has convened 180 CitiStat meetings, including 161 departmental reviews covering 21 City departments.  The report also summarizes some of the major projects currently being addressed by CitiStat.

Highlights shared during the press conference include a savings of $360,000 in sick leave costs through improved monitoring and accountability, up to $75,000 in annual savings through the adoption of a tougher city ordinance for false fire alarms, increased efficiency of housing and building inspectors saving more than $100,000, reductions in workplace injuries on pace to save $120,000 this year while protecting employees’ health, and adoption of a vacant and foreclosing property ordinance that will improve quality of life and generate up to $130,000 in fees per year.  The results of inter-departmental NeighborhoodStat meetings were also shared, including a 14.6 percent reduction in calls for service to the Police Department from one street that has been a focus of CitiStat meetings.

The progress report, as well as three posters with highlights, can be viewed by clicking below.

CitiStat Progress Report - April 2009

CitiStat Highlights Posters

On February 2nd, a presentation on the CitiStat program was made to the Springfield Business Roundtable.  The presentation summarizes some of the results achieved to date,  the CitiStat process, and a few examples of improvements currently being implemented as a result of CitiStat.  The presentation can be viewed by clicking on the below link.

CitiStat Presentation to the Business Roundtable

In the summer of 2008, the CitiStat Department took responsibility for developing the City’s 3-1-1 Citizen Service Center.  The software being used to track calls and service requests in the call center, Intelligov, includes a comprehensive real-time reporting tool or dashboard.  This Dashboard, which is still being developed, allows Departments and the City’s leadership to monitor call center activity (calls taken, service requests created, service requests on-time performance, etc.) in near real-time.   The first link below is a summary view from the City of Springfield’s Dashboard showing all calls taken on February 4th by type.  Calls for service are those calls that are logged as a service request requiring action.   Calls for information are those calls that were answered by the Call Center without being forwarded to another department.  As you can see, this provides the City’s leadership with a quick view of activity taking place on a given day.

Dashboard Summary View

CitiStat has also worked with other City departments to integrate data from other systems and databases into the Dashboard.  At this time, the Dashboard includes data from the Housing Department’s complaint database, the Fire Department’s incident management system, the MUNIS financial system, MUNIS work orders, and ADP payroll.  The ability to access data in near real-time from a variety of systems allows leaders to make data-informed decisions and will greatly improve CitiStat’s ability to monitor performance.

The second link below is a dashboard view of performance metrics for the Housing Department which shows the FY2009 goal, the FY2008 year-to-date performance, the FY2009 year-to-date performance, the status (relative to the goal), and the trend (FY2009 compared to FY2008).

Housing Performance Metrics Dashboard

At its February 3rd meeting, the Springfield Finance Control Board unanimously passed an executive order creating the CitiStat Department under City ordinance.   The ordinance defines the process of appointing and removing the Director, the powers and duties of the department, and the composition and duties of the CitiStat review team.  Following is the definition of the Department’s powers and duties as defined in the ordinance.

2.100.040  CitiStat Department—Powers and duties generally.  A.  The CitiStat department and CitiStat review team established pursuant to the provisions of shall 2.100.040 shall be responsible for cultivating data-driven management and accountability of the operations of all city departments, boards, commissions and agencies and, upon the request of the school committee and/or superintendent of schools, the school department.  The CitiStat department and CitiStat review team shall work with departments, boards, commissions and agencies, and as applicable, the school department, to improve their operations, efficiency and effectiveness, and shall facilitate the process of cross-departmental cooperation for the purposes of improving the efficiency, effectiveness and quality of public services in Springfield.

B.   The CitiStat department shall have the power, right and duty to:

1.              Request data and information from any city department, board, commission and agency (including, pursuant to the provisions of 2.100.040 (A), the school department);

2.              Regularly track, collect, review and analyze performance and management data and other information from all city departments (including, as applicable, the school department), identify key issues and questions, and query any city departments (including, as applicable, the school department) pertaining to such data and information;

3.              Conduct field investigations;

4.              Prepare reports, memoranda and briefing materials prior to CitiStat meetings, highlighting data and posing questions, and at other times as determined appropriate by the director;

5.              Regularly schedule management and performance reviews and other meetings with all city departments, boards commissions and agencies (including, pursuant to the provisions of 2.100.040 (A), the school department);

6.              Record and monitor until completion all action items, open tasks, and follow-up actions identified during any CitiStat meetings;

7.              Notify on at least a monthly basis all city departments (including, pursuant to the provisions of 2.100.040 (A), the school department) of uncompleted action items and follow-up items for which they are responsible; 

8.              Advise and make recommendations to the mayor and others, upon mayoral direction, pertaining to the operations of the city;

9.              Establish, operate and maintain a call center, to be known as the 3-1-1 citizen service center, that will receive; respond to; manage; monitor, evaluate and track departmental responses to; resolve and report on all non-emergency calls, citizen inquiries, requests for services or information, and complaints for all city departments;

10.         Issue a public report on no less than on a quarterly basis regarding departmental activities, results and future items; and

11.         Perform such other duties as the mayor may prescribe from time to time.

At every CitiStat review of a department, one of the first topics of conversation is payroll.  In particular, amounts of leave time and overtime incurred.  While overtime costs are driven by a number of factors, such as emergencies, for many City departments the number of people on vacation or out sick on a given day can significantly impact overtime costs.

CitiStat’s analyses of payroll include metrics like sick leave hours as a percent of total working hours or number of employees by sick leave days used in the year.   One of the simplest ways to review payroll is to examine hours of leave and overtime incurred this year compared to the same period of time last year.

In the table below, you find the total hours of sick leave, all paid leave, and overtime incurred by each Division of the Department of Public Works during the first 10 weeks of FY2008 and the first 10 weeks of FY2009.  As you can see, overtime hours have declined considerably (down nearly 1,000 hours or 100 hours per week) since FY2008.  This type of analysis then leads to a further conversation of why hours are down and whether there are lessons to be learned that could be applied in other departments to reduce overtime costs.

Linked to this post is the first progress report on the implementation and impact of the recently launched CitiStat program in the City of Springfield.  CitiStat will likely produce implementation and impact reports such as this between once a quarter and once every six months.  Because this is the first such report, it is particularly detailed in documenting the steps taken to implement the CitiStat program, as well as the impact already achieved.

Through the end of June, CitiStat had held about 55 departmental review meetings with 20 city departments.  One of the key components of any CitiStat program is follow-up and every next step or action item discussed in a CitiStat meeting is tracked and discussed at subsequent meetings.  Through the end of June, CitiStat was tracking 771 follow-up items with about 60 percent of these having been completed.

In May, CitiStat launched a series of NeighborhoodStat meetings, drawing together personnel from multiple departments to review data and discuss issues facing particular neighborhoods.  These cross-departmental meetings are designed to result in creative problem-solving.

More details on the first four months of CitiStat meetings can be found in the attached progress report (CitiStat Progress Report July 2008).

Paul N. Foster 

Paul is the Director of CitiStat Springfield, responsible for the development and management of the CitiStat program and oversight of the 3-1-1 Citizen Service Center. Prior to joining the City of Springfield, Paul was a Policy Analyst with the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, authoring reports on the FY2008 state budget, budget transparency, property tax reform, and education reform proposals. Previously, Paul served for five years as the Manager of the Regional Information Center at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. Paul earned his Master’s degree in Social Policy from Brandeis University’s Heller School and received his Bachelor’s in History and Afro-American Studies from Harvard College.

Jennifer C. Juliano

Jennifer is the Senior CitiStat Analyst with responsibility for assisting in the development and implementation of the CitiStat program. Jennifer has primary responsibility for analysis relative to the Facilities, Parks, Police, Budget, and Information Technology departments. Previously, Jennifer was a Senior Budget Analyst for Baystate Health Systems evaluating the Medical Center’s budget and assisting in determining the best practice for nurse staffing ratios in order to remain fiscally responsible as well as provide excellent patient care. Jennifer is currently in the process of earning her Master’s degree in Business Administration from Western New England College and received her Bachelor’s in Finance and Management from Westfield State College.

Elise Moreau Bernice
Elise is a CitiStat Analyst, primarily responsible for the analysis of the Housing, Buildings, Planning and Economic Development, Community Development, and Fire departments. Before joining the CitiStat team in Springfield, Elise earned her Master’s degree in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. During her time there she focused on educational statistics and specifically performed analysis to assess the performance of an automated tutor in the Pittsburgh Public School System. Prior to graduate school Elise spent a year as a Jesuit Volunteer caseworker for Catholic Social Services in Mobile, Alabama. She also holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Alison L. Newman 
Alison is a CitiStat Analyst, taking the lead in analysis for the Health and Human Services, Elder Affairs, Animal Control, Library, Personnel, and Purchasing departments. Prior to joining the CitiStat team, Alison was a Program Associate for the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, researching and providing reports on various issues relating to individuals with disabilities, such as recreation, health care, criminal justice and self-determination. During her employment with the Council, Alison graduated from New York’s Partners in Policymaking program, a training workshop designed to teach individuals with disabilities and their families how to effectively advocate for cultural, societal and policy change. Alison earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College, and received her Bachelor’s in Public Policy also from the University at Albany.

Since the launch of CitiStat Springfield, three NeighborhoodStat meetings have been held focusing on the South End. Unlike other CitiStat meetings that focus on a single department, NeighborhoodStat brings together operational personnel from multiple city departments to examine data from a variety of sources and collaboratively solve problems. Buildings, Fire, Housing, Health and Human Services, Planning and Economic Development, and Police have been represented at these meetings. While being piloted in the South End, NeighborhoodStat meetings will ultimately be convened to focus on other neighborhoods in the city.

Following is an overview map from the last NeighborhoodStat meeting held in the South End on June 16th. This provides a spatial perspective on the data from and activities of multiple city departments.

To learn more about how Springfield CitiStat is working with all departments to improve city services, view the CitiStat process map (PDF).