With the 2023 rollout of its new four-year Strategic Plan, Northumberland County is now taking steps to provide regular updates on progress towards key goals and fulfillment of service commitments.
As part of its suite of tools and standards to ensure transparency and accountability to the community, the County is now announcing the launch of a Performance Dashboard.
This dashboard tracks over 30 indicators across a range of topics from expansion of licensed child care spaces, paramedic response times, financial performance, and small businesses launched, to general indicators of community health and growth such as development proposals received, and the waitlist for subsidized housing.
The Performance Dashboard represents a new approach to measuring the County’s progress towards predetermined targets by leveraging existing data resources to further support effective service delivery. By consolidating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Community Health Indicators (CHIs) through this publicly available resource, Northumberland County will share valuable insights into the effectiveness of its strategies and identify areas for continuous improvement.
“This new dynamic reporting tool is another step forward in our mission to be a best practices leader of County government, by enhancing data-based decision-making for improved service delivery, and increasing transparency and accountability with the community we serve,” says CAO Jennifer Moore. “Through the dashboard, we will be better able to benchmark where we are today, and where we may need to take additional action to ensure achievement of our goals and commitments. It will also provide residents, partners, and stakeholders with an accessible way to measure our progress in delivering on our Community Strategic Plan and meeting community needs.”
There are 22 KPIs measured in the dashboard. Targets have been set based on legislative commitments, community plans, and County policies and procedures. There are also 11 Community Health Indicators being tracked. These indicators feature important demographic statistics, or data about the economic, social, and democratic health of the community. Each metric is accompanied by an explanation of its importance, how it is measured, and performance data over time, providing residents with clear and easily understandable information. KPIs and CHIs will be updated regularly – either quarterly or annually depending on the metric, with some data pulled from the national census every four years – to reflect the latest data and insights. The indicators tracked will evolve over time based on new initiatives launched, new standards set, and council and community feedback.
“Measuring performance is essential for driving continuous improvement and ensuring that the County delivers the best possible services to our community,” states Warden Brian Ostrander. “The Performance Dashboard is a key implementation mechanism for our Community Strategic Plan. It will be an additional tool to assist Council in making data-driven decisions, reviewing trends, prioritizing resources effectively, and identifying where the organization is on track and where further improvements can be made, to ensure we’re delivering the greatest value to the community. We encourage residents to explore the dashboard as a way to stay informed about the County’s progress, as we work together on our shared goal of building a vibrant and connected twenty-first century Northumberland.”
Explore the newly launched Northumberland County Performance Dashboard at Northumberland.ca/Dashboard.
Take a tour: Northumberland.ca/DashboardTutorial
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
