Component 02
Target Setting
Target setting is the use of baseline data, information on possible strategies, resource constraints, and forecasting tools to collaboratively establish a quantifiable level of performance the agency wants to achieve within a specific time frame. Targets make the link between investment decisions and performance expectations transparent across all stakeholders. Read more…
Implementation Steps
Target setting is broken down into two complementary subcomponents:
- Technical Methodology: Implementation of an evidence-based and data-driven approach for observing a baseline and evaluating a performance trend.
- Business Process: Establishment of an intra-agency process including internal coordination and collaboration to establish and modify performance targets.
Making the Connection
The Target Setting process (Component 02) takes the goals, objectives, and performance measures of the Strategic Direction (Component 01) and establishes targets. Targets are used to assess progress toward achieving strategic goals, guide planning efforts, inform programmatic decisions and adjustments, and communicate with stakeholders.
Learn More
The Target Setting chapter contains three sections:
Keep reading the complete Component 02: Target Setting…
What it Takes
Inside an agency, the target setting process is intertwined with the tenets of transportation performance management (TPM): connecting employee actions to results, motivating and focusing staff, increasing accountability, guiding the allocation of resources, and tracking the efficacy of various strategies. Viable target setting is based on three major building blocks:
- Quality data,
- Good analyses,and
- Solid business processes
Quality data are the foundation to observing the baseline, conducting trend line analysis, and estimating forecasts. What data are available? What are its limitations? Will it be available in the future? What can be applied to strengthen the usability of the data?
Good analyses are the approaches used to convert data into valuable information and ultimately your target.
Good business processes must be established and documented for accountability and repeatability, otherwise target setting will not be sustainable.