The High Performance and Innovation initiative is an organization-wide effort to measure, analyze, improve and report on the services provided by the City of Scottsdale.

What is performance management? Performance management is an ongoing, systematic approach intended to improve results by integrating objective evidence with decision-making processes.

The guiding principles of the Scottsdale performance management effort are:

• Aligned with City Council and General Plan mission, goals, priorities
  
• Results focused. Strategies, processes, and decisions are designed to achieve desired results
  
• Relevant. Matters to both the city government and the community
  
• Transparent. Easy for stakeholders to access and understand
  
• Timely, Accurate and Pertinent. Data drives decisions and processes
  
• Transformative. Continuously improves the organization, management decisions, and policy-making processes
  
• Sustainable over time and across organizational changes

Quarterly Performance Report

Quarterly performance report

The quarterly performance report provides progress updates regarding key performance measures included in the annual budget book. Quarterly updates are also provided on the organization strategic plan.

View Organization Strategic Plan

An overview presentation based on the annual budget and annual report is available along with documents that are included in the annual budget and updated each year. A booklet with all of reports is also available. 

Performance information is included in the annual budget at the division and department level. In addition, ten years' worth of data on selected indicators is included in the Annual Comprehensive financial report. Both documents, as well as an archive of prior year information is available online.

Organization Strategic Planning

On Nov. 13, 2023, the Scottsdale City Council accepted the updated organizational strategic plan goals and key objectives. Updates on the progress of the organization strategic plan are on this online dashboard and on the Mission and Priorities page.

Organization Mission Statement

In addition, in December 2013, the City Council adopted a new mission statement for the organization: “Simply better service for a world-class community” The new mission statement is being implemented through citywide internal initiatives. These are: “Simply” - Streamlining the services we provide through process improvement, “Better” - Formalizing our benchmarking efforts to ensure our services are “better,” and “Service” - Reinstating training programs and standards for providing high-quality customer service. In addition, to clarify what is meant by a world-class community, we partnered with graduate students at Thunderbird School of Global Management to formalize the definition and attributes of a world-class community and create citywide customer-focused outcomes and key performance indicators. The final project is available.

Valley Benchmark Communities

The city of Scottsdale is a founding member of the Valley Benchmark Communities collaborative. The purpose of Valley Benchmark Communities is to improve local government performance in Arizona by working collaboratively to identify and share resources, best practices, and common demographic, financial, and performance information to better understand the complex and diverse operations of the 13 participating cities (Avondale, Buckeye, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Queen Creek, Scottsdale, Surprise, and Tempe). Annually, since FY 2013-14, the Valley Benchmark Communities initiative publishes a report to share 24 Valley-wide measures with city leadership and the public. This report includes measures in the following service categories: Demographics, Fire Services, Police Services; Library Services; Parks and Recreation Services; Water, Sewer, and Trash Services; Finance and Administration Services. Explore the most recent main trend report or the Valley Benchmark Communities website.

Citizen and Employee Surveys

Scottsdale regularly surveys its residents to give them a chance to rate their quality of life and provide feedback on city programs and services. The results help Scottsdale set service priorities and provide comparisons with other cities. Read more about the survey.

ICMA and National Research Center, Inc. (National Citizen Survey)

• Voice of the People Awards for Excellence (2017, 2014, 2011)
• Voice of the People Awards for Transformation (2011)

ICMA Center for Performance Analytics

• Certificate of Excellence in Performance Measurement (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
• Certificate of Distinction (2012)
• Certificate of Achievement (2011)

AGA

• Certification of Excellence in Citizen-Centric Reporting (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

Government Finance Officers Association

• Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, Special Performance Measures Recognition (FY 2011/12 Adopted Budget Book)

Other external resources that may be helpful in developing a performance management program.

• Giving citizens numbers they can understand. Mark Funkhauser, Governing.com, Feb. 25, 2013
• Joining Forces: Arizona Cities Collaborate to Improve Performance, Brent Stockwell and David Swindell, PM Magazine, December 2015
• Making Strategic Planning Work, Brent Stockwell and Joe Casey, Government Finance Review, April 2016
• A Performance Management Framework for State and Local Government, National Performance Management Advisory Commission, 2010.
• Lessons from Performance Measurement Leaders, Shayne Kavanaugh, GFOA, 2013.
• Transforming Performance Measurement for the 21st Century, Harry Hatry, Urban Institute, 2014
• Surfacing the Submerged State with Operational Transparency in Government Services, Ryan W. Buell, Michael I. Norton, Harvard Business School, 2013.
• Performance Management: Getting Started, Center for Government Excellence.