The Changing Times of 2019 2019 brought many changes for the Oregon Oregon Performance Improvement Association (OPPIA) as long-time OPPIA Board Chair officially retires to another awesome opportunity where his skills, aptitude, and untiring commitment are needed. Safe waters to you ahead -- Chad Olsen. Chad will remain in an honorary Past-Chair position for advising if needed. This vacancy offered up the opportunity to open the chair position. Along with this opportunity came

Becoming a World Class Inpatient Public Psychiatric Facility You probably know that the Oregon State Hospital (OSH) serves adults needing intensive psychiatric treatment for severe mental illness. And you may not be surprised to learn that OSH has two campuses: one in Salem and a smaller one in Junction City where 24-hour, on-site nursing and psychiatric care is provided. You may not realize that treatment planning, pharmacy, laboratory, food and nutritional services, and vo

Camille Clark Wallin, Certified Lean Practitioner Some people come to the field of performance improvement and measurement from business process management, auditing or information technology. Others come with a background in Six Sigma or data analysis. Camille came to the field with a background in informatics and lean methodologies. Read on to learn how these two disciplines gave Camille a strong foundation for her job in performance improvement. Camille first became expose

Strategic Planning & Performance Management In 2016, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) began working on a framework for the Central Services Performance System (CSPS). The system began with a focus on “Partners in Service Excellence” by working with the leadership team to identify performance measures and goals and to establish a cadence of quarterly performance reviews. Today, the performance system tracks 40 active, high-level measures across seven key areas: B

Purpose + Process + People = Results  In this issue, we focus on three pillars of performance management: Purpose + Process + People = Results. Purpose [pillar one] provides a clear picture of where you want to be. Performance metrics tell us where we are today compared to a defined goal. Without purpose, programs, and processes people are left to define their own goals, with the inherent risk of each pulling in a different direction. The U.S. Government Accountability Off

City of Bend Launches Data and Analytics Program: A Case Study In September 2017, the City of Bend established a Data and Analytics Program (DAP) to make data available for City staff for decision making and ensuring its accuracy, timeliness and relevance. For several years, various City departments had been working on data projects, reporting and performance measurement. With DAP’s creation, City management took the next step to develop a central resource to support data sha

Pamela J. Stroebel Powers, CPA, MBA, CIA, CRMA, CPM Why She Does What She Does…            Pam has always enjoyed numbers and as early as high school felt drawn to the field of accounting. In college, when exploring career options, she thought she only had two choices as a future CPA – taxes or auditing. The idea of doing taxes for the rest of her life did not excite her, so she chose the audit path. Her Grandmother had worked for the State of Oregon, so when she saw an oppor