Editors --- "The policing business" [1999] AUFPPlatypus 33; (1999) 65 Platypus: Journal of the Australian Federal Police, Article 6

• The business model
• Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)
• Business planning
• Management Information System
• The executive summary
• Better policing — the patrol example
• Potential enhancements
• Conclusion

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The policing business

In achieving the outcomes expected of it by the Federal Government, the AFP must develop and maintain effective and appropriate partnerships and liaison arrangement with key law enforcement and related agencies in Australia and overseas.

To better appreciate the roles and functions of these agencies, Platypus Magazine regularly features articles on such key agencies.

The following article by Tasmania Police Commissioner , right, looks at the development of a Management Information System within Tasmania Police, which combines data relating to inputs, outputs and outcomes into a corporate report on the health and performance of the organisation.

The revolution in communications, technology and information management has contributed to the emergence of a global village and a society that is increasingly characterised by social isolation, crime, disorder, and feelings of insecurity.

A consequence is an ever-increasing demand for policing services that is rarely matched with an increase in resources. Instead, communities require higher levels of accountability as they seek to maximise their returns on expensive investments.

The policing profession is dedicated to achieving the outcome of a safer community, and needs to be guided by a clear vision and be possessed of a strong sense of mission. The Tasmania Police vision is ‘to be widely recognised as a premier police organisation' and its mission is to ensure that ‘Tasmania is the safest state in the nation'.

The vision and the mission are pursued through four key strategic directions:

• becoming a partner in a fully integrated community network;

• focusing on core policing;

• focusing on operational excellence; and

• a commitment to organisational learning.

In a complex world, the effective management of any organisation requires access to timely and accurate information on organisational performance and health. To achieve this, the Tasmania Police has developed a Management Information System (MIS) that combines data relating to inputs, outputs and outcomes into a corporate report on the health and performance of the organisation.

Most organisations have well-developed processes to monitor inputs and outcomes. However, the traditional means of obtaining output information usually diverts resources away from producing outputs in order to service administrative requirements. The main feature of the MIS is an Outputs Management Information System (OMIS) that predominantly sources data from existing computer systems. In this way, information on organisational performance is captured as a by-product of normal activity, rather than as an additional task.

The business model

Police agencies are in the business of producing police services. The policing business consumes inputs (resources) to produce outputs (police services) that are aimed at influencing outcomes (safer communities). This model can be applied to all organisations involved in producing goods or services and is depicted by the ‘IPO' model in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - The IPO Model (image missing)

Often, outcomes and outputs are confused. Put simply, an output is an activity that is within the control of the producer and can be guaranteed. For example, the police patrol, output, is automatically produced when certain steps are followed. On the other hand, an outcome, such as reduced crime, cannot be guaranteed and the best that can be hoped for is that it will be influenced by an output.

This outputs/outcomes model has been adopted as the reporting framework for all Tasmanian government agencies. The Institute of Public Administration describes the purpose of the framework in the following terms: "Output performance measures provide information that will assist agencies, the government, parliament and ultimately the public, to:

• monitor what is being done;

• assess whether the right things are being done;

• adjust to changes;

• manage for change;

• account for what has been achieved; and

• improve the provision of services."

— Communique (No 71, June 1997)

The management adage, "What gets measured gets done" holds true and some form of outputs reporting is essential for ensuring accountability and improving effectiveness. However, obtaining outputs data comes at a cost.

One measure of organisational efficiency is to calculate the percentage of organisational effort that is diverted from producing outputs in order to service administrative requirements. Completing activity returns is the traditional approach to measuring outputs, and is an obvious example of an administrative overhead. One jurisdiction, using a comprehensive manual output reporting system (activity-based costing), discovered its efficiency rating to be 47 per cent.

No doubt a significant proportion of the other 53 per cent was lost in completing and processing activity returns. Tasmania Police, without a manual outputs system, was rated at 68 per cent (KPMG:1995). Although it should not be deduced that the difference in effectiveness is solely attributable to manual activity reporting, the Tasmanian study demonstrated that a manual output reporting system would reduce the time available for operational activity by a further 4.5 per cent. Getting more outputs from the 32 per cent administrative overhead is a significant opportunity and a major challenge.

To solve the dilemma of accessing information without detracting from organisational efficiency, Tasmania Police turned to the lessons of Business Process Re-engineering.

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is based on information management principles derived from the revolution in technology and communications. The BPR maxim is "don't automate . . . obliterate." The approach is to use information management principles to design entirely new processes that take full advantage of modern technology. Particularly relevant information management principles are:

• information is captured once, close to the source;

• information has central functionality, regional availability; and

• reporting is a by-product of activity, not an additional task.

— Hammer & Champy: ‘Re-engineering the Organisation'

The policing business is information rich and the detective's adage, ‘you are only as good as the information you receive', has implications beyond the use of informers. For example, a business process resulting in a prosecution can be seen as an information flow that is comprised of the elements of the collecting of information (evidence), collating it into a particular form (the brief), and presenting it to a court (the hearing). To capitalise on its information assets, Tasmania Police developed an Information Resource Management strategy that has shifted the focus to managing information rather than managing the technology.

Business planning

A plan is a statement of intended action. A police business plan specifies the actions that are intended to influence particular community outcomes. A plan will identify the intended strategies (mixes of outputs) that will be pursued to influence a particular problem (outcome) and identify the way resources (input) will be used.

In police business plans, it is appropriate for managers to promise the delivery of particular outputs. However, since outcomes cannot be guaranteed, it is necessary to engage the community in determining policing priorities and in supporting particular strategies. Traditionally, such engagement has been through representative government, but there is now an increasing shift to forming partnerships with local communities. This is a welcome move and is a natural development toward a more genuine form of community policing.

Community participation is also important because most outcomes can only be influenced by integrating the outputs produced by a number of other sectors. For example, a problem such as youth crime requires a broad community-based strategy that integrates policing outputs with those of other sectors such as local government, welfare, education, health, business, unions, and housing.

Management Information System

To capture outputs information, Tasmania Police has developed an Outputs Management Information System (OMIS).

The MIS sources data through a combination of computerised extraction and manual reporting. Information on resource usage and outcomes is added to provide a comprehensive corporate report on the performance of business units.

In an ideal world, all performance information would be sourced from computer systems, but since the investment to automate all outputs information can not be justified, OMIS retains a manual component. Nevertheless, automated outputs information capture is now a standard requirement of all future system developments.

The MIS uses off-the-shelf spreadsheet software, which provides a powerful capability for performing calculations and graphically presenting data, trends and variations. Computerised extraction is achieved through an ‘outputs shell' which regularly, and automatically, interrogates departmental systems, extracts inputs/outputs/outcomes data which is inserted into the OMIS database. Non-computerised data is reported on spreadsheets that are automatically up-loaded.

The annual outputs for each business unit are included in the relevant business plans and cumulative ‘Year to Date' benchmarks are established for each input, output and outcome. A variation from an anticipated outcome is indicative of a need to review existing strategies, while a variation from an intended volume of outputs enables business units to self manage their outputs production. The MIS also enables business units to report to their communities on the problems, police activity and the effectiveness of policing strategies.

The executive summary

The executive summary identifies variations from plan and focuses management attention on the exceptions.

The executive summary, colloquially known as the ‘Traffic Light Report', condenses organisational performance into two pages of easily understood information that immediately identifies the areas requiring attention. Areas are colour coded according to their variation from the anticipated benchmark, either within 10 per cent (yellow), between 10 and 20 per cent over/under (pale red/green), and more than 20 per cent over/under expectations (dark red/green).

Theoretically, an efficient manager would always achieve a yellow rating (within 10 per cent) for all inputs and outputs. Outcomes that achieve a bright red rating are indicative of a change in the environment and a need to revisit strategies. Outputs with a bright green result show over-production and a potential source from which to divert resources, either to under-performing outputs or to revised strategies to deal with changing outcomes.

Underlying the executive summary is the MIS that provides a cumulative report on the inputs, outputs and outcomes of each business unit as well as the initiatives, programs and areas of special interest. Information is presented as bar graphs that provide a ready comparison of actual performance with planned performance.

Better policing — the patrol example

Changes to the performance and effectiveness of police patrols is an example of how the MIS is able to improve the effectiveness of policing strategies.

When not responding to calls for service, general-duties police officers conduct high-visibility patrols aimed at preventing crime and increasing public feelings of safety.

Although surveys can measure community perceptions, it is more problematic to determine the effectiveness of police patrols.

Under the MIS, patrol areas have been established and the intelligence process is used to identify those requiring special attention. On commencing duty, police advise the radio room of their designated area and patrol effort is automatically calculated by deducting time spent on other duties. The intelligence process then measures the effect on the outcome of a known quantity of output and more effective crime prevention tactics and strategies can be developed.

Potential enhancements

As a learning organisation, Tasmania Police is continually improving, and a number of enhancements to the MIS are under consideration.

One enhancement is using the ‘balanced scorecard' to provide a comprehensive picture of organisational health and performance. The balanced scorecard approach is derived from the Kaplan and Norton book, The balanced scorecard — translating strategy into action. The balanced scorecard approach combines information from:

• finance;

• internal production;

• customer perceptions; and

• learning and development.

The Tasmania Police MIS covers finance and internal production but would benefit from developing measures relating to customer perceptions and learning and development'.

Another potential improvement is to develop output benchmarks into a personal plan that is linked to the business plan of an individual's station, or section. Such an approach provides a genuine and objective means of personal performance assessment that is based on productivity.

An extension of this idea is to establish a benchmark for personal performance in the core service areas of Traffic, Uniform and CIB. Routine outputs could be weighted and aggregated to establish a single numerical benchmark for individual performance.

The average of the personal performance of the individuals within a business unit is an indicator of the unit's overall productivity. The benchmark can also readily identify over and under-performing individuals. It is envisaged that such a system would only apply to staff engaged in routine operations.

These ideas, though still requiring considerable development, indicate the kind of possibilities when policing is seen and managed as a service delivery business.

Conclusion

Tasmania Police's MIS is not a technology solution. It is a redesign of business processes, using information management principles that are enabled by an expanded information technology infrastructure.

The benefits of the MIS include:

• the avoidance of a 4.5 per cent productivity fall associated with a manual system of reporting outputs;

• performance information which is more accurate, consistent and timely;

• departmental sections being able to monitor performance against plans and self-manage outputs production;

• strategists having information with which to assess the effectiveness of plans, operations and programs;

• tacticians having timely information to adapt to changing problems;

• establishing the cause and effect relationship between policing outputs and community outcomes; and

• determining the true cost and effectiveness of policing outputs.

The MIS is a significant element of the four strategic directions through which Tasmania Police is pursuing its vision and mission:

• Integrated community networks are advanced as communities participate in developing strategies to deal with their problems.

• Core policing is advanced through a decrease in administrative reporting.

• Operational excellence is advanced through the more effective use of police resources.

• Organisational learning is advanced by establishing the cause and effect relationship between policing outputs and community outcomes.

By taking a business approach to organisational performance, Tasmania Police is improving policing service delivery, realising its vision to be ‘widely recognised as a premier police service', and achieving the mission of ‘ensuring that Tasmania is the safest state in the nation'.

The people of Tasmania deserve nothing less!