National Report Recognizes State of Missouri for Improved Management Practices, Use of Data in Decision Making

OCTOBER 4, 2019

Jefferson City — Today during an event co-hosted by the National Governors Association, national nonprofit organization Results for America released a report recognizing the State of Missouri among other states for its use of evidence and data to drive better management practices and results for its citizens.

Results for America, which helps governments better use evidence and data in solving challenges, celebrated Missouri as a promising example of good government in its 2019 Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence report. The purpose of the State Standard of Excellence is to educate state government officials, leaders in public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and members of the general public on how state governments can and are using evidence and data to invest taxpayer dollars more effectively and efficiently.

This is the first time the annual report has highlighted the State of Missouri in its findings. The report identified the state as a “promising example” in three key categories — performance management/continuous improvement, outcome data, and innovation — and cited specific examples of the state government’s recent progress.

Performance management/continuous improvement

State of Missouri Chief Operating Officer Drew Erdmann works closely with all 16 executive branch departments to define their strategic priorities for improved focus and efficiency to better drive results for Missouri citizens. Each department maintains a strategic placemat, which outlines its priorities and main strategic initiatives. The placemats are hosted publicly on the state’s strategicchange.mo.gov website.

The report also highlighted departments’ use of performance data for core programs as a part of the annual budget process. The state started publishing department performance data on the Missouri Budget Explorer website in March 2019.

Outcome data

The Missouri Budget Explorer website provides the public with an easy-to-use, one-stop resource for information on the state’s budget. The website enables citizens to explore the details of the budget, including the state’s revenue sources and how these monies are allocated among the 16 executive departments, elected officials, legislature, and judiciary.

The report also credited departments for providing a standard set of performance measures for more than 600 major state programs, including activities, quality, impact, and efficiency, for program descriptions included the Fiscal Year 2020 budget instructions. The state is continuing these same practices in its Fiscal Year 2021 budget process.

Innovation

The Show Me Challenge, launched in January 2019, inspires teams at every level across Missouri state government to identify solutions that improve how the state serves its citizens, cuts out unnecessary bureaucratic work, and/or saves time and money. In its first two cycles, the Show Me Challenge received more than 100 proposals from over 500 team members across the state. The third cycle of the Challenge is currently underway.

“In Missouri, we are committed to common sense management in state government to deliver the best value for our citizens,” Governor Mike Parson said. “We are proud to be recognized nationally for how we are improving our use of facts and innovation to make government more effective and efficient for Missourians.”

“I am proud Results for America has recognized the hard work and commitment of the entire Cabinet to our back-to-basics management transformation,” State of Missouri Chief Operating Officer Drew Erdmann said. “We will continue to invest in building our team’s skills and capabilities to use evidence and data to improve our management and to innovate to find creative solutions to working better.”

“We appreciate Results for America for highlighting states that are working hard to become more effective and efficient stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Office of Administration Commissioner Sarah Steelman said. “We will continue to learn best practices from other states, and we are proud that they will also learn from Missouri.”

In its report, Results for America identified 125 examples of data-driven and evidence-based practices, policies, programs, and systems in effect as of June 2019 in 33 states across the country. To read the full report, click here.