Results-Based Management Lexicon

Accountability - The obligation to demonstrate and take responsibility both for the means used and the results achieved in light of agreed expectations. 
(Responsabilisation)

Activity - An operation or work process internal to an organisation, which uses inputs to produce outputs. E.g., Training, research, construction, negotiation, investigation, etc…
(Activité)

Attribution – the extent to which a reasonable causal connection can be made between a specific outcome and the activities and outputs of a government policy, program or initiative. (Attribution)

Canada’s Performance: A government-wide performance report tabled in the fall of each year by the President of Treasury Board. Canada’s Performance provides parliamentarians and Canadians with a whole of government perspective from which to view the plans, results and resources reported by individual federal departments and agencies in their spring planning and fall performance reports.  Example: Canada’s Performance 2003
(Le Rendement du Canada)


Departmental Performance Reports (DPR) - Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs), tabled in the fall of each year by the President of Treasury Board on behalf of all federal departments and agencies named in Schedule I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act, are part of the Estimates and Supply process. Their fundamental purpose is to present a report on results and accomplishments as established in the corresponding Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP) in order to provide Parliamentarians with knowledge and understanding of the government’s stewardship of public resources. 
(Rapports ministériels sur le rendement - RMR) 

Effectiveness - The extent to which an organisation, policy, program or initiative is meeting its expected results. Related term: Cost Effectiveness - The extent to which an organization, program, policy or initiative is using the most appropriate and efficient means in achieving its expected results relative to alternative design and delivery approaches. 
(Efficacité)

Efficiency - The extent to which an organisation, policy, program or initiative is produces outputs in relation to resources used. 
(Efficience)

Evaluation - the application of systematic methods to periodically and objectively assess effectiveness of programs in achieving expected results, their impacts, both intended and unintended, continued relevance and alternative or more cost-effective ways of achieving expected results. 
(Évaluation)

Expected Result – An outcome that a program, policy or initiative is designed to produce. 

Governance: The processes and structures through which decision-making authority is exercised. E.g., An effective governance structure ensures individuals or groups of individuals are responsible for setting policy directions, priorities, taking investment decisions, re-allocating resources, and designing programs.

Government of Canada Outcome: The long-term and enduring benefits to Canadians that more than one federal department or agency are working to achieve. 
Example: An Innovative and Knowledge-based Economy

Horizontal Initiative: An initiative in which partners from two or more organizations have established a formal funding agreement (e.g. Memorandum to Cabinet, Treasury Board submission, federal-provincial agreement) to work toward the achievement of shared outcomes. E.g., Canada’s Drug Strategy, Measures to Combat Organized Crime Initiative.

Horizontal Results-Based Management and Accountability Framework(HRMAF): A framework that ensures horizontal initiatives and policy-program domains have adequate governance and accountability structures, are logically designed and have in place the processes and structures necessary to measure and report on performance. E.g., Measures to Combat Organized Crime Initiative RMAF

Initiative: A priority outcome and the means to achieve it articulated by the government of Canada. It may involve one or more departments, and one or more programs. 

Performance criteria: A variable used to characterise or determine success of an organisation, program, policy or initiative in producing outputs or achieving outcomes. Eg client satisfaction

Examples of relationships between outcome/outputs, performance criteria and performance measures:

Input – The financial and non-financial resources used by organisations, policies, programs and initiatives to produce outputs and accomplish outcomes. E.g., Funds, personnel, equipment, supplies, etc… 
(Intrant)

Logic Model – A depiction of the causal or logical relationships between activities inputs, outputs and the outcomes of a given policy, program or initiative. Eg. (Enchaînement de résultats)

Management Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) – A comprehensive framework that consists of an organisation’s inventory of activities, resources, results, performance measurement and governance information. Activities and results are depicted in their logical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The MRRS is developed from a Program Activity Architecture (PAA).

Outcome - An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organisation, policy, program or initiative. Outcomes are not within the control of a single organisation, policy, program or initative, instead they are within the area of the organisation’s influence. Outcomes are usually further qualified as immediate, intermediate, or ultimate (final), expected, direct etc:
(Résultat).

Three types of outcomes related to the logic model are defined as :

1. Immediate Outcome: an outcome that is directly attributable to a policy, program or initiative’s outputs. In terms of time frame and level, these are short-term outcomes and are often at the level of an increase in awareness of a target population.
   
2. Intermediate Outcome: an outcome that is expected to logically occur once one or more immediate outcomes have been achieved. In terms of time frame and level, these are medium term outcomes and are often at the change of behaviour level among a target population.
   
3. Final Outcome: the highest-level outcome that can be reasonably attributed to a policy, program or initiative in causal manner, and is the consequence of one or more intermediate outcomes having been achieved. These outcomes usually represent the raison d’être of a policy, program or initiative. They are long-term outcomes that represent a change of state of a target population. Ultimate outcomes of individual programs, policies or initiatives contribute to the higher-level departmental Strategic Outcomes.

Output - Direct products or services stemming from the activities of an organisation, policy, program or initiative, and usually within the control of the organsiation itself. E.g., Pamphlet, research study, water treatment plant, training session, etc…
(Extrant)

Performance – What a government did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the government intended to achieve and how well lessons learned have been identified.
(Rendement)

Performance Indicator; see Performance measure

Performance measure : A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organisation, program, policy or initiative. Quantitative performance measures are composed of a number and a unit. The number provides the magnitude (how much) and the unit gives the number its meaning (what). e.g number of written complaints received;
(Mesures du rendement)

Performance Measurement - The process and systems of selection, development and on-going use of performance measures to guide decision-making.

Performance Monitoring - The ongoing, systematic process of collecting, analyzing and using performance information to assess and report on an organization’s progress in meeting expected results and, if necessary, make adjustments to ensure these results are achieved.
(Suivi du rendement)

Performance Reporting - The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.
(Rapport sur le rendement)

Policy - Government legislation, regulation, official guidelines or operating principles that influence behaviour towards a stated outcome. Example: Canada Health Act

Plans – the articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organisation intends achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result..
(Plans)

Priorities (for RPP) – Specific areas that an organisation has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. They represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s).
(Priorités)

Program – A group of related activities that are designed and managed to meet a specific public need and often treated as a budgetary unit.

Program Activity Architecture (PAA) – An inventory of all the activities undertaken by a department or agency. The activities are depicted in their logical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The PAA is the initial document for the establishment of a Management Resource and Results Structure (MRRS).

Program Activity Architecture, Horizontal – An inventory of all programs and intiatives in a horizontal policy-program domain and their relationship to outcomes.

Reach: The target that a given program or organization is intended to influence, including individuals and organizations, clients, partners, and other stakeholders (see Target Group).

Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP) - As part of the Main Estimates, the RPPs provide information on departmental plans and expected performance over a three-year period. These reports are tabled in Parliament each spring, after resource allocation deliberations. They include information on the department or agency’s mission or mandate, strategic outcomes, strategies, plans and performance targets.
(Rapports sur les plans et les priorités - RPP)

Result – Results are the same as outcomes. See outcome defintion..

Result Chain – See Logic model.

Results for Canadians - Describes the management framework for the federal government of Canada. Published in early 2000, this key document outlines the four management commitments for the federal government: citizen focus, values, results and responsible spending.
(Des résultats pour les Canadiens et les Canadiennes)

Results-based Management - A comprehensive, lifecycle, approach to management that integrates strategy, people, resources, processes and measurements to improve decision-making and drive change. The approach focuses on getting the right design early in a process, foussing on outcomes, implementing performance measurement, learning and changing, and reporting performance.
(Gestion axée sur les résultats)

Results-based Management and Accountability Framework (RMAF) - A document which outlines the rationale, theory, resources and governance and accountability structures of a program policy or intiative and sets out a plan to measure, monitor and report on results throughout the lifecycle of the policy, program or initiative. RMAFs are intended to assist departments in achieving the expected results of their policy, program or initiatve.
(Cadre de gestion et de responsabilisation axé sur les résultats - CGRR)

Strategic Outcome - A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that stems from a department or agency’s mandate, vision and efforts. It represents the difference a department or agency wants to make for Canadians and should be a clear measurable outcome that is within the department or agency’s sphere of influence.
(Résultat stratégique)

Target: A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative and are appropriate for both outputs and outcomes. E.g., 70% of Canadian households will own their own home in 2006

Target Group (Target Population) - The set of individuals and /or organisations that an activity is intended to influence.
(Groupe Cible)