Transportation System Performance Measures Definitions
Misunderstanding of terms can cause confusion in a technical field such as Performance Measures. Following is a list of some of the more critical terms that may be used in this website and related pages and studies.
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Accessibility
The opportunity and ease in which people and goods are able to reach activity sites using a transportation system. The fundamental purpose of a transportation system is to provide the opportunity for people and goods to physically reach or physically access desired locations. Accessibility (access) increases as more opportunities to reach social and economic activities increase.
Benchmark
A standard or a point of reference used in measuring or judging quality or value.
Benchmarking
The process of continuously comparing and measuring an organization against business leaders anywhere in the world to gain information that will help the organization take action to improve its performance.
Core process
Fundamental activities critical to an organization's success that will affect the organization's mission.
Customer:
The person or group of people who are directly or indirectly served by an organization.
Decision maker
Any individual, organization, or group with authority to choose how transportation funds will be spent or how the transportation system will be formed. This may include federal, state, regional, local, mode-specific, and land use authorities. The general public is also considered a decision maker.
Environment
Economic, political, cultural, and physical conditions inside or outside of the organization that interact with and affect an organization.
External customer
An individual or group outside the boundaries of the producing organization that receives or uses the output of the process.
Government Performance and Results Act
(Public Law 103-62)
A law that creates a long-term goal-setting process to improve federal program effectiveness and public accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service quality, and customer satisfaction.
Internal customer:
An individual or group inside the boundaries of the producing organization that receives or uses the output of the process.
Key performance indicator
Measurable factor of extreme importance to the organization in achieving its strategic goals, objectives, vision, and values that, if not implemented properly, would likely result in a significant decrease in customer satisfaction, employee morale, and effective financial management.
Market segment
A group of transportation system users sharing common trip purposes, destinations, or other features such as commuters, weekend recreational travelers, farm product shippers, and overnight package delivery services. The same groups may be found in more than one market segment and market segments can overlap.
Measure
A specific goal or objective which contains data requirements such as population, frequency of measurement, and data sources. It will also contain a calculation methodology, such as equations used and definitions of terms. The data and graphic presentations of the data are usually displayed together in a report. Many other relevant factors may be used in defining the measure.
Metrics
are the elements of a measurement system consisting of key performance indicators, measures, and measurement methodologies.
Mission
is an enduring statement of purpose; the organization's reason for existence. The mission describes what the organization does, who it does it for, and how it does it.
Mobility
The ease of traveling or moving between two points. Mobility is a key determinant of accessibility, referring to the potential for movement, or the ability to travel from point A to point B. Mobility implies both a means (vehicle) and a way (route, path, or line). As mobility increases, access tends to be improved; therefore, more destinations can be reached or more means and ways are available. As mobility is decreased, access tends to become increasingly restricted; therefore, travel becomes more difficult or more expensive. An urban core may have low mobility because of congestion, but may have a high access potential due to the concentration of desirable sites. A rural area may have high mobility because travel is freely flowing, but may have low access potential due to the distance of desired locations.
Outcome measure
An assessment of the results of a program activity as compared to its intended purpose.
Output measure
Tabulation, calculation, or recording of activity or effort.
Performance goal
A target level of an activity (or outcome) expressed as a tangible measurable objective, against which actual achievement can be compared. Outcome activities for a transportation system would be mobility/accessibility, reliability, customer satisfaction, economic well-being, sustainability, environmental quality, safety and security, and equity.
Performance management
The use of performance measurement information to help set agreed-upon performance goals, allocate and prioritize resources, inform managers to either confirm or change current policy or program directions to meet those goals, and report on the success in meeting those goals.
Performance Management Lifecycle
Annual series of steps an organization must take to ensure that performance measures are continually planned, defined, operationalized, analyzed, and improved.
Performance measure
A quantitative or qualitative characterization of performance.
Performance measurement
A process of assessing progress toward achieving predetermined goals, including information on the efficiency with which resources are transformed into goods and services (outputs), the quality of those outputs (how well they are delivered to clients and the extent to which clients are satisfied) and outcomes (the results of a program activity compared to its intended purpose), and the effectiveness of government operations in terms of their specific contributions to program objectives.
Performance objectives
Specific outcomes that must be achieved in order to show success..
Reliability
The measure of how regularly expectations are being met, ost often involving predictions of time and cost. Time factors are being able to reliably predict travel time and delay. Cost factors are being able to reliably predict travel cost, or transportation system operations and maintenance costs. When travel time is extended, system users may incur additional travel costs. Costs for travel may be further affected when transportation equipment or facilities do not operate in a reliably. Examples would be equipment or vehicle breakdowns, pavement failures, or landslides as compared to the reliability of scheduled maintenance costs.
Stakeholder:
Any person, group, or organization that can place a claim on or influence the organization's resources or outputs; is affected by those outputs; or has an interest in or expectation of the organization.
Strategic direction
The organization's goals, objectives, and strategies by which it plans to achieve its vision, mission, and values.
Strategic goal
Long-range target guiding an organization's efforts in moving toward a desired future state.
Strategic objective
A broad time-phased measurable accomplishment required to realize the successful completion of a strategic goal.
Strategic Planning
A continuous and systematic process whereby guiding members of an organization make decisions about its future, develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve that future, and determine how success is to be measured.
Vision
An idealized view of a desirable and potentially achievable future state where or what an organization would like to be in the future.