GAO identified nine leading practices to promote successful data-driven performance reviews--referred to as quarterly performance reviews--at the federal level. (1) Agency leaders use data-driven reviews as a leadership strategy to drive performance improvement. (2) Key players attend reviews to facilitate problem solving. (3) Reviews ensure alignment between agency goals, program activities, and

All 13 government services GAO surveyed had established customer service standards, which varied in their form from quantitative standards based on hourly, daily, monthly or annual averages to general commitments to qualitative standards. All 13 services reported having measures of customer service, such as measures of wait times or accuracy of service and 11 services had measures of customer sat

Interior, EPA, and the Forest Service vary in their approaches to workforce planning. Interior's workforce planning occurs at its eight bureaus, which use departmental guidance to develop their own workforce plans in a generally consistent format. EPA issued an agencywide plan in 2006 that is currently being updated, and the Forest Service has issued annual agencywide workforce plans since 2007.

In summary, the restructuring of PBGC's legal functions into separate offices has caused confusion over each office's authority. As a result, PBGC staff has sought advice from both the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of the Chief Counsel, sometimes in an effort to obtain a desired response. Further, PBGC officials told us that attorneys from the Office of the General Counsel have pro

Agencies' use of 12 IT strategic planning/performance measurement practices--identified based on legislation, policy, and guidance--is uneven. For example, agencies generally have IT strategic plans and goals, but these goals are not always linked to specific performance measures that are tracked. Without enterprisewide performance measures that are tracked against actual results, agencies lack c

The executive branch agencies GAO reviewed have taken key actions to integrate their human capital approaches with their strategies for accomplishing organizational missions and to shift the focus of their human capital office from primarily compliance activities to consulting activities. Agency leaders included human capital leaders in key agency strategic planning and decision making and, as a

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on four federal agencies' customer service efforts, focusing on: (1) the extent that these agencies incorporate customer satisfaction into their strategic plans and missions; (2) how these agencies determine customer satisfaction; and (3) whether the agencies' methods of hiring, training, and evaluating employees address the issue of c

GAO reviewed the Department of the Navy's implementation of total quality management (TQM). GAO found that: (1) as the Navy invested more time and effort in TQM activities, TQM implementation matured, barriers became less difficult, and greater benefits could be achieved; (2) 68 percent of the Navy's facilities have implemented various phases of TQM and most Navy personnel believed the TQM progra

GAO reviewed the Department of the Treasury's implementation of total quality management (TQM). GAO found that: (1) about 93 percent of Treasury facilities have implemented or plan to implement TQM; (2) as TQM maturity increased, Treasury became more involved in common TQM activities, benefits increased, and internal operating conditions improved; (3) almost three-quarters of the Treasury facilit

GAO reviewed the Department of the Army's implementation of total quality management (TQM). GAO found that: (1) as the Army invested more time and effort in TQM activities, TQM implementation matured, barriers became less difficult, and greater benefits could be achieved; (2) 67 percent of the Army's facilities had implemented various phases of TQM and nearly two-thirds of Army personnel believed