Recently, I was part of a panel for the Maine Town and City Manager’s Association on conducting municipal service and department reviews and assessments.  I have conducted several such studies including ones that assess all services as well as ones focused on a specific department.  Such efforts can be very useful for municipal leaders to improve service delivery as well as generate cost savings.  Over the course of these efforts there are several tips I have picked up which if followed will increase the changes for successful implementation.  They are as follows:

• Be very clear about why you are conducting the review – reasons typically y include trying to lower costs, lower taxes, improve service, expand service, improve morale, or improve customer satisfaction.  Your reasons can include one, some, or all of these but they need to be made clear upfront.  Along the same lines, be clear about which services and departments are to be included. 
• When evaluating services, separate human resource items like personnel reviews from the service delivery analysis.  Most importantly, do not conduct such an effort simply to make the case to terminate someone.  Human resource issues such as this require different toolsets than service delivery analysis.  Additionally, service delivery analysis takes time, resources and energy that are not worth expending for tasks they are not designed for.
• Be aware of review and assessment processes that that utilize one “silver bullet” technique.  There are many good tools and techniques for assessment and each has strengths and constraints at meeting particular needs.  A customized analysis drawing from several tools and techniques is often the best approach.
• Be upfront and clear on the level and type of public, council, and staff involvement required.  Assessment efforts take time and energy to be done correctly and regular staff work needs to continue on a day to day to day basis while the assessment is being conducted so proper planning is important. 
• Be clear and communicate to staff what is being done, why and how information will be used.  Assessments can be unsettling for staff.  Clear communication can help defray fear and result in a more productive process.
• Don’t be afraid to compare yourself to private sector entities that at first glance don’t seem directly comparable.  Instead, think about the customer service experience and try to include benchmarks for similar services in the private sector.  For example, tax collection offices often function much like bank teller services and benchmarks in that industry would be comparable and useful.
• Understand that reviews require data and information and the better the information that is regularly collected, the better the review and analysis.
• Finally and most importantly, do not conduct the review if you are not prepared to implement solutions and follow-through.  It is too resource and time intensive to do the work then ignore the solutions.