ACCOUNTABILITY PROCESS GUIDANCE FOR TEAMS

GOAL

Each team should describe the goal(s) set by the team related to the UTSA mission, vision and values.

Objectives

Each team should develop objectives that are clearly understandable.

The team should provide a planning and evaluation system to determine whether objectives are being pursued, with explicitly stated, agreed-upon expectations regarding accomplishments.

The system should demonstrate fidelity to community expectations, show value added, and sustain and support the public trust.

Value added refers to the contribution of the activity or practice to the accomplishment of the purpose or goals which is the intent of the activity. For some purposes, "value added" is demonstrated by "achievement" and others by "progress." Success at achieving objectives related to specific outcomes or product goals can be reasonably evaluated by whether the goals have been achieved in a timely fashion (e.g. enrollment or customer satisfaction targets). In cases where the expected outcomes refer to open-ended or process intentions (e.g. excellence, growth, "cutting edge," premier, etc.) involve demonstrations of progress and involves demonstrations that the activity or process is progressing in a timely fashion through benchmarks set a priori leading to the ultimate goal
Fidelity refers to consistency with community expectations and involves the examination of practice, products and outcomes for evidence of ethical, reasonable and standards based decision making related to resource allocation and utilization. The standards for guiding decision making should be closely related to the expectations and understanding of both internal and external constituencies. This is facilitated both by clearly described credible methods by care in selecting and communicating key indicators and the criteria used for decision making.
Public trust - it is essential to demonstrate through explicit mechanisms and products that the organization is worthy of confidence - that it is operating in the public interest based on sound and ethical stewardship of public resources to the benefit of the community which supports it and which it serves. This involves a dual obligation. The first is to develop evaluation systems which are clearly capable of demonstrating that operations and outcomes are sound. The second is to communicate the details of that evaluation system to all constituencies resulting in a common understanding of what is taking place, how it occurs, what it requires and what is the result and thus the value of the enterprise as a whole.

Strategies

Each team should create a dynamic "feedback loop" where planning and practice is influenced reasonably and appropriately by observable outcomes in reaching objectives and

is consistent with institutional mission, goals, and values;
demonstrates value and faithfulness through valid, reliable and multiple and diverse measures to reinforce credibility; reflects accomplishment of unit objectives in support of the University mission;
reflects appreciation for the expectations and understandings of all important or potentially important constituencies (both internal and external).
is meaningful when applied in conjunction with appropriate standards or criteria.
is successful in helping the unit achieve objectives related to specific outcomes or product goals
can be reasonably evaluated by whether the goals have been achieved in a timely fashion
assign roles and responsibilities of the parties that are well understood and agreed upon
provide reasonable review and adjustment

Metrics

Each team should identify and establish "key indicators" which

are 'best practices' where obtainable
are measurable;
are credible;
are timely;
are clearly and obviously related to the purpose of the practice being evaluated;
inform the practice, organization and operation of the local entity to which they are specifically applied
are relatable to each other such that they inform the more global enterprise to which they are answerable and ultimately to whose purpose they contribute (if the component is to be relevant and valuable)
provide actionable information to improve the contribution of the activity or practice to the accomplishment of the purpose or goals which is the intent of the activity

Planning Evaluation Tool

Mission (each aspect of the operations and intended outcomes should be obviously related to the overall mission of the University - difficulty in relating operations or outcomes to the mission may signal an issue of relevance):
Goal/Objective (there may appropriately be multiple goals/objectives - a separate worksheet should be completed for each):
Key Indicators (clearly identify and define - as many as necessary and appropriate):
- Clearly identify and describe how information related to indicators is to be collected.
- Criteria (related to each indicator):
- Timelines (related to each criterion):
- Feedback Mechanism(s) (This describes the manner in which the collected information is analyzed, applied and communicated as appropriate. This may also include information about staff responsibilities related to any aspect of the evaluation effort as necessary.)

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