Boston About Results (BAR)
City of Boston Performance Management System
Quarterly performance and budget information updated in February, May, August, and November
The City of Boston strives to provide its residents with the highest quality services possible. Improving performance, customer satisfaction and responsiveness is the cornerstone of Mayor Menino's administration. To achieve these goals, the City uses timely, consistent and meaningful data, much of which is collected through Boston About Results (BAR) - the City's performance data and management system.
In a central location, BAR collects data about many services and functions performed by the City of Boston. Internally, this data is used to identify trends, raise questions and devise new management strategies. To increase accountability and transparency, Mayor Menino is making consolidated performance and budget data available online for many of the City's biggest departments.
Quarterly performance and budget information updated in February, May, August, and November
The City of Boston strives to provide its residents with the highest quality services possible. Improving performance, customer satisfaction and responsiveness is the cornerstone of Mayor Menino's administration. To achieve these goals, the City uses timely, consistent and meaningful data, much of which is collected through Boston About Results (BAR) - the City's performance data and management system.
In a central location, BAR collects data about many services and functions performed by the City of Boston. Internally, this data is used to identify trends, raise questions and devise new management strategies. To increase accountability and transparency, Mayor Menino is making consolidated performance and budget data available online for many of the City's biggest departments.
Performance Reports
The Performance Reports accessible through this webpage are management tools used by the Mayor to evaluate the progress departments have made towards targeted service levels on key indicators. There are both performance and administrative measures, allowing readers to access information about programs and services as well as personnel management. Performance measures are color coded to provide a quick way of determining where performance on a particular activity stands relative to its target. More information on performance indicators and interpreting traffic lights can be found in the Interpreting Performance Reports section of the site.
It is important to note, however, that a red traffic light alone does not indicate insufficient performance. Instead, it helps prompt investigation so that we can better understand what factors may be causing lower than expected results.
Select from the drop down box below to access information about the performance of a specific department:
Feedback
The City of Boston is interested in hearing your feedback on its new Boston About Results (BAR) website. If you have any comments on the information presented here, or thoughts about additional information you would like incorporated, please contact Boston About Results.
Current Economic Context
The current global economic crisis is affecting the business of government at the local level. The City of Boston is taking proactive steps to mitigate the impact of declining city revenues and anticipated cuts in local aid by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by seeking efficiencies and - as of October 2008 - cutting non-critical spending and instituting strict hiring controls. Throughout this process, the City of Boston is making every effort to minimize the impact on services. However, to the extent that these budget constraints impose new limitations on the departmental resources, some deviation between actual performance and targets may be unavoidable. 
©2009 The City of Boston