WEB APPLICATION FOR PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT AND BENCHMARKING FRAMEWORK TOWARDS A MORE SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC SECTOR: THE SPS PROJECT AS A CASE-STUDY

The public sector (PS) and its organizations, given their size and influence, are expected to lead by example in delivering sustainability goals, by embracing insights in planning, decision-making and operations. It is crucial... [ view full abstract ]

The public sector (PS) and its organizations, given their size and influence, are expected to lead by example in delivering sustainability goals, by embracing insights in planning, decision-making and operations.
It is crucial to integrate sustainable development (SD) principles into all government processes. Besides the operational performance, public agencies should assess the sustainability performance of their decision-making processes through identification and evaluation of SD principles on several PS initiatives (legislation, regulation, policy and plans).
There is a research gap in SD initiatives since they mainly focus on the environmental dimension of SD and on the measurement and evaluation of government operational performance, namely the assessment of government operations and management practices. In this context, integrated environmental, social and economic issues are poorly addressed, and our framework aims to assess sustainability performance, through an integrated approach of SD dimensions, by optimizing performance management.
Our approach aims to present a Sustainability Performance Evaluation Framework, to be tested and validated through a case study – the Portuguese PS – through a web-based interface which addresses both strategic and operational PS’s broad domains related to: Profile of PS agencies; Check-list for PS department’s self-assessment: sustainability performance self-assessment criteria; PS sustainability performance indicators and index. This application also aggregates sustainability data for PS activities, contributing to the performance reporting, assessment and to confer the sustainable public service.
As a result, an interactive guidebook that will help self-assessment of PS agencies by providing guidelines for sustainability good practices implementation is being developed. It will facilitate the integration of sustainability of PS operations and strategic activities to provide wider knowledge of sustainability best practices, as well as offer common web links that produce available information related to PS sustainability performance.
With this approach it will be possible to measure and benchmark sustainability performance, facilitate continuous improvement and exchange good practices, regarding daily activities (operational and strategic levels).
Key words:Indicators;Assessment;Reporting framework;Public participation;web-based interfaces;Public Sector