New features added to ITD's model 'Dashboard'

After just three months of service – and national attention – ITD’s model Dashboard accountability reporting website has evolved into a new generation. Deputy Director Scott Stokes unveiled the enhanced website for Idaho Transportation Board members when they met last week in Boise.

The Transportation System Dashboard provides a simple, yet comprehensive, snapshot of ITD’s progress in nine key performance measurement areas:

  • Fatality rate
  • Percent of Pavement in Good Condition
  • Percent of Bridges in Good Condition
  • Percent of Highway Projects Developed on Time
  • Construction Cost at Award
  • Highway Congestion
  • Administration and Planning Expenditures
  • DMV Title Processing Time
  • DMV Internet Transactions

Recent improvements make the Dashboard elements and bar charts easier to read. New tables also were added to show a comparison of measures from 2010 to 2011 on a monthly basis.

The Dashboard provides a link from each performance measure to supplemental page that shows how ITD compares in its key measurement areas with neighboring states. That visual comparison is based on information ITD has extrapolated from a variety of sources.

In January, the Dashboard caught the attention of Governing magazine, a nationwide publication for state and local government leaders. Its Jan. 27 “Idea Center” pointed to ITD’s Dashboard as an example of government accountability and efficiency. Managing Editor Elizabeth Daigneau, in a posting on the magazine’s website, writes, “Some states are old hands at the open government movement. In addition to tracking stimulus spending and general state spending, several states have listed information about employee salaries, grants, campaign finance disclosures and more.

“Now, that transparency is spreading to other parts of state government: The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) has launched a web-based dashboard to track its progress in nine performance areas…”

ITD is committed to performance improvement. The surrounding states with similar performance measures are viewed as valuable resources for best practices.

Although measures between states are not identical, using the measures as benchmarks allows ITD to identify leading-edge practices and to exchange information with other states for mutual performance improvement, Stokes explained.
Managing for performance is critical to ITD’s ability to make strategic investments and demonstrate measurable results.

Published 3-25-2011