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current environment and meaning to current stakeholders. Agencies regularly evaluate their
performance measures to identify when it is time to update them. Agencies should periodically
review their measures using the SMART framework (i.e., are the measures still specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely). For example, once a State has incorporated uniform
data elements, established data linkages, or provided appropriate data file access, further
improvement may not be expected. At this point the measure no longer serves the State and
should be replaced by a more relevant measure.
Periodic review of performance measures and performance measure retirement is crucial for
States’ performance measures to remain current and applicable. Measures may become stagnant
or no longer useful when trying to demonstrate continued improvement in States traffic records
systems to outside entities. If a State regularly monitors, reviews, and retires the performance
measures, the whole system of performance measurement for the State will be much more useful
for the agency and its stakeholders.
Example Performance Measures
The example performance measures that follow are classified in two sections. The first section
(Table 2) contains example performance measures that can be applied across all six core
component traffic records systems by performance attribute. In these cases, the measures can be
applied to the data captured within each respective traffic records system component. While the
subject matter of the data collected within a system differs (e.g., crash data, driver data, vehicle
data), the example performance measure can still be applied to any one of or each of the six core
component traffic records systems. The second section (Table 3 to Table 8) contains additional
example performance measures that are specific to a certain component data system (only to
Roadway, only to Injury Surveillance, etc.).
Additionally, the boundaries between some performance attributes are not exclusive. For
example, correct location coding in the crash system could be an accuracy measure (verified
against the State’s roadway database), a completeness measure (capturing latitude and longitude
coordinates), or an integration measure (linked with a geographic information system master
database). The example measures are used in the performance attribute that appears to be most
appropriate. Some measures could be used for other performance attributes as well.
Model Performance Measures by System
When creating measures for traffic records data systems, States may use the examples below
when relevant to their systems and meaningful to their stakeholders. However, they are intended
to give States ideas for how to create their own performance measures that are unique and
specific to their needs. States should create, implement, and monitor performance measures that
have value and usefulness and help inform decision-making regarding ongoing improvement
projects and future enhancements to data quality and data systems.
If a State can apply the same example performance measure across all six core component traffic
records systems, it is included in Table 2 rather than repeated in all six traffic records system
sections (Table 3 to Table 8). For these example performance measures that can be applied
across all traffic records systems, the only thing that changes from one system to the next is the
data type. There are several general performance measures in each category (Timeliness,
Accuracy, Completeness, Uniformity, Integration, and Accessibility) that can be applied to any
one of the six traffic records core component systems.