| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The Collegiate Management Model and the SIMAG tool were implemented using improvement cycles with four phases: exploration, installation, implementation and extension.
The implementation of the strategy demanded redefinitions and constant improvements in the functional system requirements to ensure that the construction of the SIMAG tool met the needs and specificities of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, guaranteeing the premises and the institutionalization of the new collegiate management model. In the exploration phase, the following activities were conducted:
• Assessment of the appropriateness of the management model;
• Definition and hierarchization of the strategic axes of the public policies;
• Quality information survey;
• Environmental scan including a diagnosis of the regional economies;
• Definition of goals and products, based on indicators;
• Strategic alignment of goals; and
• Development of the SIMAG tool.
In the installation phase, planning agents were qualified, priority actions were registered, teamwork was promoted, and education of executives and managers regarding the new management model and tools was provided.
In the implementation phase, technical and operational support to administration staff was provided; frequent meetings of the Collegiate Management Boards were conducted (as described below); frequent reports for monitoring and tracking of the planned actions were generated; and presentations of progress towards reaching the goals were done for various audiences including citizens and administrative personnel from other cities.
The Collegiate Management Model has different Collegiate Boards at three hierarchical levels: 1) Collegiate of Strategic Management of the Government formed by the Mayor, Vice Mayor, municipal and executive secretaries and special advisors (bimonthly meeting); 2) Collegiate of Departmental Management formed by municipal and executive secretaries, advisors and managers (weekly meeting); and 3) Collegiate of Departmental Extended Management - formed by the above described including coordinators and center directors (bimonthly meeting).In addition to the bimonthly or weekly meetings, Situational Room Meetings are conducted by demand from Departments to resolve problems related to specific actions; and Cycles of Monitoring and Evaluation (CMA) of the Government Action are conducted monthly for a global analysis of the actions and goal achievement with the mayor and a broad set of stakeholders.
In the extension phase, feedback from executive and management staff were obtained for the continuous improvement of the model and the tools; evaluation of enhancements to the model is being conducted and plans to expand the capabilities of the SIMAG tool are under way. SIMAG Communities is a great innovation being developed now that will allow citizens to access in real time the information on progress on the actions, to send messages to the mayor and to share information on social networks. It will be a powerful tool to foster population participation in policy-making.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The highlight on the design and implementation of the strategy was the Mayor who broke down barriers and prejudices and encouraged the accomplishment of the project because he believed in the benefits that the implementation of such management model would bring to the administration and, consequently, the population in general. Several departments of the civil administration contributed to the development of the initiative. In particular, the Department of Planning, Management and Economic Development-SEPLAG was responsible for the development and implementation of the Collegiate Management Model and oversight of the development of the SIMAG tool.
The SIMAG tool was developed through a partnership between the Jaboatão dos Guararapes City Hall and the software development private company FACILIT from Porto Digital, Recife- PE. The system uses Java programming language and features a panel based on the Communis platform and Portlet Container technology. SIMAG is cloud-based and accessed through secured login from the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers at www.simagjaboatao.com.br. The tool has more than 100 features that directly serve the Collegiate management model.
Relevant civil servants included the following: Secretary FátimaLacerda who coordinated the initial discussions; Secretaries MirtesCordeiro and Teresa Falangolawho executed the system implementation; manager Nereida Pontes and monitoring and evaluation coordinators JosuéCavalcanti and Marcos Dias who executed the mapping of theinformation system architecture, trained technical staff and provided technical support.
In a more comprehensive manner all executives and managers of the City Hall who use the decision support system and tools in their daily routine contributed to the improvement and expansion of the initiative. Finally, citizens were involved in the implementation as the reason for this new management model is to improve our ability to deliver public policies to the population and cause a positive impact.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Our biggest problem was promoting the financial viability of the project, since the city still needed to fulfill the basic needs of the population, such as sanitation, education, health etc. However, we realized that without this new management model we would be delaying and even defaulting the delivery of products and results for the population.After many internal discussions we achieved a consensus about the need of financial resources to implement the initiative and the possibility of a positive return of investment both in the short and long terms. Financial resources were then provided by the city administration.
Costs for the technical assistance from the FACILIT Company to develop and support the SIMAG tool included monthly payments of US$11,000 (R$30,000) since 2010 which totals approximately US$385,000 (R$ 1,030,000). The development and implementation costs of the SIMAG tool were indirectly subsidized by Pernambuco State Government given that the company is part of the Porto Digital, a hub of information technology and creative businesses, which receive incentives from the State government.
Costs for human resources involved the creation of the Superintendence of Governance Systems, Management, Monitoring and Evaluation within the Executive Department of Planning, Coordination and Evaluation with a staff of 10 people to provide assistance in the implementation of the initiative. Monthly costs per person is on average US$1,000 (R$ 2,680), which totals so far approximately US$480,000 (R$1,286,400). In addition, all departments of the city administration have a planning and monitoring structure with staff partially dedicated for feeding the system and participating at the Collegiate Boards. Since they are involved in other activities, not only the management activities, it was not possible to assess the costs of these managers.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The main concrete outputs that contributed to the success of the implementation of the Collegiate Management Model were 1) the technical design of an improved management model with strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation of public administration actions and policies;2) the specification of processes, measurements and status reports that pertain to the planning and management of the actions; and 3) the SIMAG information and communication technology tool for tracking the planning and execution of the actions and policies.
The initiative resulted in the design of a management model that values shared-decision making, transparency, autonomy, integration, accountability, optimization and efficiency, planning, monitoring and ongoing evaluation. It was a complete restructuration of the internal organization, with better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each area and individual and with better communication and conflict resolution. The initiative defined the administration’s strategic focus with planned actions, defined goals and outcome indicators that were known and attainable; identified the key barriers and bottlenecks in the flow of execution of actions rationalizing the use of public funds andincreasing the completion of bureaucratic processes, with greater agility and efficiencyof the administrative machinery. This has been possible by the development and implementation of rules and clearly defined and standardized procedures and reporting, minimizing the communication problems and conflicts arising from the blurring of responsibilities of the different bodies of the institution.
The ICT output was the SIMAG tool that allowed executives and managers to track the planning and execution of the strategic plan actions and policies, assign responsible actors and timeline, avoid duplication of efforts, and bring agility to the public administration.
Other outputs of the intervention werethe knowledge and experience that all stakeholders involved in the process gained; and most importantly the organizational culture change.The initiative promoted a culture change in the municipal management with the appreciation of the planning and monitoring of the programs and projects, and respect for pre-established goals. The interventionmotivated the municipal departments and agencies to work collaboratively with the staff being accountable for their actions, and also aware of the actions being done by others.Engagement of stakeholders is high. Currently about 80% of the actions being planned or executed by the departments and agencies are being monitored, a striking contrast with the 0% at the beginning of the current administration.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The monitoring and evaluation of the Collegiate Management Model and its tool SIMAG is done systematically by managers. In the beginning of the implementation, it had a schedule that involved adjustments in the system, adequacy to the reality of the city, planning and registration of the actions of the Secretariats, and the monitoring of the actions in the Departments. In addition, current weekly meetings are held with managers to assess the needs for corrective actions. Managers also used the SIMAG tool for the planning and monitoring of the actions involved in the implementation of the initiative.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Resistance accompanies every change in public management because people prefer to deal with their sediment practices and do not usually bet on the new. In this sense, our main problem was related to the understanding of managers and executives that the new management model and the SIMAG tool were to improve the performance of actions and not just a monitoring system. People distrusted in the management area of the City Hall. They did not believe that there would be direct financial return to the population, since this initiative is primarily geared for management. The courage of the mayor to invest in such a system resulted in a breakthrough not only for managers, but also for the population.The need for change and better organizational structure for achieving the desired goals and consolidation of a channel of communication with the population generated a strong motivation and commitment of the strategic team that supported the work with much credibility.The initial questions and concerns of some employees were dispelled by the use of a participatory methodology that allowed collective discussion and provided the contribution of all, adopting attitudes of transparency with full disclosure of the material produced at each stage of the process.
In this context, we have observed a significant culture change on the part of the staff of municipal managers. The cultural impact upon the Municipal staff managers have been assessed in relation to the significant number of projects deployed and monitored by SIMAG. Currently 80% of all the projects of municipal departments are being monitored in contrast to 0% before the initiative. This fact alone reinforces the cultural transformation of the municipal managers in enhancing the planning of their projects and engagement in the monitoring activities of their projects respecting the pre-established goals.
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