Hello to all museum list serve subscribers, please forgive any
duplicate posting.
Thanks
Nan Ford
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From:          Self <SCSM/FORDN>
To:            [log in to unmask]
Subject:       performance measures
Cc:            Puccim,Rileys
Date:          Tue, 8 Sep 1998 11:34:20

Hello to all Visitor Services Professionals:

  Our museum is still very new in the business, we opened in 1988.
Part of being new is not knowing what benchmarks to use in setting
our performance measures, hence this question.

   What do you currently measure, and why, and how?  Are your
measures based upon strategic plans, etc.  Do you report these to
your stakeholders?  Do you record input, output, efficiency,
effectiveness, and quality with your measures?  How are your
customers involved in what you measure?

   This is a lot to ask, but we are trying hard to set some
benchmarks for our measurements, and even more basically, looking to
what do we measure?  This question is looking for more than what you are
doing in visitor studies, although that is part of it.  What do you
measure as far as building maintenance, security, financial
management, leadership, exhibits and programs, etc.  Do you track
business results?

    I've been told that this is a common concern of museums
everywhere and we're only looking at it now, so...

    Please feel free to respond to me in confidence if you need to:
    [log in to unmask]  or call me at (803) 898-4987.

    Thanks in advance for thinking about this question!
    Nan