• Mission & Governance
• Services Overview
• How to Get Involved
• Standing Committees
• NCSL Foundation

• Issue Areas: A-Z
• State-Federal Relations
• NCSL Standing Committees
• News from D.C. and the States

• About State Legislatures
• Elections, Campaigns & Redistricting
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory
• Web Sites

• Online Guide to NCSL Services
• Staff Sections and Networks
• Meetings & Professional Development
• Staff Directories

• Meetings Calendar
• Online Registration
• Meetings Home Page
• Legislative Summit

• Bookstore
• State Legislatures Magazine
• NCSL's StateConnect Directory

Fiscal Affairs Program

Governing for Results

Minnesota

Links active October 29, 2002

Overview: The original edition of Minnesota Milestones in 1992 was among the first statewide benchmarking and strategic planning documents, and gave the state a preeminent reputation for performance measurement and planning. Minnesota Milestones, however, is a statewide benchmarking project, not a state government performance or budgeting tool. In the 1990s, the governor and legislature supplemented the Milestones project with an ambitious performance reporting requirement for state government agencies. The requirement for agencies to file performance reports with the legislature was repealed in 1999, but the requirement to provide performance data in budget documents was not repealed.

Statutory Requirements:

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/16A/10.html

Agencies:

Minnesota's Biennial Operating Budgets
http://www.budget.state.mn.us/budget/operating/

Minnesota Planning's website:
http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/mm/

House of Representatives Fiscal Analysis Department:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/fiscal/fahome.htm

Senate Office of Fiscal Policy Analysis
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/departments/FiscalAnalysis/index.htm

Office of the Legislative Auditor:
http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/

Performance Reports:

The original performance reporting requirements were summarized by the House Fiscal Analysis Department for the 1995 legislature:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/fiscal/files/95perfr.pdf

Statewide Benchmarks:

Minnesota Milestones (Office of Strategic and Long-Range Planning, called Minnesota Planning). This office is responsible for Minnesota Milestones. The legislation that resulted in Minnesota Milestones is at this web site:
http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/4A/01.html

Minnesota Planning's website:
http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/mm/

The 1998 version of Minnesota Milestones:
http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/press/mm98final.html#View

Reviews/Audits

The Legislative Auditor's review of 1994 agency performance reports: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/1995/perform2.htm

The Auditor's reports, one attached to each agency performance report, evaluate the quality of the performance report itself . A particular strength of the Auditor's 1996 reports is that they note changes-usually improvements-in agencies performance reports since the Auditor commented on the 1994 reports. The Auditor's reports are also notable for the clarity of the specific recommendations to agencies on how performance reporting can be improved.

The Legislative Auditor's review of agency use of customer satisfaction surveys as a tool in performance evaluation--State Agency Use of Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Report Number pr95-23 (October 1995):
http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/1995/pr95-23.htm

Posted 16 October 2000

Visitor counts for this page.