Based on over 25 years of research and expertise, Getting Results uses examples to highlight the key steps to establishing performance measurement systems-from convening work groups, to collecting data, to analyzing and using the results. 

Hatry outlines the typical service characteristics to track in a performance measurement system: timeliness;
accessibility and convenience; accuracy; courteousness; adequacy of outreach; condition and safety of facilities used by customers; and customer satisfaction with particular service characteristics and service overall. In order to track these characteristics effectively, a performance measurement system will include data processing and analytic support, the buy-in of upper management, and patience. 

Hatry also delineates the limitations of performance measurement. For example, it can tell a manager what a program did, but not why it happened. In part, this is because performance measurement systems cannot measure all outcomes directly. Moreover, performance measurement data are only part of the information that managers need to track and improve services-the data are likely to raise new questions about a program and its effects. 

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