Decision Management
The City Manager or Municipal Manager must report the performance of the local authority to the Mayor. The performance is measured in terms of the effectiveness of the local authority to (a) prepare reports (Items) for work that needs to be done, (b) to effectively decide (Resolutions) on work that needs to be performed and (c) the execution of the work (Implementation of Resolutions). This solution consists of best practice business processes and software technology that supports the business processes. The solution can be tailored to accommodate the uniqueness of each environment.
Many government organisations have a structured approach to identify the work that needs to be done and money that needs to be spent. These activities are represented by developing Items.
In order to ensure that the Item is complete and therefore contains the correct and all the relevant content, the Item may be distributed to various individuals within the organisation. They will review the Item and provide expert comments to the originator for inclusion into the Item. Only once the originator of the Item is satisfied that the Item contains the comments and insights of the organisation will he initiate the process to obtain a Resolution.
The process to obtain a Resolution may be via different departments and committees. Depending on the nature of the Item and the delegated power that may issue a Resolution on the Item, the process that needs to be followed is different. This process may include the fact that the Item is incomplete and should therefore go back to a previous stage in the process.
To ensure that the Items have the required attention during a meeting, the Items are placed with others on the agenda of a specific meeting. The committee clerk (meeting secretary) must compile an agenda (including the relevant Items) for distribution before (normally three days) the meeting takes place. The agenda consists of a list of Items that will be discussed when the meeting takes place.
During the meeting recommendations, referrals, Resolutions, comments, etc. is made about the Item that must appear in the minutes of the meeting. It is also important that if the Item then goes to a higher level committee for consideration that the recommendation of the previous meeting has been recorded accurately for them to see.