City of Durham & ClearPoint Strategy: A Decade of Data-Driven Governance

Executive Summary

The City of Durham, North Carolina, home to over 283,000 residents, has transformed into a model of data-driven municipal governance through its decade-long partnership with ClearPoint Strategy. What began in 2011 as the city's first strategic planning initiative has evolved into a comprehensive performance management system that aligns budgets with strategic priorities, fosters unprecedented city-county collaboration, and maintains transparent communication with residents. This journey, marked by both challenges and triumphs, demonstrates how strategic planning software combined with organizational commitment can fundamentally reshape municipal operations.

Durham's Strategic Evolution

The Beginning: Creating Durham's First Strategic Plan (2008-2011)

Durham's journey toward data-driven governance began in 2008 when new City Manager Thomas Bonfield recognized the need to transform the fourth-largest city in North Carolina into an organization that used data to inform decisions and communicate progress to the community. Despite the city's 150-year history, this marked its first formal strategic planning effort.

The planning process was deeply collaborative, involving extensive community input through visioning sessions, surveys, and focus groups. This inclusive approach culminated in April 2011 when the Durham City Council approved "Durham's Got It!" – the city's inaugural strategic plan built around five critical goals:

1. A strong and diverse economy
2. A safe and secure community
3. Thriving and livable neighborhoods
4. A well-managed city
5. Stewardship of the city's physical assets

Initial Implementation and Early Challenges (2011-2014)

Durham selected ClearPoint Strategy in 2011 to manage their strategic plan and track over 500 performance measures across departments. The city established a robust governance structure with execution teams, goal champions, and vice chairs for each strategic goal, supported by technology, communications, and performance monitoring teams.

However, the initial implementation faced significant obstacles. Limited resources for software management impacted training and process design. More critically, there was no clear ownership of the performance program, and staff weren't held accountable for updating measures or informed about how their data was being used. By 2012, just one year after implementation, most employees had reverted to Excel for department performance tracking, though the citywide strategic plan continued to be managed successfully in ClearPoint.

This experience prompted crucial conversations in 2014 between performance staff and city leadership about what a truly data-driven organization should look like in Durham. The City Manager recognized the need for a different approach to executing citywide performance management and changing the organizational culture.

The Reset: Building a Sustainable Performance Management System (2014-2015)

Durham created a cross-sectional team including directors, administrators, and employees to review and reimagine their performance management structure. After examining various strategic planning software options through an RFP process, the city once again selected ClearPoint, recognizing that the newly released ClearPoint 10.0 met their needs but required a revised implementation approach.

The second implementation benefited from several critical success factors:

• Executive Support: Continued backing from the City Manager's Office
• Dedicated Resources: Creation of the Office of Performance and Innovation with staff focused solely on performance and strategic management
• Organizational Buy-in: A structured approach to help employees understand why performance management was vital
• Simplified Processes: Elimination of duplicate data entry across multiple spreadsheets
• Ongoing Training: Continuous support from a designated Performance Manager
• Clear Accountability: Department directors assigned responsibility for their measures
• Integrated Decision-Making: Data requirements for budget requests showed staff their information was being used for important decisions

Current Operations and the Three-Year Planning Cycle

Under the leadership of Strategy and Performance Manager Shari Metcalfe and her team of two, Durham now operates on a sophisticated three-year strategic planning cycle:

Year 1 (First 9 months): Creating the citywide plan with consideration for long-term prioritiesYears 1-2: Departments execute business and fiscal plansYear 3: Deep evaluation of performance measures and identification of improvement areas, particularly focusing on "measures that are missing methodology"

Throughout this cycle, regular evaluations ensure continuous improvement rather than waiting for the formal review period.

ClearPoint's Role in Daily Operations

Internal Management

ClearPoint now serves as the central nervous system for Durham's performance management, housing:

• All departmental business plans and the citywide strategic plan
• Performance metrics with clearly defined methodologies
• Staff meeting setups and agendas (conducted virtually since the pandemic)
• Individual work plans from supervisors to entire divisions
• Milestones and Gantt charts for initiative timeline management
• Budget request documentation with linked performance measures

The system has grown from two initial users to over 100 trained employees who actively leverage its capabilities. "Super users" like Metcalfe have built comprehensive work plans within the system, creating integrated processes that link metrics, initiatives, and plans seamlessly.

External Transparency

Durham publishes public dashboards through ClearPoint, currently showcasing their Sustainability Plan with plans to revamp their main dashboard. This transparency initiative allows meaningful interaction with the community and demonstrates the city's commitment to open governance.

Measuring Impact: Tangible Benefits

Financial Discipline

The integration of performance data into budget decisions has yielded significant results:

• Public Safety Optimization: Reduced background check staff from four positions without impacting street officers or community safety
• Emergency Communications: Avoided unnecessary hiring of 4-5 communication officers annually after data showed 95% emergency response level already achieved
• Initiative Funding: Dramatic reduction in unfounded initiative requests as departments must now demonstrate strategic benefits and performance impacts
• Program Elimination: Data-driven decisions to eliminate internal employee health services program, leveraging nearby Duke University Medical Center

These changes haven't simply cut costs but have eliminated duplication and spending that doesn't advance strategic priorities. The fire department's successful request for fire-inspection software exemplifies the new approach – demonstrating strategic benefits through personnel cost reduction, improved data reliability, and increased revenue efficiency.

City-County Collaboration

An unexpected benefit has been unprecedented cooperation between Durham city and county governments. Both entities use ClearPoint, enabling instant data sharing and coordinated efforts. This partnership has produced six joint initiatives, including a CPR defibrillator training program that has trained over 1,700 Durham Public Schools students and won the Alliance for Innovation's 2013 Award for Excellence in Local Government.

Recognition and Awards

Durham's data-driven approach has earned numerous accolades:

• ICMA Center for Performance Measurement Certificate of Distinction Award (2012)
• "Citizen Engaged Community" designation (2011-2013)
• Maintained triple-A bond rating through economic challenges
• Multiple "best of" rankings for wage increases, retirement, sustainability, and quality of life

Key Success Factors

Metcalfe identifies several elements crucial to Durham's successful performance management transformation:

1. Time Savings: Employees who experienced both pre- and post-ClearPoint operations became strong advocates after seeing dramatic efficiency improvements
2. Data Integration: The ability to link performance measures to budget requests, employee evaluations, and business goals created a truly integrated system
3. Unified Platform: Moving from 22 Excel files with over 100 tabs to a single system eliminated confusion and improved data quality
4. Leadership Commitment: Consistent support from city management and elected officials
5. Cultural Change: Shifting from counting widgets to measuring efficiency and effectiveness

As Metcalfe notes, "A big turning point for our performance management was getting a system that we could use to manage all that data. It's just easier. Less time putting numbers in a system and more time actually looking at the numbers and making decisions based on those."

Looking Forward

Durham's relationship with ClearPoint continues to evolve and expand. Future initiatives include:

• Unveiling a redesigned public dashboard
• Tracking American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) measures
• Expanding use of milestones and Gantt charts in the next strategic planning cycle
• Continuing to scale software capabilities with the city's growth

The city's journey demonstrates that strategic planning and performance management is an iterative process requiring continuous learning and adaptation. As Budget Director Bertha Johnson observes, the recession actually benefited Durham by forcing the realization that not every service could be a priority – a lesson that has guided their data-driven approach ever since.

Lessons Learned

Durham's experience offers valuable insights for other municipalities:

1. Initial setbacks aren't failures: The 2012 retreat from ClearPoint led to a stronger, more sustainable implementation in 2014
2. Technology alone isn't enough: Success requires organizational buy-in, dedicated resources, and cultural change
3. Start somewhere and iterate: Perfect shouldn't be the enemy of good in performance management
4. Link data to decisions: Staff engagement increases when they see their data influencing important outcomes
5. Transparency builds trust: Public dashboards create accountability and strengthen community relationships
6. Collaboration multiplies impact: Shared systems between city and county governments can break down traditional silos

Conclusion

The City of Durham's decade-long partnership with ClearPoint Strategy represents more than a technology implementation – it's a fundamental transformation in how a city operates. By combining robust software with committed leadership, dedicated resources, and a culture of continuous improvement, Durham has created a model for municipal performance management that delivers measurable results for its residents.

As Jay Reinstein, Strategic Plan Project Manager, summarizes: "With data now driving decision making, it's all about results." This focus on results, supported by the right tools and processes, has helped Durham fulfill its mission of being "a great place to live, work, and play" while maintaining fiscal discipline and operational excellence.

The city's story proves that while the path to becoming a truly data-driven organization may include challenges and course corrections, the destination – transparent, efficient, and effective governance – is worth the journey.

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