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APQC Introduces City Government Process Classification Framework
[November 18, 2014]

APQC Introduces City Government Process Classification Framework


HOUSTON --(Business Wire)--

APQC, the nonprofit leader in benchmarking and best practice research, has released a business Process Classification Framework® (PCF) for city governments that presents a complete listing of what cities do-the actual work performed day-to-day and for future planning. The City PCF provides a common language and format to enable benchmarking, identify process improvement opportunities, facilitate communication, and forge a stronger collaboration between city workers, constituents, and vendors. Developed in collaboration with Microsoft Corp., APQC member organizations, Microsoft CityNext partners Accenture and Schneider Electric (News - Alert), and the City of Redmond, WA, the City PCF may be downloaded on the industry-specific PCF page.

"APQC is pleased to introduce a city government-specific tool to enable benchmarking, identify process innovation and optimization, and facilitate governance and audit as well as strengthen communication," said John G. Tesmer, director of Open Standards Benchmarking with APQC. "The City PCF spans the needs of an entire city's staff from mayors and city managers to functional service leaders and operations teams for finance, IT, and HR."



City government stakeholders may use the PCF a variety of ways. Mayors and city council members may use the PCF for strategic vision setting and performance management while heads of various functional services (i.e. water, public works, social care) may use the PCF for benchmarking or selecting viable business architectures for their area. Technology partners may use the City PCF to map their solutions to specific capabilities or initiatives within a city. The City PCF is also an additional resource to complement the Microsoft CityNext Reference Model.

"The City of Redmond immediately saw the value in creating a City PCF when we were approached by Microsoft (News - Alert) to collaborate. This framework provides the architectural guidance that every smart city needs to successfully break down functional silos and provide its citizens a consistent, efficient and most importantly, pleasant, experience when they interact with city processes," said Mike Bailey, finance director for the City of Redmond.


The PCF identifies 12 high-level functional categories and contains over 1,000 process elements that, when considered as a whole, represent the operations of an organization. Beyond the City PCF, APQC offers a cross-industry PCF and 14 industry-specific PCFs. The PCF forms the foundation of the APQC Open Standards BenchmarkingSM (OSB) research, which allows organizations to compare their performance.

"As we continue to deliver on our Microsoft CityNext mission to empower more sustainable, prosperous, and economically competitive cities-with a simplified approach that puts people first, we realize the importance of providing tools and resources that help city leaders define what's next for their cities," noted Rob Bernard, chief environmental and cities strategist for Microsoft Corporation. "The PCF offers a catalog of capabilities that forms a basis for CityNext benchmarking and performance management."

About APQC

APQC is a member-based nonprofit and one of the world's leading proponents of knowledge management, benchmarking, and best practices business research. Working with more than 750 organizations worldwide in all industries, APQC provides organizations with the information they need to work smarter, faster, and with confidence. Visit www.apqc.org, call +1.713.681.4020 or follow @APQC and learn how to Make Best Practices Your PracticesSM.


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