Think about the typical strategic goals of any government entity. Reducing crime, making housing affordable, optimizing the public healthcare system, and preserving cultural and environmental heritage. Achieving these goals (and so many more) directly impacts the quality of life of entire communities. Yet, so many government entities are working with limited budgets and resources.
Allocating these resources effectively is the key to successful strategy implementation. Yet, many organizations still rely on traditional and outdated methods of tracking progress and budgeting. Integrated Plan Management (IPM) tools like AchieveIt streamline and simplify the process of aligning resources with strategic priorities, tracking progress in real time, and making data-driven decisions that maximize the impact of strategic initiatives.
In this article, we’ll look at seven ways these tools help maximize resource allocation and management in government.
1. Understanding individual and team input
Government leaders oversee the work of hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals across departments, from parks to public health to infrastructure. Each department juggles numerous projects and initiatives. Without a comprehensive view of who’s doing what, it’s difficult to allocate resources effectively and ensure that strategic priorities are being addressed efficiently.
Traditional methods of tracking progress, such as spreadsheets and email updates, don’t do a very good job of giving leadership this holistic view. Different departments use different spreadsheets, documents, and programs to track their progress, creating information silos.
IPM tools, like AchieveIt, address this challenge by streamlining the update collection process and consolidating all relevant information into a single, accessible platform. Instead of relying on scattered emails and disparate spreadsheets, team members input their progress, time spent, and any roadblocks encountered directly into the system. Leadership doesn’t need to chase people for these updates since the system sends automated email reminders to each individual.
This centralized approach provides leaders with real-time visibility into individual and team workloads. They can identify who is potentially overworked, who may be falling behind on key tasks, and where additional support or resource reallocation may be needed.
2. Identifying and removing task overlap
Imagine two separate departments within a city government — the Parks Department and the Sustainability Office. Both are working on initiatives to increase green spaces within the city. Parks is running an initiative to plant new trees in existing parks, while the Sustainability Office is developing a program to incentivize residents to plant trees on their private property.
Both efforts are valuable, but they represent a potential duplication of effort and a missed opportunity for collaboration. Both departments might independently research tree species suitable for the local climate, contact local nurseries, and develop marketing materials.
This type of siloed work, common in large organizations, is a textbook waste of resources. Thanks to the holistic, multi-plan view an IPM like AchieveIt provides, leadership can catch instances of task overlap. They can either consolidate the overlapping tasks under a single department, eliminating duplicated effort, or, even better, facilitate collaboration between the two departments.
The Parks Department and Sustainability Office could combine their expertise, resources, and outreach efforts to create a more comprehensive and impactful citywide tree-planting program.
3. Simplifying assignment and reassignment of tasks
IPM tools can also provide a granular view of projects beyond strategic initiatives. Users can view individual action items and assign them to specific individuals or teams. Leadership can see a clear picture of individual workloads within each department.
Within a team, one person might have five assigned tasks while another has fifteen, which can lead to burnout for some and underutilization of resources for others.IPM software empowers leadership to assign and reassign tasks based on capacity and expertise. If one team member is overloaded, tasks can be quickly reassigned to someone with more bandwidth. This flexibility is crucial for adapting to changing priorities, unforeseen challenges, or shifting resource availability.
4. Tracking and communicating progress
Integrated Plan Management (IPM) tools provide real-time visibility into the progress of strategic initiatives by tracking key metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) set during the planning stages. Dashboards and reports present data in an easily digestible format, allowing leaders to assess the status of different action items.
Visibility enables data-driven decision-making. If a project falls behind schedule or exceeds its budget, data from tools like AchieveIt can pinpoint the cause. Leaders can then reallocate resources or adjust strategies accordingly.
IPM tools also make it easy to communicate these findings and foster accountability. They provide a central platform for sharing progress updates, challenges, and resource needs, ensuring everyone is informed and working towards common goals.
5. Monitoring spending
Government entities often receive funding from external sources, including grants, federal allocations, and other designated funds. Managing these different funding streams requires an even greater level of visibility and accountability to ensure compliance with regulations and demonstrate responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
IPM tools like AchieveIt track spending across different funding sources, monitoring how each dollar is used. City managers and strategy leaders can ensure that expenditures align with the intended purpose of the funding. The system can track what has been spent, on which specific projects or initiatives, and by when, providing a clear audit trail and simplifying reporting.
Government agencies can more easily justify their spending to stakeholders and funding bodies to build trust and demonstrate fiscal responsibility. They can also identify potential overspending or budget shortfalls early on, allowing for proactive adjustments and preventing financial mismanagement, making it more likely these agencies will receive more funding in the future.
6. Facilitating inter-departmental collaboration
Departments often rely on each other’s expertise and resources to achieve their goals. For instance, a city’s Transportation Department might require the Public Works Department’s assistance for road closures and traffic management during a major infrastructure project. However, these requests for support often come late in the project lifecycle, when the supporting department has already allocated its resources elsewhere. The last-minute scramble can lead to delays, inefficiencies, and strained interdepartmental relationships.
AchieveIt makes all departments’ projects, both current and upcoming, visible on one centralized platform. Every department can see how their work intersects with others and can anticipate potential collaboration needs early in the planning process. Departments can tag each other at the project’s outset and outline any required support. This way, everyone has sufficient time to allocate the necessary resources, fostering smoother project execution and stronger interdepartmental partnerships.
7. Ensuring smoother turnover
The cyclical nature of government, with its elected officials and appointed staff often serving limited terms, means that turnover is a constant reality. County commissioners, for example, might work on a rotating basis. New commissioners must acclimate quickly to their roles and continue ongoing projects with as little delay as possible.
New commissioners we work with find AchieveIt helpful as a reference for all aspects of ongoing strategic plans. They can access a complete history of past decisions, current project status, assigned responsibilities, and key performance indicators. A centralized repository of information eliminates the need for extensive onboarding processes and reduces the risk of miscommunication or lost institutional knowledge.
Strategy execution software is transforming government operations
Besides maximizing resource allocation, IPM tools like AchieveIt offer much more to enhance government operations. More and more government entities are turning to AchieveIt to help deliver better services to their citizens and to drive innovation in their cities.
To learn more about how strategy execution software makes government more efficient and effective, read “Future of Government Efficiency: The Role of Strategy Execution Software.”
