Title
Consideration of Alternatives to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
Recommended Action
I move that the Board of Public Utilities support DPU applying for Accreditation with American Public Works Association (APWA) and use elements from the ISO program to support this APWA application for Accreditation as an alternative to applying for another Zia or Malcolm Baldrige application with Quality New Mexico in year 2025.
Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Board approve as presented.
Body
Background
This past fiscal year the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) choose to apply for a Zia award from Quality New Mexico (QNM) to satisfy a charter requirement that every five years an outside agency review DPU’s operations. QNM administers the New Mexico Performance Excellence Awards program based on the national Malcolm Baldrige framework for performance excellence. Attached is the feedback report prepared by the QNM examiners upon review of DPU’s 2019 Zia application and a two-day site visit which included interviews with staff and stakeholders, as well as an audit of various documents.
While we did not win the Zia Award, we were recognized at the Roadrunner level (just below the Zia Award) with a score ranging between 327 to 430 points. Zia Award winners score above 525 points and Malcolm Baldrige winners score above 625 out of a possible 1000 points.
The feedback report details DPU’s strengths and opportunities for improvement for seven categories: 1) Leadership, 2) Strategic Planning, 3) Customer Focus, 4) Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management, 5) Employee Focus, 6) Operations Focus, and 7) Results.
Steps DPU Plans to Implement
Overall, this review process identified areas we need to focus on as we continue our journey to improve DPU’s operations. We learned from our executive briefing with QNM that to earn a Zia award DPU needs procedures to review trends and methods for integration of continuous improvemen...
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