| Course | PU550 Public Health Leadership and Administration |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Performance measurement memo |
| Length | About 920 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Master of Public Health (MPH) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PU550 Unit 6
Sixty-Four Indicators and None That Changed a Decision: A Unit 6 Performance Measurement Memo Proposing Nine, Each With an Owner, a Threshold That Triggers a Response and a Line Between Measuring and Judging
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
PU550: Public Health Leadership and Administration
Unit 6 Performance Measurement Memo
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The Aldermere Valley district and all figures are composite; the measurement principles and the research cited are real.
Memorandum
To: Health Officer, Aldermere Valley District Health Department From: Performance measurement review Subject: Reducing the quarterly dashboard from 64 indicators to 9, with thresholds and owners
Recommendation
Retire 55 of the 64 indicators on the quarterly dashboard. Keep nine, each with a named owner, a threshold that obliges a specific response when crossed, and a stated purpose from the list below. Report the nine to the board quarterly and the remainder to nobody, since data nobody acts on costs staff time to produce and buys silence in return.
Why the Current Dashboard Produces Nothing
Three reasons, from the review of two years of dashboards and 11 manager interviews. First, no indicator carries a threshold, so a number that moves 20 percent prompts the same response as one that does not move at all, which is none. Second, 38 of the 64 measure activity rather than result, counting classes held and brochures distributed. Third, and most important, the dashboard mixes purposes. Measures used to evaluate a program, to learn from it, to control it and to promote it are different measures, and a single list that tries to serve all four ends up serving none, which is the distinction the performance measurement literature draws most sharply (Behn, 2003). Sixty-four numbers reported to everyone are a substitute for nine numbers reported to somebody who has to act on them.
The Nine
1. Communicable disease investigations initiated within 24 hours. Owner: nursing director. Threshold: below 85 percent in any quarter triggers a staffing review within 14 days. Purpose: control.
2. Tuberculosis contacts evaluated within seven days. Owner: nursing director. Threshold: below 80 percent triggers a case review of each miss. Purpose: control and learning.
3. Food establishments inspected at required frequency. Owner: environmental health director. Threshold: below 90 percent triggers reallocation of inspector time. Purpose: control.
4. Median days from inspection to record entry. Owner: environmental health director. Threshold: above 5 days triggers the mobile recording decision. Purpose: learning.
5. Immunization clinic appointments available within 10 days. Owner: nursing director. Threshold: below 90 percent triggers extended hours. Purpose: control.
6. Nursing turnover, rolling twelve months. Owner: health officer. Threshold: above 20 percent triggers the market benchmarking request to the board. Purpose: learning and budget.
7. Proportion of the district's statutory duties with a current written procedure. Owner: deputy director. Threshold: below 95 percent triggers a written plan with dates. Purpose: accreditation readiness.
8. Grant awards within six months of expiry, with staff counts. Owner: business manager. Threshold: any award with staff and no renewal decision at six months triggers a board briefing. Purpose: governance.
9. Days from board request to staff response. Owner: health officer. Threshold: above 21 days triggers a report to the board on why. Purpose: accountability upward.
What Each Measure Is For
The purposes are stated deliberately, one per measure, and the memo asks the health officer not to add a second. Measures used for control have thresholds and consequences. Measures used for learning may move without blame attached, which is why the inspection lag and the turnover figure belong in that category and must not be used in a supervisor's evaluation. Measure nine is the only one pointed at the agency's own leadership, and it is included because a dashboard that measures only staff work teaches the board that performance is something done lower down.
What Was Retired and Why
The 55 retired indicators fall into four groups. Twenty-two counted activity with no threshold and no owner. Nine duplicated a measure already present in a different unit. Fourteen were required by grants, and will continue to be reported to those funders without appearing on the district's own dashboard. Six measured things the district cannot influence within a quarter, such as county smoking prevalence, which belongs in the three-year assessment rather than in a quarterly report. Four were kept in a different form inside the nine above.
What This Will Cost and Save
The nine measures require no new data systems, and three of them come from the inspection database the district already maintains. The review estimates 280 staff hours a year currently spent assembling the dashboard, of which about 200 will be released. The memo recommends that half of those hours go to the quality improvement projects the organizational assessment found listed but never completed, since measurement without an improvement process attached is the pattern that distinguishes agencies that get value from accreditation from those that only pass it (Siegfried et al., 2018).
Risks
Two. The board may read a shorter dashboard as less accountability rather than more, so the first quarterly report should carry a one-page explanation of the retirements and the thresholds. And a threshold that triggers a response is a commitment: if the district crosses one and does nothing, the dashboard will have taught everybody that the numbers are decorative, which is the position the agency is in now. The association between what local health departments spend and what their populations experience is strong enough that measuring the right nine things is worth the discipline of acting on them (Mays & Smith, 2011).
References
Behn, R. D. (2003). Why measure performance? Different purposes require different measures. Public Administration Review, 63(5), 586-606. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6210.00322
Mays, G. P., & Smith, S. A. (2011). Evidence links increases in public health spending to declines in preventable deaths. Health Affairs, 30(8), 1585-1593. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0196
Siegfried, A., Heffernan, M., Kennedy, M., & Meit, M. (2018). Quality improvement and performance management benefits of public health accreditation: National evaluation findings. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 24, S3-S9. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000692
What the PU550 Unit 6 assignment asks for
Unit 6 usually asks for a memo on performance measurement rather than an essay about it. Use memo form: reader, subject, recommendation first. Ask what each measure is for before asking whether it is accurate, because measures used for control, learning, promotion and evaluation have to be built differently. Give every surviving measure an owner, a threshold and a consequence that follows automatically when the threshold is crossed. Say which measures must stay out of performance evaluation and why. Explain what you retired and in what groups, including measures that will still be reported to funders. State what the change costs and saves in staff hours, and name the risks, especially the risk that a threshold is crossed and nothing happens.
How the PU 550 Unit 6 example is put together
Addressed to the health officer, the document opens with its recommendation above everything else, then explains in three reasons why 64 indicators produce nothing, and a margin note says the purpose question comes before the accuracy question. A highlighted line contrasts sixty-four numbers reported to everyone with nine reported to someone who must act. The nine measures follow as a numbered list, each with owner, threshold, triggered response and purpose, and a second note marks that pattern. One part of the memo explains the purposes and asks the health officer not to add a second to any measure. The retirements are grouped into four categories with their reasons. Cost and released hours come next, with a third margin note, and two risks close the memo.
PU550 Unit 6 rubric: what earns full points
Rubrics for this memo weigh form, selectivity and usability. Points come first for memo discipline, with the recommendation in the opening paragraph rather than at the end. The largest block goes to measures that carry an owner, a threshold and a triggered response, since those three turn an indicator into a decision rule. Credit goes to distinguishing purposes and to protecting learning measures from evaluation use. Justifying the retirements in groups earns marks, as does continuing to report grant-required measures to funders without putting them on the agency dashboard. The risk section is scored on candor, particularly the admission that an unacted threshold teaches everybody that the numbers are decorative. APA 7 citation of the performance measurement literature finishes the score.
PU550 Unit 6 help from the desk
The commonest failure is adding measures instead of removing them, which leaves the original problem untouched and doubles the reporting burden. The second is activity counting, so if an indicator counts classes held rather than something that changed, it belongs in the retirements. Third, a measure with no threshold cannot prompt a response, and a threshold with no owner will not be acted on. Avoid mixing purposes in a single measure, especially using a learning measure in a supervisor's appraisal. Keep anything the agency cannot influence within a quarter out of a quarterly report. And say what the released hours are for, because a proposal that only removes work invites suspicion. A version for your own dashboard takes two days.
Get a PU550 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
List what your PU550 agency tracks now, or attach the dashboard your section supplied, together with the Unit 6 memo instructions and rubric. Expect a free first custom sample in 24-48h: a memo that cuts the list to measures someone owns, gives each a trigger, and says outright which indicators leave the dashboard. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More PU550 papers and MPH samples
- PU550 Unit 1: Public Health Authority Post
- PU550 Unit 2: District Health Agency Profile
- PU550 Unit 3: District Budget Analysis
- PU550 Unit 4: Organizational Assessment
- PU550 Unit 5: Workforce Development Plan
- PU550 Unit 7: Seminar Reflection
- PU550 Unit 8: Partnership Agreement Brief
- PU550 Unit 9: Accreditation Readiness Review
- PU550 Unit 10: Strategic Priorities Paper
- PU545 Unit 6: Response Failure Reflection
- PU535 Unit 6: Antimicrobial Resistance Reflection
- PU525 Unit 6: Statistical Output Interpretation Memo
- PU520 Unit 6: Chlamydia Surveillance Trend Report
PU550 Unit 6 questions, answered
Where can I find a free PU550 Unit 6 sample paper?
The entire performance measurement memo, all nine measures and the retirements, is on this page.
How many indicators should a dashboard carry?
Few enough that each one has an owner and a threshold. Nine here, down from sixty-four, with the rest reported only to funders.
What makes a measure useful?
A named owner, a number at which action is required, and one clear purpose, whether control, learning, governance or accountability.
Why keep learning measures out of appraisals?
Because a figure that affects somebody's evaluation stops being reported honestly, and the agency loses the information it needed.
How long is this memo?
Four to five pages, with the recommendation, the diagnosis, the nine measures, the retirements, costs and risks.