The performance of every Cuyahoga County department is being held accountable under CountyStat, a data-driven  system that sets benchmarks and shows whether goals are being met.

And now it is also transparent – the first results were posted online in mid-February.

For example, people can see how much paper consumption has declined and that the home care support unit is screening all clients for depression.

"What is up there is a sample of the measures,” said Jennifer Scofield, the CountyStat coordinator. "We will be updating as we go and developing improvements.”

When Ed FitzGerald took office as county executive, he promised openness and accountability. He based CountyStat on a data system New York police initiated in 1995.

CompStat (short for computer statistics) mapped crimes, which local precincts worked with administrators to address. Baltimore later adopted the idea, calling it CitiStat.  

FitzGerald used CitiStat as mayor of Lakewood. He made CountyStat one of the tenets of his campaign.

The system is free, since it doesn"t require any licenses or software.
CountyStat expands the strategy of CitiStat and includes 19 agencies or departments plus the County Board of Health, County Planning Commission and Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Services Board.  

Updates are currently posted for public safety and justice services, development, operations and health and human services.

Improvement is shown by arrows: green for improvement, red for declining and blue for no change, and colored dots that indicate if the item is on proceeding or has met a target.

Everything on the current online list is on target and improving. More agencies and items will be added as well as better links to the data, Scofield said. The site went online on Feb. 19, the day FitzGerald gave his state of the county address.

"It is a lot of work but we are making steady progress,” she said. "We will also have an online database where employees can go in and enter updated measurements.”

On the Fitz-O-Meter, the dial can now move from Not Yet Rated to Promise Kept.