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In defining the areas in which we are most interested, we brainstormed questions to which we would like answers, for all of the 11departments with which we are currently working. The answers to these questions will help us determine which of the 11 we want to consider in our final analysis. I am going to share with you some of the questions that we have come up with.
First, we would like to know if the services that are offered are actually public goods. A public good is one that is non-rival, non-excludable, and __________.
Second, who are the stakeholders? We are interested in knowing who it is that is interested in the way in which a particular department is run or service is delivered. Stakeholders may be the employees who provide a service, the labor unions who represent these employees, the client who consumes the service, and the management of the departments
Next we are interested in whether or not there are others who currently provide the particular service. Depending on the service, there may be non-profit or even for-profit organizations that currently provide the service to the same clients.
Also important are the funding sources. I mentioned this earlier when I was discussing our preliminary screening. In this case, however, we are interested in more detail than before. In particular, we want to know how much money comes from local sources, state sources, federal sources, and fees-for-service, among others.
Now that we know where the money has come from, we want to know on what it is spent. We are specifically interested in what percentage of the budget is spent on personnel vs. materials and supplies.
Finally, we ask the question what else is there? Other complexities may exist that may encourage or discourage us to think about changing the way in which a particular service is delivered. What are these? If a particular item is relevant to all 11 departments, we will add the question to a list for which we will seek answers, from all 11.