Project Safe Neighborhoods Training Part 1 of 2: Performance Reporting

- [Christina] Hi everyone, and welcome to the "Project Safe Neighborhoods Training Part 1 of 2: Completing your PMT Report." Part two in this training series covers subrecipient reporting and a walkthrough of reporting in the PMT system. We encourage you to view the recording, once available. My name is Christina Mariscal, and I'm the task lead and contract support on BJA's Planning, Performance, and Impact Team. Before we get started, I'd like to turn it over to Lauren Troy with BJA to provide some opening comments.

- [Lauren] Thank you, Christina. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for attending our training today on the Project Safe Neighborhoods, or PSN, Performance Measures. Our goal today is to provide you with information on what we are looking for from fiscal agents and subgrantees when you complete the PMT report for the program. I want to make sure to stress that we place this great value on the information you report in the PMT. The better information we receive, the better we can tell the story of the important work that takes place in the PSM program, which helps ensure future funding and informs program oversight, which is crucial to continued success. I'm now going to turn it back over to Christina, who will begin the presentation. And thank you again for joining us today.

- [Christina] Here is an overview of what we will cover during this training session. What data do grantees and subrecipients need to report? PSN Performance Measure Questionnaire Overview, Goals and Objectives, Data Reporting Best Practices, and we will provide contact information and resources. The two types of questions you will need to respond to: performance measures and narrative questions. The performance measures are a series of questions that measure outcomes of grant activities, and demonstrate the accomplishment of goals and objectives of BJA programs. Grantees report on performance measures during each quarterly reporting period. A series of narrative questions related to the grantee's specific goals, objectives, barriers, and successes are reported on semiannually, only in January and July. The Performance Measure Questionnaire outlines all of the questions grantees are required to respond to. The link to the PSN performance measures is shown on your screen. This document can also be found on the BJA performance measures webpage. The sections of the PSN Questionnaire are listed here. You can use this PDF questionnaire to see the skip patterns of questions based on the activities you conducted during the reporting period. We encourage you to use the PDF of the questionnaire as a guide to track relevant data in your files in the time interval that's easiest for you. Then, when it's time to report, you can add those figures to get your reporting period totals. If you have any questions on any of the performance measures, please don't hesitate to reach out to the BJA PMT Helpdesk. I will turn it back over to Lauren for the next section.

- [Lauren] Thanks, Christina. When establishing clear goals, there are several methods that can be used, one of which is setting SMART goals. SMART is an acronym to ensure goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound. So, let's talk about SMART goals further. You want to ensure they are: specific, which clearly defines the desired outcomes or results; measurable, there should be measurable progress towards the completion of the goal; achievable, the goal could be challenging yet realistic given the grantee's resources; relevant, the goal is aligned with the grant application and allowable uses of funds; and timebound, the goal should be completed within the grant period. In setting SMART goals, we outlined a few leading questions that can help you when developing good goals and objectives for the narrative section of the PMT. Here we provide some leading questions for fiscal agents to consider when developing their goals and objectives, so that you can provide a robust and detailed narrative that we require. In making sure your goal is specific, some questions to consider is: What will be accomplished by the fiscal agent and the subrecipient ? What actions will the fiscal agent and subrecipient take? And who is involved from the fiscal agent agency and subrecipient ? In drafting your goal so that it is measurable, some questions to consider is: What metrics will the fiscal agent and subrecipient use? What are the indicators of success by the fiscal agent and subrecipient ? Your goal should also be achievable. Consider ones like: How will the fiscal agent and subrecipient accomplish the established goals? What are the tools and skills needed? In making sure your goals are relevant, consider the following questions: What is the overall relevance of the goal to the PSN project? How does it align to the PSN program? Lastly, you will want to ensure your goals are timebound. Some questions to think about include: What are the deadlines? Is there a sense of urgency for some deliverables? Your goals and objectives should be developed in consideration of these questions, and it should contain the level of detail and information that can answer these questions. Now let's take a look specifically at the narrative section of the PMT. As mentioned earlier in the webinar, you the grantee are required to complete the narrative section of the PMT on a semiannual basis. There are several columns of the PMT Narrative Section, which includes goals and objectives, status of that goal, the progress and barriers toward that goal, and planned activities for the next six months. In the Goal column of the report, the established goals are entered here. You will see that there are fiscal agent goals that should be entered. These goals are set for the duration of the project, and should remain consistent throughout each reporting period. Underneath the fiscal agent goals, the subrecipient goals should also be entered. Once fiscal agents receive BJA approval for each subrecipient, fiscal agents are expected to enter each subrecipient's overall goal in this section of the PMT. As a reminder, all goals should be SMART, that is, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound. It's important to keep in mind that, if you are a fiscal agent who has been approved to perform programmatic activities in addition to the administrative responsibilities of administering the PSN program, please ensure your goals and objectives reflect this is the case by providing a detailed narrative outlining what you are doing as the fiscal agent to oversee the PSN program and provide a detailed narrative as to the programmatic activities you are undertaking as well. In the next column, fiscal agents will select the status of the goals entered. The options provided is: not yet started, delayed, in progress, completed, and goal no longer applicable. The next column of the PMT narrative is Progress and Barriers. From the prospective of the fiscal agents and subrecipient , once they are approved by BJA, fiscal agents are to provide detailed progress, achievements, and challenges towards each goal for the last two quarters. This information should be specific and demonstrate the work completed in the last six months, as it relates to each specific goal by the fiscal agent and each subrecipient. Remember to include an explanation as to the status of each goal. So, if the status you selected for a goal is "Delayed," provide an explanation as to the delays or challenges the fiscal agent and/or subrecipient encountered in their progress toward that goal. In the Planned Activities column, fiscal agents should provide a detailed outline of the activities that will take place by both the fiscal agents and its subrecipients in the next six months. In the next few slides, we provide examples of the PMT narratives that contain SMART goals for fiscal agents and subrecipients throughout the different phases of implementation of your award. It's important to remember that you, the fiscal agent, should complete the narrative section of the PMT, and provide a detailed update for your subrecipients, even if your subrecipients are reporting their data directly into the PMT themselves. In this scenario, we provide examples of a PMT narrative where the award just recently started. As you may have limited information at this point and have not expended any award funds, we provide two different examples that still meet the SMART method. For those fiscal agents who have not yet developed their goals, or who have developed their goals and objectives but have not yet started implementation, we provide examples one and two. So, let's turn to example one. This is an example of a goal where the fiscal agent has not yet defined their goals and objectives. Therefore, their goal is entered as follows: To work with the PSN Task Force and local USAO to determine the PSN strategy, goals, and objectives for this fiscal year that reduces violent crime and addresses violent crime reduction. You can see there's a note included here in the bottom to indicate that there are no subrecipients selected at this time. In the Progress and Barriers section, it clearly outlines what the fiscal agent has done in the past six months, and the narrative is as follows: the fiscal agent is continuing to work toward addressing the requirements of the active award conditions to be able to access award funds. The fiscal agent has submitted our revised budget for BJA approval, which is currently under review. So that's just an example of what a narrative could look like in the first example of the goal. Under the planned activities column, it clearly outlines what activities will take place in the next six months. And then the example narrative entered is, the fiscal agent will hold virtual meetings discussing the identification of the PSN goals and objectives for the fiscal year. So, the example narrative provides specific details as to who is executing the work, the responsible parties involved, and outlines specific actions that will have taken place in that reporting period. It also outlines the activities that are planned for the next six months. Now, I won't read through all of example two, but the narrative demonstrates a fiscal agent who has already defined their goals and objectives, but has not yet started implementation of their award. Therefore, the goal is entered as follows: To partner with the local police department that will utilize the PSN program to fund hotspot patrols within targeted jurisdictions that have a history of gang and gun violence activity. So, this goal was outlined and initially established in the fiscal agent's program narrative. It's a bit more specific. However, you will notice that they do not specify legal entity, as they have not yet selected a subrecipient. In this scenario, we provide an example of a fiscal agent goal and a subrecipient goal of a grantee who has already begun implementation. The example of a fiscal agent goal is as follows: to work with the selection committee to select subrecipients that will address violent crime and gang reduction. So, in the Progress and Barrier section, the narrative that was entered is detailed and specific, and provides an update towards this goal, which is: the fiscal agent received prior BJA approval to select City's Police Department to provide increased quarterly trainings to local law enforcement agencies. The fiscal agent has fully executed their subrecipient agreement. If you look in the Planned Activities section the following is outlined: the fiscal agent will continue to participate and facilitate monthly PSN Task Force meetings. So again, the information here clearly outlines specific and detailed information as to what the fiscal agent has done in this reporting period, and what they plan to do in the upcoming six months toward their overall goal. Here, the subrecipient goal is entered beneath the fiscal agent goal. It's important to keep in mind that this subrecipient was already approved by BJA. Therefore, the subrecipient's legal name is entered, and their goal is entered as follows: to increase the number of trainings provided to law enforcement agencies in the eastern district of "X," with trainings specifically focused toward building the foundations on a gun case. So, the update on the subrecipient activities should be entered by the fiscal agent. Again, you, as the fiscal agent, should be conducting daily monitoring of your subrecipients, and should know what type of activities that took place in that reporting period. So, please continue to read these examples and updates so you can understand the detailed information that is required to be entered for the fiscal agent and subrecipient narratives. This slide represents the fiscal agent and subrecipient narratives in which all goals and objectives have been completed. Here, the fiscal agent goal is entered as follows: to work with local police department and execute suppression and intervention activities. Their goal status is entered as "Completed," and their update on the goal is entered as follows: the fiscal agent has verified the subrecipient's final performance report and final financial report, and has provided reimbursement to the subrecipient. This narrative here is specific and detailed, and outlined what activities the fiscal agent executed towards completion of their goal. In the Planned Activities section, the fiscal agent clearly outlines the last remaining step, which is, the fiscal agent will move forward with closeout of the award. In the example of the subrecipient goal, which is entered as: to coordinate with the Gang Violence Task Force to fund overtime to conduct hot spot patrols of high-violent-crime areas. Their update is as follows: the subrecipient's Gang Task Force completed their overtime patrol of targeted high-violent-crime areas and submitted all invoices and documentation to the fiscal agent. In both the fiscal agent and subrecipient examples, the narratives provided detailed information as to why each goal was considered completed. It provides details of who was involved and what activities took place during that reporting period. So, we wanted to outline a few dos and don'ts, as reminders for you, the fiscal agent, when you make your PMT report submission. Remember, do enter narratives whose activities were executed using those specific award funds. Activities should be varied and specific to that particular year and award funds. And I know many of the fiscal agents have multiple fiscal year awards, so this is important to keep in mind. Do not copy/paste your narrative that was entered from a previous fiscal year. This will be change requested back to you for further revisions. Do enter consistent goals and objectives in each reporting period Do not enter different goals and objectives. So, goals that have been altered or goals that are no longer applicable should have been approved via a programmatic scope GAM submission. And if you have any questions on this point, please feel free to reach out to your DOJ grant manager. Lastly, do ensure the report you attached in JustGrants is for the correct award, for the correct reporting period, and in the correct PMT format. Do not attach the quarterly report. Please remember that the semiannual report will automatically populate the previous quarter's data. You should only be attaching one PMT report via PDF. And now, I will turn it back over to Christina.

- [Christina] Thank you, Lauren. We would also like to share some tips on data quality best practices. Providing quality data through performance reporting is critical, and allows BJA to effectively respond to data requests from Congress or the White House, and also in response to federal audits. We recommend that grantees assign a designated staff person to coordinate all performance measure data collection and entry to ensure consistency. If this is the first time you will report data, make sure you are familiar with the data you will need to collect and report. You can do this by reviewing the PDF version of the Performance Measure Questionnaire. Ensure a backup person is aware of the data collection and reporting process, so they can fill in if the designated staff person is unavailable or leaves the role. Consider available data collection methods, including case management systems or other databases, spreadsheets, or tracking intake forms. If partner organizations are included in your program design, be sure to engage them from the start in the planning process. Determine if formalized agreements are needed to ensure that necessary data is collected and the program meets its goals and objectives. Last, ensure all the data you receive from contracted service providers is reviewed and validated before completing data entry. Here are a few resources to assist you with reporting. The first is a link to the PSN Performance Measures Questionnaire, which is also posted on the BJA Performance Measures webpage. We also encourage you to view our subrecipient reporting video, which includes helpful information and best practices on managing subrecipient reporting in the PMT. We will also cover the topic of subrecipient reporting, specifically for the PSN program, in part two of this training series. Finally, the JustGrants team has developed a helpful video linked here that is a step-by-step guide on how to upload a PMT report into JustGrants. Here is the contact information for the BJA PMT Helpdesk. Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern time, except for federal holidays. We strive to return every email within 24 hours, so please don't hesitate to send us an email, even if it's after business hours. We encourage you to reach out to us with any questions related to the PMT system, including to unlock previously submitted reports, also for reporting grant activity, or for questions on your program's performance measures. Subrecipients should direct their questions about their awards to you as the prime, before reaching out to the PMT Helpdesk. The PMT Helpdesk has limited ability to help subrecipients outside of creating or unlocking accounts. If you have any specific questions about your subawards, please contact your fiscal agent. Thank you for your time today, and don't hesitate to reach out with any questions you may have. This concludes today's presentation.