Key Performance Indicators (KPI's)

Welcome

Nanci Plouffe
Sr. Business Analyst

As the Business Analyst for Kootenai County, reporting to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), I perform various duties and functions in serving citizens and County leadership. My main functions are centered on providing research, data analysis, and establishing a variety of performance measures to aid department heads and County leadership in efficiency improvements, planning, and improved decision-making. Analytics can be viewed like a microscope with several lenses; sometimes a basic dive is all that is needed; other times data leads to finer and finer viewing to obtain a better understanding. When government examines what it does and how it does it, we will find things that may not be very flattering. That is precisely why we should be looking.  A constant process of "learning and improvement" can result from purposeful self-review.

One area of concern voiced internally by many department managers and employees is related to the frequent turnover of County Commissioners. Idaho Code places the general County management and financial responsibility upon the three County Commissioners. Their duties are often demanding and leave little time to get up to speed on the workings of the County government, let alone be fully informed about various topics or data. This hinders long range planning and offers little in the way of continuity. For Commissioners elected to a two year term, they will literally be running for office again just one year after taking office. My role in providing commissioners analysis is supportive; providing unbiased pertinent data and analysis to aid them in making informed decisions.

My secondary functions include automating reports from SQL databases, thus eliminating or reducing the time used to manually compile reports. I am also responsible for creating and publishing statistical data on the County website to provide citizens with a better understanding of how the County stacks up against other counties, and to provide a historical context to the County’s past. The goal is to have a more transparent government and a better informed citizenry. The key performance indicators (KPIs), accessed through the KPI Dashboard links on this page, will provide citizens with easily understandable metrics regarding various functions of the County. KPIs get people thinking and more involved because there is a nexus in how the data is presented. If there are KPIs you would like to see, please feel free to contact me to discuss them. Over time we hope to sharpen and broaden the understanding of how the county is doing and how it compares to other entities. The BOCC has also directed me to work with and assist departments that desire to incorporate or improve their reporting and analytics.

About Nanci:  My husband and I had discussed moving up to this beautiful area for years. The friendly people, breathtaking surroundings, and the opportunity to live near my family were all too tempting to resist. I’m so excited to finally live here and work for Kootenai County. I truly believe in civil service and I look forward to serving the citizens of Kootenai County.

Analysis has been my career for over 25 years. I served as a Sr. Public Safety Analyst for the Chula Vista Police Department for over 17 years prior to coming on board with Kootenai County. As part of a team of analysts, my role was to provide meaningful data to patrol officers so they could be more proactive in their police work. Providing analysis on emerging trends, crime series, strategic planning, investigations and officer deployment helped keep crime rates down. I was also lucky enough to work on several analysis-based projects that gained national recognition including reducing domestic violence, institutionalizing problem analysis and auto theft and vehicle burglaries from public parking lots. Additionally, I worked for the City of Carlsbad and Home Fed Bank providing budget analysis, contract administration and data analysis.