Performance Measurement

The City participates in benchmarking activities, to track performance and identify service areas where improvements may be possible by adopting service delivery practices used successfully in other municipalities.

Benchmarking provides an impartial and robust means of measuring performance and helps determine where outcomes fall short of citizens’ expectations, particularly as compared to other municipalities.

When we measure performance, Council and management can set goals to improve outcomes by realigning resources and developing action plans that address shortcomings.

Benchmarking City Services

The City of Greater Sudbury is one of 35 cities that participated in a KPMG International city benchmarking exercise in the spring of 2017. The final report outlined  challenges inherent in comparing efficiency and effectiveness since “no two cities measure the exact same things in the same ways” (Benchmarking City Services, Foreword). Ultimately, 12 separate services were benchmarked, and the report highlighted key innovations, service improvements and trends facing cities worldwide.

BMA Study

Each year, the City of Greater Sudbury participates in an Ontario municipal comparative study conducted by BMA Management Consulting Inc. In 2019, 110 municipalities participated in the study which provides comparisons of financial information, select user fees, tax policies and rates, sewer and water services, and taxes as a percentage of income.

Municipal Benchmarking Network Canada (MBNCan)

Municipal Benchmarking Network Canada (MBNCan) and its predecessor organization Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI) are networks of Canadian cities collaborating to share consistent data. The City was a member of OMBI and returned to the network, now MBNCan, in 2017.

This national organization assembles municipal data from 17 municipalities to measure performance in 36 separate service areas (listed by department): 

Community Development

  • Child Care, Long Term Care, Social Housing, Emergency Hostels, Libraries, Parks, Social Assistance, Sports and Recreation, Transit.

Community Safety

  • Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Fire and Rescue Services, Police.

Corporate Services

  • Accounts Payable, Facilities, General Revenues, Investment Management, By-Law Enforcement, Fleet, Human Resources, Clerks, General Government, Information Technology, Legal, Licensing, Parking, Payroll, POA (Provincial Offences Act) Court Services, Purchasing, Taxation.

Economic Development

  • Culture

Growth and Infrastructure

  • Building Permits and Inspections, Planning, Roads, Waste Management, Wastewater, Water.

Service area experts are designated for each area, represent the City at expert panel meetings at least three times per year, and provide annual City of Greater Sudbury data.

MBNCan Reports

The City was a member of OMBI until the 2013 reporting year.

World City Council on City Data

The City of Greater Sudbury is pleased to receive Platinum Certification by the World Council on City Data (WCCD), the highest certification level offered by the Canada-based, global leader in standardized city data, creating smart, sustainable, resilient and prosperous cities. The certification positions the City to compare best practises with award winning cities, on a global level, to further strengthen existing municipal benchmarking efforts to measure the performance of the 58 lines of service offered to the community. 

The City joined the WCCD in January 2020, through the Data for Canadian Cities Project, supported by the Federal Ministry of Infrastructure and Communities. This three-year pilot project includes the collection of 104 globally standardised, comparable and independently verified indicators. Joining the WCCD Global Network aligns Greater Sudbury with almost 100 cities across the world, including 30 across Canada, all committed to leveraging city level data to improve service delivery and quality of life.

The WCCD three-year pilot project, ISO 37120 Sustainable Development of Communities: Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life, uses a variety of standards including MBNCanada benchmarking data combined with data from the Provincial and Federal governments, including Statistics Canada, to develop a thorough profile of the City’s quality of life.

To learn more about the WCCD, visit dataforcities.org.

Presentation made to Finance and Administration Committee on October 13, 2020

Performance Dashboards

City began providing a collection of statistics through monthly dashboards. The areas profiled vary each month, and the goal is to help assess and measure performance over time.

See our performance dashboards