Measuring the performance of research and technology programs: A balanced scorecard approach

Research programs, like other government programs, are now being requested to demonstrate relevance and value added to national social and economic needs. Complexity, unpredictability and other factors make it difficult to define specific performance measures for R&D programs. This paper describes the performance measurement efforts of one technology development program within the U.S. Department of Energy and proposes a strategy for applying this balanced scorecard approach to a fundamental research organization. Simple logical models of the inputs, activities, outcomes and long term results of R&D programs are proposed. A critical few measures of performance that answer questions from multiple audiences are then chosen across this performance spectrum. This paper describes work performed by Sandia National Laboratories Energy Policy and Planning Department, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC0494AL85000. The continued support and enthusiams of Darrell Beschen in the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Iran Thomas in DOE Office of Energy Research, Basic Energy Sciences, is appreciated. The authors also acknowledge the contributions of John Reed and the training in the logic chart and performance spectrum provided by Ron Corbeil and Steve Montague. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the opinions of the U.S. Department of Energy.