Michael D'Aprix independent consultant - develops evidence and results based performance management frameworks.


1951: Born London UK as an “expat” US citizen. Educated in the UK with tertiary studies in law and the arts London and Paris. 1975: A career in manufacturing spanning shop-floor to the boardroom in the UK, Europe and the USA 1984: Arrived Australia joined the ICT sector worked with ICL, Fujitsu and Proteon Inc. as VP Asia Pacific/ANZA. 1999: Private consulting for both public and private sector clients on proactive results based assessment of strategic policies and programs. Clients include: Dept. of Prime Minister & Cabinet, CSIRO, Attorney General's Dept. Comcare, IBM, Barnardos, CCAmatil.


Call: 61-04.07.45.47.56 I will respond to almost anything but just pick up the phone, mobile, texter, or email me. Anything works! Unless I am tied up, tied down, riveted to making a presentation or driving past a motorized police unit, I will pick up. Otherwise, I promise I will get back to you ASAP! Some Contact Methods: Tel: +61-02.99.74.25.65 Phone Mobile: +61-04.07.45.47.56 Skype: mdaprix e-Mail: mdaprix@daprix.com.au


Whole of Government Initiative: Agency required capability to assess progress of a whole-of-government initiative spanning numerous departments and agencies involving hundreds of current and o policies/ programs. Assessment and monitoring needs to be done on individual and cumulative appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency. (scale ~$6b) Portfolio PBS: Department with both policy and delivery agencies within the portfolio needs to provide integrated budget submissions with clear line of sight between appropriations and program, agency and portfolio outcomes supported by forward looking evidence based reporting. (scale ~$28b) Major IT Program: Agency IT group with heavy backlog of line of business demand on its core business applications needs to both encourage demand for improvements and prioritize that demand in the context of contribution to the agency’s outcomes. (scale ~$5m) Managing IT Backlog: Agency IT group undergoing core business application re-development requires high level business outcome impact/benefit model to help manage competing demands and priorities within releases as the lines of business are impacted by the staged rollout. (scale ~$000's m) Investment Portfolio: Research investment committee required a common, consistent, robust framework for assessing long-term benefits and ongoing validity of research programs within its portfolio of ~130 programs covering >1000 projects with 5-20+ year horizons (scale ~$3b)


"Outcomes" define the results that a government wishes to achieve for the community. They are the basis for assessing the effectiveness of government policy and programs in achieving those results. Outcomes must be specific and measurable. Definitions must include: - specific and measurable result(s) for - an identified community. - model of evidence that will indicate whether or not the results are being achieved - brief description of actions to achieve them.


Outcomes Evidence (indicators) must reflect the results (or lack of) of program activity on the target community actions. Outcomes indicators are NOT indicators of activities. They are often subjective and qualitative instead of quantitative. Think in terms of pieces of evidence that lead to a conclusion rather than things you can count for an absolute answer. Nonetheless SMART is still a good test of a good outcomes indicator Specific - Measurable (assessable) - Achievable - Relevant - Timebound


Creates a direct line-of-sight between the intended outcomes of policy & programs and their actual outcomes for the target community. It is important that the results logic does NOT run through the layers of program delverables but links directly to the original policy outcomes evidence model.


Major steps in an iterative and consultative process: - Define the intended outcome of your policy (ie. results for the target community) - Define the evidence that will indicate dimensions of those results are changing. (Forget "success" indicators, you want things that indicate a change.) - Establish Time: State model (e.g. end state = T+10yrs now =T0 start state =-10 yrs.) - Establish impact logic framework to link actions : evidence : results. (e.g. cause and effect) - Design your evaluation strategy


As a part of the Australian Government's budget reform initiative "sunlight", the Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS) now have very specific requirements for Outcome Definitions, Program Indicators and the logic between them. The objective is to facilitate transparency and accountability for the effectiveness of government programs and expenditures. In time, the departmental Strategic Direction Statements, PBS and Annual reports will use these Outcomes as a common frame of reference to integrate intentions, funding and results. I can assist you to develop and implement a robust evidence based outcomes/programs/indicators framework to meet DoFD's requirements and greatly simplify the PBS process in the future.


Just as "Sunlight" is bringing Results Based Management (RBM) to the reform of the budget process, "Evidence Based Policy" is bringing RBM to the reform of the Program Performance Assessment Process. All new policies and programs now require a robust evidence based outcomes framework. I can help you develop such a framework as part of the NPP development process or create one for already existing programs.


Lapsing programs wanting to win renewed funding will now have to incorporate the same new Evidence Based Outcomes frameworks as new programs. Reviews of lapsing programs are greatly facilitated by applying such a framework in the review process. These frameworks are designed slightly differently to begin with as they have to create evidence from existing results and generally poorly defined original objectives (outcomes). I can help you develop such a framework as part of the review process.


A key driver behind the move to Evidence Based Policy is that Results Based Management is the best way to assess the effectiveness of whole of government initiatives and programs that involve many departments, agencies and levels of government. I can help you develop a robust Evidence Based Outcomes Framework that keys off of a national common "currency" for assessing evidence providing you with a common basis for assessing effectiveness and managing risk across portfolios.