A general framework for an agent-based service performance assessment system in local governments

Computing technologies illustrate remarkable success not only in manufacturing, but also in service-producing organisations. This paper presents a general framework for agent-based performance management in local governments. The importance of performance management and the capability of computing technologies to support that are introduced. After providing the rationale for automated performance assessment systems, the proposed framework is outlined. A performance assessment model is also proposed. This model is particularly designed to measure the performance of the services carried out by a local government, taking its capabilities, available resources, urban priorities and needs into account. The structure of the agents is explained and the possible implementation issues are addressed. [Received 24 January 2008; Revised 06 June 2008; Accepted 19 December 2008]