Finance, Office of Management and Budget
Glossary of Terms
N through Z
- National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) –
- Authorized by the Clean Water Act, this program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into water.
- Operating Budget
- Plans of current expenditures and the proposed means of financing them. The annual operating budget is the primary means by which most of the financing acquisitions, spending, and service delivery activities of a government are controlled.
- Pay Plan
- A schedule of pay rates or ranges for each job in the classification plan. May include rules of administration and the benefit package.
- Per Capita
- Applies to a unit of population or a person and shows how much each would have if a commodity or money was divided equally. For purposes of this report, the population of Davidson County is 569,891 as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000.
- Performance Audit
- Examination of a program, function, operation or the management systems and procedures of a governmental or non-profit entity to assess whether the entity is achieving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the employment of available resources.
- Performance Information
- Specific quantitative measures of a division’s, program’s, or activity’s work performed or results obtained toward meeting an objective. They measure demand, workload, efficiency, effectiveness, quality, achievement, or outcomes.
- Product
- Products are countable deliverables that a customer receives from the agency. They are things customers receive, not processes the agency does. “Circulating library books” is a process; a library book checked out is a product; “library book check-outs” measure what is delivered to customers.
- Program
- Programs are groups of products with a common purpose or result. Every department has a set of programs that are unique to their respective operations.
- Property Crimes
- Consists of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims. Arson is not included.
- Response Time
- The time lapse between when an emergency response unit is initially dispatched and when it actually arrives at the scene of the emergency.
- Results
- Results are the benefit or impact that the customer and citizen experiences as a result of receiving the department’s products or deliverables. Results promote accountability.
- Results Matter
- A Metro-wide initiative to create and support both managerial systems (budgeting, performance evaluations, etc.) and an organizational culture focused on the results delivered to customers. This “managing for results” system enables the Metro Nashville Government to talk about the results it delivers, the products it produces to achieve those results, and the cost of delivering those results.
- Strategic Business Plan
- A document that outlines a department or agency's mission, strategic goals and operational results that the organization wants to achieve for its customers. This document forms the foundation for long-term and day-to-day operations as well as resource allocation decisions.
- Strategic Goal
- Strategic goals describe the significant results to be achieved by the agency over the next three to five years.
- Truancy
- An unauthorized absence from schooling.
- Violent Crimes
- The Part I offenses of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
- WEBudget
- Metro Nashville Government’s web-based budget preparation system.
