The second outcome Finance contributes to is improved and more efficient Government operations. Outcome 2 represents the widest ranging and most diverse group of activities undertaken by the Department. The following Business Groups manage outputs within Outcome 2: Business Services, e-Solutions, Financial Framework and Property. Their goal is to develop a more businesslike approach to Government operations, by delivering three key outputs:

• public sector financial management;
  
  
• property and contract management;
  
  
• Government information.

PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT

Finance's contribution to this outcome is assessed against the indicators published in the Department's 2000–01 PBS.

This year, Finance's achievements against our performance indicators were very good, with the majority of targets met or exceeded. The Department was also able to meet an increase in demand across a number of the outputs in Outcome 2. In a few instances performance was lower than the target we had set. For instance, the net proceeds of property sales was lower due to delays in selling some properties. In other instances, we underestimated the complexity of issues and the time required to address them. Focusing on continual improvement, Finance has incorporated these lessons into its planning for the future.

More detailed performance information, including analysis and resources tables for Outcome 2, is at the end of this chapter.