Oslo Prison, by far Norway's largest prison, experienced a substantial financial deficit in the year 2000, after a change in the model for calculating the price of 24 hours imprisonment - without fully understanding why and how. Good advice was expensive.  Today the organization is in balance. It has improved the efficiency of its running operations, improved its internal environment and reduced costs. And best of all: management knows why. They implemented tools for strategic organizational steering. The results have attracted attention across Europe.

Text: Morten Iversen. Translation: internal

- It was absolutely essential to identify and present critical success factors related to our own organization.
Mr. Høidal (Prison Director) elected, in spite of warnings, to implement Balanced Scorecards as a tool to assist the achievement of the Norwegian Parliament's criminal-politic and economic goals in 2003. 
The background for the sudden need for haste in 'laying all cards on the table' was a change - introduced in 2000 - in the model for calculating the price of a 24 hour period of imprisonment. Without completely understanding why and how, the previously well-run 'production' organization suddenly experienced a significant financial deficit. The catastrophe hit the organization just one year afterwards. In the Annual Report for "Kriminalomsorgen region øst" ('Norwegian Correctional Services' - Eastern Region of Norway) to the "Justisdepartementet" (Royal Norwegian Justice Department) the same year, the following comment is made: ”The accounts show that Oslo Prison closes the financial year by exceeding the budget by NOK 6 204 000 in post 01. The Regional Director is particularly disturbed by this result and has warned there will be a thorough investigation…"

Good advice proved expensive and a thorough search was implemented for effective corrective actions. The prison's rescue came in the form of a tool for strategic steering of organizations, modified and presented by the Norwegian School of Business Management (BI)

The system was already operational on 1st. March 2003. Today, the organization is in balance, has improved the efficiency of it running operations, improved the internal environment too, reduced costs, and best of all - they know why.   -Professionalism and visibility are the key aspects. Now we know what is critical for our organization, what needs to be done and how we can exploit qualitative and economic margins. Our task is after all not merely to produce 11 000 effective 24 hour periods of imprisonment per month. The period of imprisonment must also, preferably, have a positive effect for society through rehabilitation.

Acceptance was priority number one after implementation. During the procurement year for the BI modified solution the prison therefore concentrated on the downsized top management team. Our goal was to lay the foundations for unified thinking and a solid commitment within the management team. Meetings to establish and steer goals were held monthly during which the strategies were agreed and confirmed and the steering parameters chosen.
-It was important for us to include all leaders in this process. Together we identified initiatives for all parameters that showed a negative development. Through a comprehensive project phase we secured knowledge and confirmation concerning everything we already had feelings about.  We simply became more professional.
Since June 2004, Mr. Høidal has had an operative system for total control of the factors that contribute to making his prison 'good' or 'bad'.
The use of Balanced Score Cards does not need to be a rigid and overly formal discipline - even when adopted within a prison. It's all about quantifying and specifying the effects of different initiatives up front. People-oriented – both employees and inmates – and economic aspects are both expressed in the system's reports generated. The four perspectives they are steered by are: the users, internal processes, learning and development, and financial aspects.

- Using Balanced Score Cards is all taking the temperature of the organization as one unit, and also in local areas in the form of reports for the respective departments. Our users - customers if you like - are a complex group with very different needs.
The Director must also provide deliverables to the public, police, parliament, government authorities and employees, in addition to creating the best possible environment and rehabilitation programme for the inmates.

The steering parameters, currently 65 all i all, are monitored by the respective super-users for each department. The group meets monthly to discuss the status of each department. Within one week prior to the meeting, the data collectors will have entered the month's results.
- The meetings have been extremely effective, constructive and purposeful. Steering parameters illuminated green provide cause for satisfaction, but only those that are illuminated dangerously red are afforded more detailed analysis. Then we discuss improvement initiatives, which are subsequently implemented in the relevant departments. In this way we are able to monitor negative trends and counteract them upon early warning. We can think and plan before we act.

The data sources that form the basis for the steering parameters are collected widely from the whole organization. They span from tests taken by inmates and detailed climatic reviews among employees, the police, the prosecution service, families of inmates, solicitors, defence counsel, just to name a few. In addition, all economic and logistical data is of course entered into the system for regular analysis. Inmates are mapped on arrival and are questioned throughout their period of custody. Using a recurring questionnaire, inmates have the opportunity to reflect over their own situation measured against the parameters listed in the strategy for "Kriminalomsorgen" ('Norwegian Correctional Services').
- It shows that Business Intelligence is just as fruitful when deployed for people aspects as opposed to financial aspects. It is, after all, our goal - and the goal of our society - that inmates are strengthened by their period of imprisonment, comments Director Høidal.
He adds that if the Norwegian Prison Service succeeds in sinking the criminal recurrence rate by one per cent, the public will save approximately NOK 380 million per year.
Through this project we have demonstrated once and for all that Balanced Score Cards represents a tool that offers significant benefits, also withing the area of Criminal Care.
The Reginal Director agrees; in the Annual Report for "Kriminalomsorgen region øst" ('Norwegian Correctional Services - Eastern Region, Norway) to "Justisdepartementet" ('The Royal Norwegian Justice Department') in 2004 and in 2005, we read: ”Regional management are extremely satisfied with Oslo Prison's ability for economic steering".