Performance Data Structure and Metadata
Performance data within the Federal government has a standard structure
The Department of Commerce publicly reports the annual progress we are making on more than 200 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). All KPI datasets within Commerce Performance Data Pro adhere to the following standardized data structure:
- Indicator: KPI's plain text title
- Fiscal Year: Reporting period's end date, 30 September of the year
- Actual Value: Numeric value that measures the KPI's actual performance level during the reporting period
- Target: Numeric level at which the KPI aspires to achieve during the reporting period
- Status: Progress assessment comparing Actual Value to the Target: Exceeded (over 100% of target); Met (90%-100% of target); Not Met (below 90% of target)
Within Commerce Performance Data Pro, KPI data are visualized using a unique KPI Insights tile. Below is an example of a KPI Insights tile: ITA - Number of U.S
exporters assisted. Our standardized KPI data structure, alignment, and visualization enhances how we communicate the Department's performance information to the American public.
Each KPI Insights Tile is aligned with the Commerce Bureau/Office, Strategic Objective, and Program Activity it supports. It also includes additional information about the KPI.
- Bureau/Office: The operating unit within the Department of Commerce that measures the KPI
- Strategic Objective: The outcome or management impact the Department is trying to achieve
- Program Activity: Activities or projects listed in the program and financing schedules of the annual budget of the U.S. Government
- KPI State: Indicates whether a KPI is active or archived. Archived KPIs are discontinued.
By clicking on the View measure link within the KPI tile, you can access more information about the KPI including the historical trend and its detailed metadata.
What is metadata?
Simply put, metadata is the data about the data. And, metadata can be as important as the data itself. A more formal definition of metadata is the structural or descriptive information about data such as content, format, source, rights, accuracy, provenance, frequency, periodicity, granularity, publisher or responsible party, contact information, method of collection, and other descriptions.
Standard metadata elements within Commerce Performance Data Pro
In addition to the five standard data fields described above, each KPI dataset and all datasets within this website also include the following metadata elements:
- Dataset Title
- Brief Description
- Category
- Tags
- Public License Type
- Data Provided By
- Strategic Objective Name
- Program Activity Name
- Metadata Last Updated
- Date Created
- Dataset Owner
- Contact Email
All Commerce KPI datasets are available via an Application Programming Interface (API)
Within the Commerce Performance Data Pro website, all KPIs are open datasets available to anyone via our Socrata Open Data API. Below, see how to access the API capability within each dataset. When viewing any dataset, simply click on the API button and copy the API Endpoint address. Then, paste this address into the application that you want this data to connect to. The example below shows this standardized API button.
