You are the chief financial officer of a nonprofit that has just received a conditional grant to expand its probation program for prisoners, which it runs for the state of Virginia in a major urban center. Each probation officer carries a caseload of ten prisoners on probation. In addition, the nonprofit operates five days of meetings each week for an Alcoholics Anonymous program as well as for a Narcotics Anonymous program for any prisoners on probation.

The foundation that supports your nonprofit has requested that the organization develop a performance measurement system. The foundation is particularly interested in doing what it can to improve the morale of probation officers, who are struggling with high caseloads. The nonprofit must create input, output, and outcome measures. As CFO, you are asked to work with program staff to develop a set of performance measures that will be included in the foundation's performance-measurement system.

What steps will you take? What performance indicators will you use for inputs, outputs, and outcomes? What indicators can you develop for measuring efficiency and effectiveness of the programs? How might you involve probation officers in the design of the performance measurement system? Why may their involvement be important?