Document Type
Other
Publication Date
5-2014
College/Unit
Chambers College of Business and Economics
Department/Program/Center
Not Listed
Abstract
Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.
The benchmark data for the 2012-2013 performance period includes laboratory submissions for a variety of fiscal year definitions. However, all submissions have December 31, 2012 as part of their fiscal year accounting. The majority of submissions follow a July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013 convention. Others follow a year that begins as early as April 1, 2012 (ending March 31, 2013) while the other extreme includes laboratories with a fiscal year originating October 1, 2012 and ending September 30, 2013.
As of this writing, seventy-nine laboratories contributed data to the project in 2012-2013. For most areas of investigation, the submitted data offers a large enough sample to elicit good statistical properties. However, for Crime Scene Investigation, Digital, Evidence, and Pathology, the number of reporting laboratories in these areas is too small to draw meaningful conclusions. As such, the metrics in these four areas of investigation offer limited inference.
Digital Commons Citation
Speaker, Paul J., "FORESIGHT Benchmark Data 2012-2013" (2014). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1141.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1141