Zero-Based Review Program overview

What is a zero-based review?

A zero-based review (ZBR) is an initiative approved by City Council to raise the care and attention The City of Calgary pays to restraining expenditures, and to continually seek improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of our programs and services. This program complements The City's other continuous improvement activities by adding a periodic, more thorough review of whether the right services are being provided in the right way. We call this "zero-based" because the review includes all costs of a service from the bottom up.

Centre Street Bridge

Why do we do them?

The ZBR Program exists to:

  • Increase the value Calgarians get from their tax dollars by improving the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of services.
  • Build the organization’s capacity for continuous service improvement.

It helps to align services and costs with what citizens want and are prepared to pay for.

How do we do this work?

ZBRs follow a continuous improvement process centered on The City of Calgary’s Customer Service Approach.

ZBR continuous improvement process

View larger image:ZBR Program process diagram

At its core, the ZBR program focuses on:

Understanding our customers and what they value.

Discovering how value to customers can be improved.

Developing detailed business cases for the most promising opportunities.

Implementing the recommendations.

Benefiting from the changes.

undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null,undefined/null