What is the Performance Reference Model (PRM)?

What Does Performance Reference Model Mean?

A performance reference model (PRM) is one of several reference models used in describing Federal Enterprise Architecture, which provides a methodology for IT acquisition within the US government.

Techopedia Explains Performance Reference Model

The three purposes of PRM are to improve daily and strategic decision-making, to improve understanding and descriptions of inputs and outputs to align them for a clear “line-of-sight” to the desired results, and to identify opportunities for improved performance for a wide variety of traditional organizational structures and boundaries.

Existing approaches used include the following:

Balanced Scorecard: This is a report of a mixture of financial and non-financial measures compared to target values as a succinct summary capturing the most relevant information.
Baldrige Criteria: This is a methodology for achieving business excellence.
Value Measuring Methodology: This is a tool to aid balancing tangible and intangible values when making investment decisions; it also helps monitor the benefits.
Program Logic Models: This describes how an intervention, possibly a project or program or policy, can logically produce specific results.
The Value Chain: This references the value added by each activity a product passes through prior to delivery of the final product.
The Theory of Constraints: This is a management philosophy to aid organizations achieve goals consistently by seeking a constraint (or many constraints) and thereby restructuring the organization around that one (or those) constraint(s).
PRM also includes four measurement areas: Mission and Business Results, Customer Results, Processes and Activities, and Technology.

Other reference models include Business Reference Model, Service Component Reference Model, Data Reference Model and Technical Reference Model.