The purpose of the management review is to discover whether or not the transit system has adequate management systems in place to manage the service and whether or not the trends of the transit system's performance data are positive. The review is designed to be used as one part of a technical assistance effort. That is, after completion of the review, technical assistance should be provided to the service to improve deficient areas and to document exemplary performance to share with other transit systems.
Two types of procedures are used in a complete management review program: 1) Trend analysis based on available data (Appendix B; "Survey of Existing Services") and 2) systems analysis based on detailed program review (Appendix J: "Management Review Questionnaire"). Trend analysis will usually lead to a systems review in an attempt to discover why a particular aspect of an agency is deteriorating or improving. It is for that reason (data generation to assess performance) that this handbook emphasizes the use of the "Management Review Questionnaire." (Good management systems will not necessarily lead to positive trends. However, good systems will at least generate enough rough data to be evaluated.)