1. Foster Interagency Work with a Community of Practice
When discussing data collection, it is essential to look beyond intelligent cameras, sensors and other devices that make a city smart and the physical data that they ingest. It’s equally vital to consider the information collected by different agencies, including local law enforcement, healthcare and other organizations. Importing this information into a usable data repository, such as a data lake, is critical to building a comprehensive view of citizens’ services and devising ways to improve their experiences.
Traditionally, agencies have created siloed data sets and have been reluctant to share their information with other organizations — understandably so, thanks to security and privacy concerns. However, moving away from this mindset and sharing information amongst agencies in an approved and compliant manner can benefit the organization and its citizens. Consider, for example, what might happen if the local health department could share data on opioid deaths with local law enforcement. They could work together to target hard-hit areas and perhaps stem the tide of addiction.
Fostering agency collaboration by creating a community of practice involves bringing key stakeholders together to discuss data collection and analysis best practices. There, leaders can discuss what data to share, how to share it, and the tools and processes that must be in place to ensure that collaboration is seamless and secure. They can share their data and how it was collected, providing transparency and giving other agencies ideas on improving their processes.
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2. Establish Data Governance Standards
Establishing strong data governance standards must be a core focus of stakeholder discussions. Privacy and data protection, collection and sharing policies should be based on the group’s feedback and consider each agency’s unique requirements.
Good data governance should also consider policies for data standardization, which ensures consistency in how information is collected, analyzed and used. Agencies should establish consistent data formats and terminologies that can easily be shared and understood across different departments. Consistency can make cross-data aggregation and sharing easier.
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3. Invest in High-Quality Data Collection Tools and Infrastructure
Establishing sound data governance standards is essential before investing in the tools and infrastructure that support data collection, analysis and sharing. Too often, agencies take the opposite approach of purchasing technology before gathering ideas and creating a plan, only to revisit their technology decisions when they discover their tools need to align with their objectives. However, the tools agencies invest in should be directly dictated by the data governance requirements and the other needs of the community of practice.
Agencies can then consider the best solutions and infrastructure to optimize data collection, sharing and analysis. The type of solutions agencies opt for will depend on the type of data they’re capturing, how much data they’re collecting and how quickly they need access to that data.
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For example, traffic flow optimization may require nearly real-time data collection and analysis, necessitating a flexible infrastructure that supports data capture and processing at the edge for rapid decision-making. Conversely, healthcare data requiring deeper analysis may need an infrastructure that allows data analytics across different on-premises or cloud environments.
Strong Data Governance Paves the Way for Effective Services
The key is ensuring that the data analysis and collection technologies are flexible and secure and provide consistent, detailed and accurate information whenever an agency needs it. The technology should also be able to collect and analyze enough information so that agencies have a broad representation of data, which will lead to more informed recommendations and help eliminate potential biases.
These three steps offer a pathway to helping state and local agencies optimize their citizen services. They will be able to provide citizens with tailored services that genuinely add value to their lives, from better traffic safety to improved health services. They’ll have the power to proactively address potential issues before they become real concerns, such as performing predictive maintenance on fleets of school buses before they break down or even predicting when a bridge or road might need preventive maintenance. All of this is possible with an approach built on collaboration, governance and technology.
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