WhatWorksMesa >> Accelerating the Effective Use Of Data by Governments

Gotta pick up the pace here, Mr.Mayor! -just rousing a few more rabbles to get to the goal.
Back on 05 Aug 2015 the City of Mesa announced it had joined Bloomberg Philanthropies WhatWorksCities - the subject of a number of posts here on MesaZona blog.
Nine members inside City Hall were announced and appointed by City Manager Chris Brady to a Leadership Board on 05 Nov 2015. [subject of another post]

Three months later . . . Ooops, there was some kind of item on the Economic Development Advisory Board's 05 Jan 2016 meeting's agenda for a presentation by Janet Woolum, Performance Manager here in WhatWorksCities - Open Data 
Performance  ("enhance the City's current performance management system", "apply more complex analytics")
Open Data ("transparency" and "unlock data for internal and public use") . . .
yours truly left that meeting not seeing much data or much evidence, not feeling engaged nor how government can be more effective and improve people's lives.

WHAT'S NEXT?

- Continue cross-functional collaborations
• - Increase the capacity to conduct data analytics
• - Support City efforts to use data and evidence to improve city services 

In the effort by yours truly for public service and public information here's some stuff for good governance put out by John Hopkins University Center for Government Excellence, one of the partners in WhatWorksCities dealing with Mesa City Hall to encourage the nine members of the Leadership Board and project manager Janet Woolum to get with the program .

Creating an open data portal?
Go here >> http://labs.centerforgov.org/open-data-portal-requirements/

Here are some questions asked [answers on page link after]
1. What is metadata and why is it important?
2. I’ve been asked to lead my government’s open data initiative. Where do I start?
3. How can I get a better sense of the data our government is currently collecting?
4.What is open data all about? Is it the same as freedom of information/ public records requirements?
5. What is performance analytics?
6. What is the best way to identify another government to benchmark ourselves against?
7. How do we change the culture of our organization to be more data friendly

Readers can find the GovEx answers here

Here are some of the tools that everyone can see:

The Johns Hopkins University Center for Government Excellence has created this getting started guide to assist cities in implementing open data programs in their own communities.
Link >> http://govex.jhu.edu/open-data-getting-started-guide/ 

Many government leaders believe they need a “data-driven culture” to usher in more effective and efficient services to residents. They see managers rely primarily (sometimes exclusively) on gut instinct and experience to guide their work. Data seems trapped in silos. Employees are not using data to inform their work out of reluctance, fear, lack of awareness or training. Tools used to manage and analyze data are intimidating, and very few people understand which tools to reach for first.
What does that really mean? And how do governments make the shift? The Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University (GovEx), a partner in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative, created this practical guide to help governments advance open data, analytics and performance management practices by shaping their organizational culture. The guide includes: characteristics of cultures adept with data; diagnostic tips for understanding existing organizational culture; and practical suggestions for influencing that culture.
 http://govex.jhu.edu/changing-culture/

Cities collect and store large amounts of data that is valuable to the public. Until recently, most data was locked away in filing cabinets and only released in response to information requests. An open data program makes city data easily accessible to anyone, at any time, through the internet.
Businesses, residents, visitors, and civil servants expect to have readily available data to aid decision making. Good open data programs meet these expectations while also delivering increased transparency and strong accountability.
By collecting and sharing data, a city can empower constituents to use data to address community concerns and help its own civil servants find innovative solutions to key challenges. Consistently sharing and using data to act on community interests can also lead to a culture of evidence-based decision-making in which data becomes essential for good governance.
https://www.gitbook.com/book/centerforgov/open-data-getting-started/details

Benchmarking is the process of continuously comparing and measuring an organization against its own past performance or comparing its performance to that of another comparable organization. A benchmarking practice provides information that will help an organization take action to improve its own performance. Governments of all levels of capability can leverage benchmarking in their performance management practice. This short guide explains benchmarking using practical examples and provides quick links to helpful benchmarking resources. The guide also describes the related practice of using "proxy measures," which are another useful tool in the performance management toolbox. The guide includes: definitions of commonly used terms; real examples of benchmarking and proxy measures in practice; and a list of useful resources.
https://www.gitbook.com/book/centerforgov/benchmarking/details