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Using Mobile Apps in Government

Submitted by on Wed, 01/13/2016 - 06:48

More than 90 percent now own a cell phone, and three-quarters of those are smartphones. Mobile apps—first introduced in 2008—have become an essential tool for commercial services, such as music, weather, and shopping. In fact, the average smartphone user has about 40 apps on their device.

A Guide for Making Innovation Offices Work

Submitted by on Wed, 10/22/2014 - 07:54

In this report, Burstein and Black examine the recent trend toward the creation of innovation offices across the nation at all levels of government to understand the structural models now being used to stimulate innovation—both internally within an agency, and externally for the agency’s partners and communities. Based on research into a broad range of federal, state, and local innovation offices, the authors identify six different models for how an innovation office can operate:

Managing Budgets During Fiscal Stress: Lessons for Local Government Officials

Submitted by on Tue, 02/18/2014 - 15:09

Like many local governments across the nation, cities and counties in California were impacted heavily by recent economic problems. This report examines what happened to local California government revenues during this period, which services have been adjusted, how employee benefits have been treated, and what innovations have been introduced.

Realizing the Promise of Big Data

Submitted by on Wed, 01/29/2014 - 15:17

Professor Desouza provides a clear and useful introduction to the concept of big data, which is receiving increasing attention as a term but also lacks a commonly understood definition. In describing big data, Desouza writes, “Big data is an evolving concept that refers to the growth of data and how it is used to optimize business processes, create customer value, and mitigate risks.” Desouza also describes the differences in the use of big data in the public and private sectors.

Cloudy with a Chance of Success: Contracting for the Cloud in Government

Submitted by on Thu, 11/14/2013 - 11:08

With the movement of government activities to leverage cloud computing, government agencies are now increasingly writing and negotiating contracts with cloud service providers. While agencies have been writing and negotiating contracts for many years, contracts for cloud services present a special set of challenges. In this important report, Shannon Tufts and Meredith Weiss present a detailed analysis of 12 major issues that need to be addressed in all cloud contracts.

The Costs of Budget Uncertainty: Analyzing the Impact of Late Appropriations

Submitted by on Sun, 09/29/2013 - 10:43

This report comes at an especially opportune time, calling attention to the increasingly unpredictable federal budget process and the many challenges it creates for efficient and effective management of federal operations. But even in this environment, federal managers must still deliver services and programs as effectively and efficiently as possible. What steps can they take to do so?

Using Crowdsourcing In Government

Submitted by on Tue, 08/13/2013 - 10:37

The growing interest in “engaging the crowd” to identify or develop innovative solutions to public problems has been inspired by similar efforts in the commercial world.  There, crowdsourcing has been successfully used to design innovative consumer products or solve complex scientific problems, ranging from custom-designed T-shirts to mapping genetic DNA strands. 

The Use of Data Visualization in Government

Submitted by on Mon, 06/10/2013 - 10:26

The concept of visualization recalls a pivotal scene in the movie A Beautiful Mind which showed the protagonist, mathematician John Nash, looking at an expansive table of numbers. Slowly, certain numbers seemed to glow, suggesting that Nash was perceiving a pattern among them, though no other researcher had been able to draw any meaning from the table.

Best Practices for Leading Sustainability Efforts

Submitted by on Sun, 09/23/2012 - 11:25

Federal agencies are required to develop strategies, implement and report on projects, and continuously improve their processes as a model for the country. The Executive Order significantly increased the visibility of sustainability as a strategic imperative for the federal government and beyond, while potentially saving energy and taxpayer money. Given the somewhat broad and vague definitions of sustainability, some agencies may check the compliance box rather than take advantage of the full array of potentially cost-saving and performance-increasing benefits.

This report:

Recovery Act Transparency: Learning from States' Experiences

Submitted by on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 10:00

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included unprecedented provisions to disclose how more than $275 billion in grants, contracts, and loans were spent under the Act.  These requirements fell not only on federal agencies but also the recipients and sub-recipients of these monies.  In many cases, state governments were the focal point for collecting and reporting this information.  How did states respond?  Did this increased transparency change how states managed their own monies as well as federal dollars?  Are there lessons for future transparency efforts at the state or fed

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