Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How ...

1 An oracle White Paper May 2012. Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How oracle Supports Governments Efforts Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How oracle Supports Governments Efforts Introduction The concepts of Transparency and open government have been in existence in various forms for many years. What is different today is that the technology exists to provide citizens with truly open access to government information. The purpose of this paper is to provide oracle employees with a resource they can use to support our customers efforts for Transparency in government. History of Transparency Open government or Transparency is not a new concept. Its modern roots can be traced back to efforts by democratic societies to bring openness to government dealings.

2 Many jurisdictions have sunshine laws, open meeting requirements or open information acts. In the USA, the FOIA or Freedom of Information Act dates back to the mid 1960's. Today, most national governments, states, provinces, municipalities and other government jurisdictions have committed to increased Transparency . Some have been compelled to do so by overriding legislation from a court or higher authority. But most recognize that a transparent government is an essential element of a free and democratic society. A brief history of government Transparency can be found using this Wikipedia link - Different Dimensions of Transparency It is clear that citizens now have access to information that was either not possible or difficult to get prior to the advent of the internet and new technology.

3 Several examples illustrate this concept. Open Checkbooks It is possible for jurisdictions to expose information on whom, how much and what the government is expending tax dollars for. Today that can be accomplished by drilling to the appropriate information on a website. In the past, that would involve a laborious effort to search through thousands of paper files or reports, to the point where it was essentially not possible. 1. Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How oracle Supports Governments Efforts Government Performance Before the advent of sophisticated tracking and performance management software, monitoring how well a government was providing citizen services was either not done at all or just scratched the surface.

4 Today, many governments allow citizens to review performance metrics and scorecards and judge how well they are being serviced. Geographic Program or Activity Spending Mapping and spatial applications can be combined with government contract, expenditure or performance information to offer citizens a specific picture of government activity in their own or other villages, districts or specific locations. Beyond a map with pins, this was not remotely possible without modern technology. Open Records Citizen access to government records such as meetings, taxes, legal papers etc. meant a visit to a government office and a difficult search to retrieve needed information. Today with content management and search applications, citizens can easily find information without leaving home.

5 US Federal Mandates - The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) was signed on September 26, 2006. The intent is to empower every American with the ability to hold the Federal government accountable for each spending decision. The end result is to reduce wasteful spending in the government. The FFATA legislation requires information on federal awards (federal financial assistance and expenditures) be made available to the Public via a single, searchable website. Canada - The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) provides a right of access to records held by Public bodies and regulates how Public bodies manage personal information. FIPPA also provides an independent review process for people who disagree with access and privacy decisions made by Public bodies under the Act.

6 Open government can be defined very broadly. Several resources with information on open government efforts and classifications include: 2. Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How oracle Supports Governments Efforts Sunshine Review (USA) - - This site uses a very broad interpretation of Transparency . It has a government Transparency checklist and access to government sites for hundreds of US state and local government sites. US Public Interest Research Group - map - This website has Transparency grades for all 50 states as well as links to their websites. Open Government Partnership (Global) - - The Open Government Partnership is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote Transparency , empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

7 In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a steering committee of governments and civil society organizations. The Open Government Partnership formally launched on September 20, 2011, when the 8 founding governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States) endorsed an Open Government Declaration, and announced their country action plans. Since September, OGP has welcomed the commitment of 43 additional governments to join the Partnership. 3. Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How oracle Supports Governments Efforts oracle Support for Transparency Efforts in Government oracle offers a wide variety of technology and application products that can support government Transparency efforts.

8 The best and most comprehensive sites provide information across a wide spectrum. The best way to look at it is by matching a Transparency area with corresponding oracle offerings. Transparency Area Requirement oracle Offerings Technology Infrastructure The Transparency site oracle Web Center Portal, requires a robust and easy oracle Data Integrator, to use citizen interface oracle Database along with a supporting infrastructure to gather, classify, store and present information Information access and Information from a wide oracle BI Foundation Suite . presentation variety of sources must be oracle Spatial accessed and presented to citizens in an intuitive, easy to use fashion Service Performance Citizens want to know how oracle CRM, well the government is oracle BI Applications for providing services and CRM'.

9 Meeting targets oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management Budget/financial Citizens need an interactive Hyperion Public Sector Information way to view the budget and Planning and Budgeting, other financial information oracle BI Applications for ERP. Access to Public Documents Governments need to oracle Endeca, provide an easy way for Enterprise Content citizens to search for and Management retrieve a wide variety of documents Note that many oracle products can play a role in processing and producing information that can be made available to citizens. For example, access to procurement contracts or vendor payments are processed in the ERP. 4. Transparency in the Public Sector: Its Importance and How oracle Supports Governments Efforts Government Transparency Sites and Resources Websites for many jurisdictions are listed below.

10 If known, the technology used for the site or links are listed. At any rate, oracle staff responsible for a particular account can note how the site is being used and perhaps how it can be made better with oracle technology and applications. Note that some sites provide a wide range of information from Public records to expenditures to awarded contracts. However some only have limited information. Those rated very low have nothing more than links to state contract awards or financial reports. They are excellent prospects for jurisdictions wanting to expand their Transparency offerings. The table below lists Transparency sites for the US Federal Government, States and large cites. If known, the oracle supporting products are listed.