The Harvard Kennedy School’s Rappaport Institute, in conjunction with the City of Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology, the Inspectional Services Department and the Boston Fire Department, released a policy brief Monday aimed at improving Boston’s data and analytics work, according to a Monday press release.
The brief detailed the city’s efforts to revamp the permitting and licensing process as well as new data-driven projects such as the city’s new Building Intelligence Tool, which provides building hazard information to Boston firefighters, according to the press release.
The brief also details the city’s history of data use with the help of The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, which focuses on policy innovation and civic engagement, and the Citywide Analytics Team, which engages with a number of city departments to provide technology solutions based on data analytics.
The brief stated that even though Boston has made progress with analytics work, there is still more work to be done.
“Given its location in the middle of a hotbed of private sector innovation in the field of information technology, it is not surprising that the City of Boston has adopted technology and the use of data as a tool to improve governance,” the brief stated. “However, juxtaposition is not enough to create a culture of innovation in municipal government.”
The brief cited many reasons for the Boston’s success with data, including a focus on customer service and problem solving.
“While the world of technology and data frequently emphasizes cutting edge, highly sophisticated solutions, the City’s approach has been grounded in the business problems of their departmental customers,” the brief stated. “In most cases, customers needed real-time data on their departments, not higher level analysis.”
Steve Poftak, executive director of the Rappaport Institute and the brief’s writer, said the meeting held Monday was an effective way to sort through the city’s progress on various projects.
“The point of the discussion was to actually show several of the projects that the brief covers, and then not only have the opportunity for a moderator, but also for an audience to ask questions of the folks from the Citywide Analytics Team who had actually done the work,” Poftak said.
Poftak said the discussion was geared toward gathering input on the policy brief from various branches of city development.
“We sort of had the Citywide Analytics Team’s point of view and the department’s point of view,” Poftak said. “We were able to ask questions about the development process and get a variety of different perspectives.”
When asked about future efforts to maintain Boston’s data-source projects, Poftak said the city is still in the development process.
“The Citywide Analytics Team is looking to deepen the projects they currently have underway and also expand them to other departments,” Poftak said.
Several Boston residents said improvements to Boston’s data projects will benefit the city and its residents.
Meredith Drews, 33, of South Boston, said she was pleased to hear Boston is using data to improve upon the city.
“I mean, I think it’s great the city is using new available technology to better itself,” she said. “It’s there and it’s available, so I’m glad they’re taking advantage of it.”
George Pagano, 25, of Fenway, said he was pleased to hear about the new Building Intelligence Tool.
“I think if it would save lives, it’s good,” he said. “It’s beneficial, so they might as well do the improvements. The licensing and permits will probably be beneficial too.”
Dan Lin, 32, of Back Bay, said he was glad the city is looking into how well they are doing with the improvements.
“It’s cool they had a policy brief written on it,” he said. “I’m glad the city wants to look in and check up on how they’re doing.”
