Managing the data overload in the public sector

Government agencies are the custodians of data. There’s data about people, cars, houses, crime, health and wellbeing, tax, law, animals, rubbish bins; you name it, they have data on it.

It’s increasing faster than ever before — there’s bucketloads of it, structured and unstructured, residing in a system somewhere on the network, the Web or in the Cloud. And soon the complexity will be increased as the Internet of Things (IoT) and automated systems start to drive the creation of even more data.

We are now entering the era of “Smart” everything. Smart cities are here, because smart devices are here — smart rubbish bins, smart signs, smart parking spaces, smart street lights, smart pumping stations, smart meters — all sending data back to Asset Management Systems for the purposes of maintenance scheduling and fault logging, compounding the ever-growing ocean of data needing to be managed and reported on.

Drones are now capturing footage on storm water pipes, buildings, roads, coastal erosion, power poles and much more, sending volumes of data back to Government data centres for condition reporting and maintenance planning.

Government data can no longer stay behind the firewall, especially whilst customer expectations are increasing and unrelenting. The push by customers for self-service is a “need-to-have-now” not a “nice-to-have” on a five-year roadmap. Creating customer centric views of the data has further increased pressure on agencies to secure, manage and collate the data coming from outside the secure perimeter of the data centre.

Therefore, whole of agency reporting is becoming essential.

Let’s use a Justice Department as an example. Being able to report on a person’s journey through the justice system; from the first contact with the Police, through to an appearance in Court, to being held on remand, right through to prison and rehabilitation is about connecting the data from multiple systems within the agency.

Total visibility of the person and their associated interactions as they navigate through the criminal justice system will enable better decision making, better budgeting, improved rehabilitation processes and, ultimately, a reduction in crime and the cost burden on the community.

Scrutiny is also driving the need for better data management. Ombudsmen, commissions, committees, corruption, whistle blowers and political drivers demand connected, easy to access, transparent data that contains all the metadata, history and accurate content to ensure absolute compliance and auditability.

These demands were recently highlighted at a leading industry event, where leading Government CFOs presented on their most challenging issues, and the commentary was consistent across the departments represented.

These agency leaders stated that they are trying to come to terms with where the data is, how it is structured and how it can be utilised to benefit the greater, long term good of the community — managing data from across the myriad of systems is now seen as one of the most critical priorities for Federal, State and Local Government.

Infor recognises that structured and unstructured data lives across the Government enterprise. With over 3900 Government Agencies across the globe using an Infor Public Sector solution, we have the credentials and technology to help you manage this data overload that is perplexing your organisation, bringing valuable information to the forefront to enable decision making processes at the click of a mouse or the tap of a screen.

So, we listened to our customers and developed Birst®

Birst is Infor’s industry leading reporting solution for connecting data across the Government enterprise — whether it be legacy systems, OLDB systems, Web Applications, Word documents, Access databases, Excel Spreadsheets or freeform text — we can connect and display all of this data enabling you to make better decisions based on data from multiple sources across the business.

Here’s what some companies say about Birst:

“We found Birst and knew it was the real deal. I was amazed at how easy it was to get Birst up and running — without an army of IT resources or consultants. Birst was a game-changer for us.” Citrix

“By providing fast, easy access to the information we need, Birst is helping us to further reduce costs, increase revenue, and meet other business goals that will drive our continued success in the years to come.” Toshiba

“Birst has benefited us by getting us down to one source of data, one source of truth, and making that available to every employee quickly and easily.” Sunnyd

To read why Birst received amongst the five highest scores in the use cases analysed, and understand why Birst is used by enterprises to optimise their most complex business processes read the latest report from Gartner “Critical Capabilities for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms Report” go to www.birst.com.

Highlights for Government Agencies

• Scale solutions across your agency or organisation that enable cost effective management of your business
• Improve service with features that maximise responsiveness to demands for citizen services
• Engage constituents by combining critical ERP, configuration capabilities, and mobile with industry-leading security to protect your data
• Drive efficiencies with comprehensive solutions for asset management that allow you to manage your fleet and maintain your roads with mobile and self-service capabilities.

To find out how: www.infor.com/en-au/industries/public-sector.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/kwanchaift