Open-Source Tools Meet the Municipal Budget Office

Data-Smart City Solutions: The open data and open source movements seen in today’s cities are often associated with massive troves of online data, cutting-edge predictive analytics algorithms, data-tracking sensors, and other forward-thinking solutions. Taken another way, they are viewed as a world of complex, highly technical people with complex, highly technical tools addressing complex, highly technical issues.  Yet is this really always the case?   

Take a task as straightforward as releasing a report.  Chicago’s Executive Order No. 2011-7 dictates that the city must issue a long-term Annual Financial Analysis (AFA) report. The AFA report, prepared by the city’s Office of Budget and Management (OBM), provides a framework for the City’s annual budget as well as a guide for financial and operational decision-making.

Read article