FI$Cal, California’s enterprise resource planning program, is planning a data transparency site that will include expenditure data from across the state.
The pilot site will roll out in the second half of 2018, “to demonstrate the power of the data and give users an opportunity to provide feedback,” agency spokesperson Amy Norris told Techwire. “The goal is to make California’s data work for the people to increase civic engagement and government accountability.”
The data is pulled from the FI$Cal system. The pilot version pulls from departments that have volunteered their data. The information involved in the site must be non-confidential.
“On full rollout, the site will include data from all state departments that have entered expenditures in FI$Cal,” Norris said. “The transparency website will give the public unprecedented access to California’s expenditure data.”
Each department is responsible for inputting and validating data.
“Departments are responsible for ensuring the integrity and content of their respective data. They will get a chance to review all of their data before it is published on the site, to ensure that it matches what they entered into the system,” Norris said.
The State Controller’s Office and state Treasurer’s Office and the Department of General Services and Department of Finance are involved in the rollout phases.
“When the site is fully functional, it will release raw data and interactive visualizations on all state contracts, share data stories to put California’s financial data into context, make data available to developers who will be able to embed the state’s data into their own apps, and fuel novel uses created by the civic technology community,” Norris said.
