All city councils work with data every day. The population register, files, taxes, licenses, contracts, grants, activities, facilities, incidents, documents, notifications or citizen inquiries are part of the usual information of a local entity.
But it's one thing to work with data and another to really know what data we have, where it is, who updates it, how it is used and if it is reliable enough. This is the first step in data governance: having a minimal and orderly view of municipal data.
You don't need to start with a big technological project. You don't need to have a data office. You don't need to have specialized professional profiles. The starting point can be much simpler: make a basic inventory of the most important data of the city council.
What does it mean to do a data inventory?
Making a data inventory means identifying and describing the main sets of information used by the city council. A data set could be, for example, the municipal register, the file register, the list of facilities, contracting data, building permits, cultural activities, public road incidents, social assistance or the housing census.
The inventory is not, at first glance, a complicated tool. It can start as an ordered list of these data sets with basic information:
- what is the data set called;
- in which service or area it is used;
- which person or unit knows him best;
- in which system, application or file it is located;
- how often it is updated;
- if it contains personal or sensitive data;
- if it is used to process, inform, publish, analyze or make decisions;
- if it has known quality issues;
- whether it could be reused for other purposes.
This is already governing better. Because what we don't know is difficult to order, improve or protect.
Why is it important for a small town council?
In a small town council, a lot of information often depends on the knowledge of a few people. There are those who know where to find a list, those who remember how to do an extraction, those who know the common errors in a program or those who know which file is “the good one”.
This way of operating can solve day-to-day problems, but it also generates risks.
- What happens if this person changes jobs, retires, or is not around when the information needs to be consulted?
- What happens if there are multiple versions of the same file?
- What happens if a service needs data from another and doesn't know who to ask for it from?
- What happens if a request needs to be answered? transparència or prepare a report and we don't know where the data comes from?
- What happens if we want to share information with another administration and we don't know if the data is reliable enough or if it can be shared?
The inventory helps reduce this dependence on informal knowledge. It makes the information that already exists visible and enables the city council to manage it with greater continuity, security and criteria.
Inventory isn't just for IT
A common mistake is to think that data inventory is a task for the ICT area or the technology provider. But data is not just in the systems. Data is part of the activity of municipal services.
The service that processes files knows best what data it needs. Social services knows what information is most sensitive. Urban planning knows the data linked to the territory. Intervention knows the economic data. Secretariat knows the documentary and procedural obligations. Citizen service knows which queries are most repeated. Archives and document management know the life cycle of the information.
For this reason, theInventory should be a shared job. It is not necessary for everyone to participate at the same time, but it is necessary to listen to the people who know the data on a day-to-day basis. In small municipalities, this can be done with short meetings, simple interviews or a common template that is easy to fill out.
How to start without getting complicated?
It is best not to want to inventory everything at once. A small municipality can start with a very simple first version of the inventory. For example, identifying between 10 and 20 relevant data sets.
You can start with the most common areas: census; registration and records; taxes and income; budget and accounting; contracting; urban planning and licenses; social services; municipal facilities; activities and agenda; incidents and maintenance; complaints and suggestions; transparència and open data.
For each of these sets, a minimum of one sheet can be answered:
- What information does it contain?
- What is it used for?
- Who knows her best?
- Where is it?
- Is it updated often?
- Do you have personal data?
- Are you having quality problems?
- Could it be reused to improve a service?
With this information, decisions can be made. For example, prioritizing which data needs to be reviewed, which can be used to create indicators, which are more sensitive, or which should be better documented.
An inventory helps detect very specific problems
Making an inventory is not a theoretical exercise. It serves to detect real problems that affect municipal management.
- It can reveal that there is duplicate data in multiple systems.
- It can show that there are files that only one person knows about.
- It can show that a service is working with outdated data.
- It can help identify sensitive information that is not sufficiently protected.
- It can reveal that there is very useful data for decision-making but that is not being used.
It can also help prepare better indicators. For example, before building a dashboard on municipal facilities, it is necessary to know what data we have on these facilities, who maintains them, whether they are complete and whether they are updated.
Before publishing open data, it is necessary to know whether the data is reliable, whether it has restrictions and whether it can be understood by those who reuse it. Before applying artificial intelligence, it is necessary to know whether the starting data is adequate, representative and safe.
Inventory is, therefore, a basis for doing many other things better.
You don't have to look for perfection from day one.
A data inventory doesn't have to be perfect in its first version. In fact, it's better to start with a simple and useful version than to wait for a complete model that never arrives.
The first version may have shortcomings. It may not include all the data sets. Some descriptions may be incomplete. There may be doubts about responsibilities or source systems… This is normal. The most important thing is to create the habit of looking at the data in a more orderly way. Over time, the inventory can be completed, revised and improved. A good inventory is a living instrument. It is not a fixed photo that is taken one day and forgotten. It must evolve as the services, systems and needs of the city council change.
From minimum inventory to common model
Each city council could make its inventory in its own way, but that would have a problem: it would be difficult to compare, share, reuse and provide support in a coordinated way. That is why it is important to move towards a minimum and common inventory of data from the local world.
This does not mean that all city councils have exactly the same data or the same structure. It means having shared criteria on what minimum information should be identified and described.
For example, it would be useful if all local authorities could describe their datasets with common fields: name, description, area of responsibility, source system, data type, sensitivity level, update frequency, perceived quality, main uses and potential for reuse.
This approach would facilitate supramunicipal support, interoperability, comparison of indicators, data openness, definition of common services and identification of shared use cases.
The role of the Smart Local Government Network
Small municipalities do not have to build this inventory alone or start from a blank sheet of paper.
The Smart Local Government Network (XGLI) can add value through its working groups, helping to define a minimum and common inventory of data for the local world. This inventory must be simple, practical and adapted to the reality of local entities, especially those with fewer technical resources.
The working groups will also be able to help establish common models of governance and data management:
- criteria for describing data sets,
- guidelines for identifying those responsible,
- quality guidelines,
- recommendations on protection and safety,
- Priorities on which data should be addressed first.
Another key area will be the identification of shared technological solutions. It would not make sense for each municipality to have to find or build its own inventory tool. XGLI can help define common functionalities, reusable tools or shared services that facilitate this work.
It will also be important to describe the professional profiles and functions required. In a small municipality there may not be a formal “data governance officer”, but it will be necessary to know who can assume basic functions: identifying data, validating it, updating it, documenting it, protecting it or using it to develop indicators.
Finally, XGLI will be able to drive specific use cases based on the inventory. For example, identifying data to improve transparència, prepare management indicators, sort equipment data, prioritize open data or detect useful information to reduce administrative burdens.
The strength of the XGLI will be to convert a task that may seem complex into a shared, guided and useful work for the local world as a whole.
The AOC and the Local World Data Space
The Local World Data Space aims to make it easier for local entities to make better use of data without having to individually resolve all the complexity.
Within this framework, the AOC Consortium, in collaboration with provincial councils, county councils and other actors in the local public system, can contribute to making common criteria, models, services and tools available to city councils.
Data inventory is a fundamental piece of this journey. Without knowing what data exists, it is difficult to govern it, share it, protect it, improve its quality, or use it to generate public value.
Therefore, starting with the inventory is no small task. It is laying the foundations for the future intelligent use of data in the local world.
Knowing what we have to make better decisions
A small city council may think it doesn't have enough data to start with. But it probably has a lot more than it imagines. The challenge is not to have more data. The challenge is to know what data we have, understand it better, and use it more wisely.
The inventory allows municipal knowledge to be organized, dependencies to be reduced, problems to be detected, information to be improved, and new uses to be prepared for the data to be used. It is the first step towards a smarter, more efficient, and more citizen-friendly local government.
