National Infrastructure for Community Statistics (NICS) Community of Practice

1. National Infrastructure for Community Statistics (NICS) Community of Practice Research Symposium June 30, 2005

2. Agenda • Welcome and Overview • IT Research for Government Statistics • panel discussion • Innovative IT Research Projects • Lunch and Networking • Innovative IT Research Projects (cont’d) • Implications for NICS • Business Meeting and Wrap-up

3. Business Plan Outline and Organization NICS: Moving from Learning to Action

4. State Agencies • NGA • State CIOs (NASCIO) • State DHS, Health, Jobs • State Budget Offices (NASBO) • State Data Centers (Census) • State Archives • Community Data Users • Municipalities • Metro Planning Orgs. • Community-based Orgs. • Data Intermediaries • -- CSS Network • -- NNIP • -- Census Info Ctrs. • Indicators groups--poverty, sustainability, asset-building • Federal Agencies • Federal Statistical Agencies (Census, BLS, BEA, NCHS, etc.) • Federal Program Agencies (e.g., EDA, ETA, FHwA) • Federal Management Orgs. (OMB, GAO, CIO Council) National Infrastructure for Community Statistics (NICS) • Nonprofit • DataPlace (Fannie Mae Foundation • KNII (National Academy of Sciences) • Foundation/ Investor Users • Outcomes data • Comparative data • Performance measurement • Success Measures • SIA Models • Commercial • Data Providers • Value-added Data Intermediaries • Market Research • Analysts NICS Community of Practice

5. State Agencies State Data Users Federal Agencies Community Data Users • Data • Comparisons • Analysis • Live links to data sources • Metadata standards • Web-service tools National Infrastructure for Community Statistics (NICS) Commercial Private Sector Users Foundation/ Investor Users • NICS Community of Practice • Collaboratively plan and invest

6. The What • Community information that: • can be easily combined, compared and analyzed • across domains and jurisdictions • for better decisionmaking

7. The Who • We have a partial understanding… “data intermediaries” • Need to be more clear…GIS managers at city and county level, CIOs of cities and counties, program officers of foundations, community groups • Market assessment will provide more clarity • Understand needs of a broader group of users • Assess key data and information gaps for decisionmaking

8. The How • Web-based “marketplace” providing access to community-level data and tools with which to integrate, view and analyze these data • Marketplace: a forum to exchange data, services and products. A place to match demand for and supply of: • Data: new datasets with community information • Tools: tools to better access, manage, combine, clean, compare and analysis community statistics • Service-oriented architecture – loose coupling

9. What do we want to trade? Everything! • Access to NICS-ready datasets • Data access services such as FedStats, DataPlace, NNIP partners and more • Directories of administrative records available for public use • Data transformation tools • Cross-referencing tools • Façade tools • Standardization tools • Geographic roll-up tools • Synthetic data tools to ease analysis of senstive or confidential datasets

10. …and more! • User interface tools • Display software to ease comparisons • Usability tools • Visualization tools • Aesthetics tools • Analytic Tools • Tools to determine eligibility for federal funds • Small area estimation tools • Automated computation tools to calculate margins of error • Microdata analytic tools • Indicator development tools, such as profile templates that generate standard indicators • Comparability analysis tools • Statistical literacy tools

11. And more! • Resources for building and Operating Distributed Systems • Management • Operation • Service-chaining • Resources for Managing Organizational and Legal Issues • Data-sharing or exchange MOUs • Data access protocols • Intellectual property management • Privacy and confidentiality

12. And finally… • Metadata Services • Model components of metadata • Hints for metadata development • Library of metadata standards • Metadata applications • Automated tools for attaching metadata

13. Three Phase Process Conceptualize: 3-11 months Initiation: 11-26 months Implementation: 26-48 months

14. Initiation Phase: Key Tasks • Complete Business Plan • Complete market surveys that assess: • Broad range of information users • Decisionmakers who use information • Develop NICS affiliate relationships to develop services and demonstrate NICS feasibility • Continue to educate/update/involve/expand CoP • Raise implementation phase funds and secure institutional sponsorships as required to move into implementation • Develop initial web presence developed and prototype “gateway”

15. Initiation Phase:NICS Organization NICS Community of Practice Executive Committee NICS Operations Group NICS Projects Group

16. Initiation Phase: Organizational Structure • Community of Practice • Continues to meet quarterly • Provides input and direction regularly • Executive Committee • Coordinates the “moving parts”

17. Initiation PhaseOperations Committee • Major Responsibilities: • Designs, deploys market surveys (in process) • Completes business plan • Secure institutional sponsorship for long-term hosting infrastructure and web streaming capability • Targets possible funding sources and develops strategy • Develops initial NICS website and platform • Links NICS to other efforts, such as KNII, Dataplace, etc

18. Initiation PhaseProjects Committee • Creates and facilitates links to NICS Affiliates, which are • Existing efforts moving that have the potential to provide a NICS service or inform NICS development • When mature, the tools, services and capability should be linked into NICS • Lessons can be learned from exchanging with NICS CoP on a regular basis • Should be kept closely linked to NICS so that they are included appropriately in the implementation phase • Broadcast announcement calling for NICS affiliates to go out shortly

19. Initiation PhaseNICS Community of Practice • Continues to meet once each quarter and provide electronic links and communications to group • Meetings will serve two purposes: • education sessions on cross-cutting issues of importance to our community (ie: privacy, confidentiality, IP) • updates on operations, projects, affiliates and other groups as well

20. How do I participate in the Initiation Phase? • Attend CoP meetings • Be an agency/organization liaison • For agencies and organizations with projects that have projects going on with relevance to NICS • Update the CoP on your progress through Wiki or NICS CoP meetings • Be on a committee • Participate on the Operations or the Projects committees • Looking for participants with expertise in key issues • Manage/participate a NICS affiliate • Describe the project, and how it relates to NICS • We will want to feature your project occasionally in CoP meetings

21. Initiation Phase: Success • Business Plan completed • NICS feasibility demonstrated and advanced through “use cases” • Market surveys completed that assess: • Broad range of information users • Gaps in information products, services, tools • Prioritize information products and services you need • Decisionmakers who use information • Gaps in information products, services, tools • When don’t you have the information you need? • CoP continues to grow, broaden and thrive • Funds raised and institutional sponsorships secured as required to move into implementation • Initial web presence developed and prototype “gateway”

22. Implementation Phase Organizational Structure and Program Priorities

23. Implementation Phase • Evolve to more formalized organization • Spin off independent enterprise • Fully develop hosting infrastructure and platform • Launch multiple projects to seed infrastructure, tools, products and services

24. Implementation PhaseNICS Initial Structure • Core Operating Committee • Provides longterm oversight and direction • In Phase 1, Brookings will operate as the trustee for operations, funding staff, some building blocks and services • In Phase 2, NICS will spin off as a separate 501(c)3; the Core Operating Committee would serve as its Board of Directors • Three Operating Groups are where the work gets done • Marketplace Group • Tools and Resources Group • Sustainability Group

25. Implementation PhaseOverall NICS Organization NICS Community of Practice NICS Staff Core Operating Committee Marketplace Group Tools and Resources Group Sustainability Group

26. Implementation PhaseMarketplace Group Overall focus of this group is on tools that enable participation in the “marketplace” • Build hosting infrastructure and service platform • Develop access protocols and interfaces • Provide access to new datasets in “NICS-ready” format • Pilot and disseminate infrastructure management tools for building and operating distributed systems • Develop 3 year development and implementation budget

27. Implementation PhaseTools and Resources Group Overall focus of this group is on tools, resources and services for exchange in the NICS market • Market-making Tools and Products • Metadata Services • Data Transformation Tools • Other initial services and product offerings • User Interface Tools • Analytic Tools • Organization and Legal Issues • Research and Development agenda • Identify data and service gaps • New tools and techniques • Develop 3 year development and implementation budget

28. Implementation PhaseSustainability Workgroup Overall focus of this workgroup is on funding, renewing and expanding NICS as a system • Operations and activities of CoP • Review 3-year development and implementation budgets from workgroups • Develop funding requests to foundations, agencies, A-130 process • Raise funding for operations from joint programming initiatives, foundations, agencies, others • Assessing and engaging New Participants • Assess level of interest and rank demand for NICS services • Build capacity at community-level (through CIC and NNIP) • Link to state-level initiatives and enterprises • Link to GOS, DRM and KNII • Manage channel on community statistics on GOS • Input to Data Reference Model