DEPARTMENT: Information and Technology Services Department and Office of Innovation
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Craig Hopkins, Chief Information Officer and Jose De La Cruz, Chief Innovation Officer
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT: Information Data Sharing
SUMMARY:
On November 30, 2017, Councilman Roberto C. Treviño (District 1) submitted a Council Consideration Request (CCR) directing ITSD to begin the process of, and lead the effort in, creating a shared data program with all local area governmental agencies (City of San Antonio, Bexar County and Bexar County Appraisal District) and municipally owned utilities (San Antonio Water System and CPS Energy).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The collection of various data already occurs within each independent governmental agency and municipally owned utility. Due to a number of agencies collecting overlapping data, each cache of data exists in its own silo. By sharing data, residents can be identified and automatically enrolled in, or solicited to participate in, beneficial programs such as affordability programs and homestead and age-based exemptions to provide relief to those in need and who qualify.
The City’s Smart City program (SmartSA) focuses on building a connected, inclusive, and resilient community that supports a high quality of life for San Antonio. The City’s technology strategy that supports SmartSA, leverages the domains of big data, hardware infrastructure, fiber and mesh networks, IoT devices (sensors and beacons), as well as entrepreneurial vendors, partners, and startups. At its core, for a City to be “smart”, it must strategically connect technology with initiatives and outcomes that drive increased livability, workability and sustainability for its residents. This intentional approach to technology adoption allows cities to improve community services in more resourceful ways.
In FY 2018, the SmartSA strategy focuses on addressing two challenges: mobility and access to City services. Addressing these challenges requires a collaborative effort across agencies that will serve as the foundation for shared data and technology infrastructure. The City has begun leveraging existing innovation and technology relationships between the City, CPS, SAWS, VIA, and the San Antonio River Authority. The team will continue to reach out to others including Bexar County and the Bexar County Appraisal District for their involvement. These partnerships are critical as we look at our resident experiences from the outside-in and create the infrastructure and data to support these strategies.
The team has identified several key areas to work on that includes: (1) establishing a governance model for the program, (2) creating a data sharing/data management plan (to include quality, management, security, analytics), and (3) determining what shared infrastructure (networks, devices, cyber security, hardware), can be utilized for smart city type projects. In addition, several short-term projects were identified in the areas of mobility and access to City services. They include (1) developing employer-based transportation demand management and (2) inventorying and exposing current resident services that can be delivered digitally. The use case for auto-enrolling property owners for the over 65 exemptions can be added to this list of short-term projects.
ISSUE:
The goal of this program would be to ensure data accuracy across all user platforms; uniform updates would ensure up-to-date service, consistency, and efficiency in the work of our government agencies. Throughout this process, data security and privacy issues must be considered and addressed in the collection, sharing, and storage of aggregated data.
ALTERNATIVES:
There are no alternatives associated with this briefing.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this briefing.
RECOMMENDATION:
Utilize the City’s FY 2018 SmartSA strategy as the program to initiate a data sharing/ data management plan between the City, CPS, SAWS, VIA, the San Antonio River Authority, Bexar County and the Bexar County Appraisal District.