Government Technology - May 2008 - (Page 38)

e-government S TAT E | L O C A L | F E D E R A L j j Synopsis: A New York county uses statistical analysis to aid departments when measuring the effectiveness of services — from golf courses to the county-owned amusement park. Jurisdiction: Westchester County, N.Y ., uses statistical analysis from its IT department to improve performance. ormer Westchester County CIO Norman Jacknis isn’t much of a golfer, but he can take some credit for boosting attendance at seven public golf courses that the county operates in southeastern New York. Since Westchester’s IT department began using statistical analysis under Jacknis’ leadership in mid-2005, government officials in many of the county’s departments, including parks and recreation, have moved toward a “performance measures” approach. Staff working in the county’s Department of Information Technology overlaid weather data with attendance figures, and the dates of special promotions and discounts at the golf courses. From that data, the county figured out it could do a better job of attracting golfers on bad weather days. “High humidity — not so much the rain — but high humidity is a real killer because I guess it really drains your energy,” Jacknis explained. The end result is that the county’s golf courses now call hardcore golfers to announce open tee times on especially muggy days — a reverse 911 for duffers. That’s just one innovation spawned from the county’s statistical analysis unit that operates within the IT department. Other surprising conclusions have long-term ramifications for how the county does business, from building roads to deploying police officers. “We’re sitting on this gold mine of data, so we created a unit to start analyzing all the data we’ve been collecting to figure out what program policies work for what kinds of people, and what doesn’t,” Jacknis said. The IT Department’s statistical analysis unit is “pretty rare” among local governments, said Jacknis, who remains an unpaid consultant to the county after joining the global Westchester County, N.Y. Technology: SPSS analytic and business intelligence software. Contact: Westchester County Department of Information Technology, 914/995-2976, DoIT-webmail@ westchestergov.com. F Runningthe strategic consulting unit at Cisco Systems Inc. in February. Analysis is typically farmed out to a budget office or an individual department — assuming the data is analyzed at all. Westchester County, at minimal cost, took a step beyond the traditional IT mission of processing information, hardware and software. The county isn’t just managing information; it’s interpreting it. Numbers Behind Bars In early 2006, Department of Correction Commissioner Rocco Pozzi teamed with Jacknis to crunch numbers to determine if MAY_08 the county’s drug dependency treatment program, Solutions, was effectively treating inmates. The study, which was recently submitted to the American Society of Criminology, found that Westchester County prisoners who participated in the drug program are re-imprisoned 9 percentage points less often than nonparticipants. Various studies estimate New York state’s recidivism rate is 25 percent, which is about the national average. The study spurred the county to continue funding Solutions, which costs $600,000 per year. “The mindset is to look at the good things we know we are doing, and really statistically 38 B Y M AT T W I L L I A M S | A S S I S T A N T E D I T O R http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - May 2008

Government Technology - May 2008 Contents Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions for … Turning Over a New Leaf Crash Diet Budget Blues? Failing Grade? Running the Numbers The 311 Report High-Tech Corrections How It Works Spectrum Two Cents Products Personal Computing Signal: Noise

Government Technology - May 2008

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