Data Act Moves Forward: Transparency Closer to Becoming a Reality for Millions of Citizens

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A big data transformation is evolving apace in government agencies across the United States, and federal organizations will soon join the movement as the historic Data Act has just cleared a major milestone. Teradata Corp. (NYSE: TDC), the analytic data platforms, marketing applications and services company, announced today that supporters of the legislation will gather one week from today, April 29, for the inaugural Data Transparency Summit at Union Market in Washington, sponsored by the Data Transparency Coalition.

The legislation, passed by the U.S. Senate Thursday, April 10, is expected to help provide detailed data visibility to government agencies, lawmakers and U.S. citizens. Those attending the summit will hear presentations that showcase the valuable insights possible with integrated, centralized data and analytics. The event will feature key legislators and executive branch officials, including U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

"During a time of record $17 trillion debt, our bipartisan bill will help identify and eliminate wasteful spending by better tracking federal spending. I am pleased that our bill to improve federal financial transparency and empower taxpayers to see how their money is spent has passed the Senate, and I urge swift passage in the House of Representatives," Senator Portman said.

Big data transformation has been building momentum across the country in a number of state and federal government agencies, who are adopting new analytic, data-crunching computational engines to manage, explore and leverage enormous data warehouses – to find better ways to serve and educate citizens as well as colleagues and fellow agencies.

At the Data Transparency Day event in Washington, presentations from a wide array of political and technological sources, including Teradata, will be made to influential lawmakers, Senate staffers and the media, sponsored by the The Data Transparency Coalition, the only group unifying the technology industry in support of federal data reform. Teradata is a founding member of the coalition.

"Government agencies are among the world's largest creators and consumers of data, and the time is quickly coming when they will see their performance linked to how well they manage and leverage their data to better serve Americans," said Tim Day, vice president of Public Affairs for Teradata. "The Data Act will accelerate this important milestone and revolutionize data management at the federal level. Once in place, an integrated and centralized data infrastructure will bring more positive regard to agencies and federal executives from citizens – the ultimate stakeholders in this case." 

Faced with budget cuts and constraints, applying large-scale integration and advanced analytics for massive data sets can help agencies meet complex, large-scale mission demands. This is becoming more critical as data volumes grow by the petabyte.

For example, Teradata has helped eight states across the U.S. recover a combined $2.2 billion in tax revenues to date from non-compliant corporate and individual filers, with some states recovering revenue within the first 70 days of project implementation. Other dramatic examples of government agencies using data strategically are multiplying, and these are just a few of the more visible examples:

• Michigan Department of Community Health is improving the lives of children in the state by better matching children and families in the foster care program while realizing exceptional ROI on its investment in integrated data warehousing
• U.S. Department of Agriculture is ensuring beneficiaries of crop insurance programs are getting deserved, timely payments that have previously been denied due to a lack of detailed data
• U.S. Naval Aviation Systems Command is preventing loss of life and catastrophic failure of aircraft by actively monitoring sensor data and proactively performing maintenance
• Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is improving the quality of services and delivering to those in need in a more timely fashion
• U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General is using analytics to fight fraud, waste and abuse for the Postal Service.  Specifically, the OIG's health care fraud model has led directly to significant monetary impact, investigative work hour reduction per case and  a shift from reactive to proactive investigations.

At the OIG, Bryan Jones, Deputy AIG for Analytics is not satisfied with these early successes; he would apply an increasingly detailed data-driven approach to create new insight and opportunities.  "Analytics is real and has proven its value. Combining the power of modern analytics tools with open, transparent data, we can transform the way the entire federal government operates," said Jones.

"We need to open these tools and data sets to other agencies because many of us are trying to solve the same problems," Jones added.  "Policymakers and leaders are starting to understand that technology isn't the problem.  We have a culture problem.  But it is one I think we can overcome if leaders across Washington work together to help bring all the right pieces together, including people, technology, and processes and data.  I believe this is what tax payers should expect from their government."

Teradata partners with government agencies around the world, helping them to collect, integrate, analyze and share data so they can know more about their citizens and constituents and do more of what's really important. With over 10,000 professionals in 43 countries, Teradata empowers data-driven government, exploiting data for insight and value, making government safer, smarter and better engaged.

With regard to Data Transparency, Teradata and its customer The Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) in the federal government of Brazil are already moving forward. CGU has just selected Teradata to integrate, consolidate and analyze data from many sources. The Brazilian government is working in the weeks ahead to standardize data transfer and data models and to migrate to an innovative, in-database analytics approach. The new Teradata infrastructure will be key for revamping the "Transparency Portal" (Portal da Transparencia) and will be used by the Presidency of Brazil to share data with the public. The portal and program will provide new and better ways of communication between the government agencies while providing more reliable, fresher and faster data to the public.

Confirmed presenters at the DATA Transparency Day event include Teradata, Microsoft, IPHIX, Level One Technologies, Synteractive, MarkLogic, and Elder Research, Inc. – check the list and see which other big names should be added.

About the Data Transparency Coalition
The Data Transparency Coalition is the only trade association that advocates data reform for the U.S. government. The Coalition brings together technology companies, nonprofit organizations, and individuals to support policies that require federal agencies to publish their data online, using standardized, machine-readable, nonproprietary identifiers and markup languages. The coalition is steered by a board of advisors. For more information, visit http://datacoalition.org/.

Relevant News Links

• Teradata Blog-News You Can Use: Transparency in Government Takes a Leap Forward  
• Good resources for understanding data warehousing in Government: Health Care, State Tax Revenue Discovery, Military Uses of Big Data, more
• Teradata Recognized in 2014 as Global Leader in Big Data, Analytics by IT Analysts
• Latest New Innovations from Teradata in Big Data – Changing the Way Data is Leveraged
• Teradata – Recent and Relevant Media Coverage

About Teradata
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