Workiva Helps Transform Government Information Into Open Data

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Workiva (NYSE:WK), a leading provider of enterprise cloud solutions for improving productivity, accountability and insight in business data, will play a key role in tomorrow's Data Transparency 2016, a conference on policy changes and programs to make government data more accessible and accountable by transitioning to digital, standardized formats.

At Data Transparency 2016, more than 1,000 people are expected to address ways to encourage data-driven management, standardize spending and performance data and automate reporting to governments and agencies.

"We want to increase the value of government data," said Matt Rizai, Chairman and CEO of Workiva. "Policies that support open data create opportunities for the technology industry to help governments and agencies move from static paper documents to new digital formats."

Chief among the policy changes is the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) that requires the federal government to switch from a process of collecting spending information in disconnected documents and reports to an electronic process using a standardized, open-data format. This includes establishing consistent data standards for federal agencies, grantees and contractors, which aims to increase accountability over how federal funds are received, categorized and spent.

Mike Starr, Workiva's Vice President for Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, will lead a session to explore how regulators can use open data to modernize U.S. regulatory reporting. Starr will be joined by, among others, leaders from Australia and the Netherlands whose governments have adopted open-data formats across multiple agencies' reporting requirements, thereby allowing companies to report simultaneously to different government bodies.

"When the open-data transformation comes to regulatory reporting, it brings better transparency for investors, better management tools for agencies and cheaper reporting for public companies and financial firms through solutions like Workiva's Wdesk," said Hudson Hollister, Interim President of The Data Foundation.

The conference will also host the first White House Open Data Innovation Summit to highlight how more transparent data can help solve societal challenges, create positive change and strengthen the public's knowledge and trust of government decisions.

The Summit will feature success stories from the private and nonprofit sectors and report on Project Open Data, which in its first three years has made nearly 200,000 datasets, tools and resources publicly available on the website data.gov.

Data Transparency 2016 is hosted by The Data Foundation, the nation's first industry-focused open data research organization.

About Workiva
Workiva (NYSE:WK) created Wdesk, a cloud-based productivity platform for enterprises to collect, link, report and analyze business data with control and accountability. Thousands of organizations, including over 65 percent of the Fortune 500^®, use Wdesk. The platform's proprietary word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications are integrated and built upon a data management engine, offering synchronized data, controlled collaboration, granular permissions and a full audit trail. Wdesk helps mitigate enterprise risk, improve productivity and give users confidence to make decisions with real-time data. Workiva employs more than 1,200 people with offices in 16 cities. The company is headquartered in Ames, Iowa. For more information, visit workiva.com. 

Claim not confirmed by FORTUNE or Time Inc. FORTUNE 500 is a registered trademark of Time Inc. and is used under license. FORTUNE and Time Inc. are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, Workiva Inc. 

About The Data Foundation
The Data Foundation is the nation's first industry-focused open data research organization. Through research, education, and programming, the Foundation illuminates the benefits of transforming government information into standardized, open data. For more information, visit datafoundation.org.

Contact:
Kevin McCarthy
Workiva Inc.
(515) 663-4471
[email protected]

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SOURCE Workiva Inc.

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