dataMontgomery

 

Project Overview

The County’s Government Open Data legislation, Bill 23-12, requires the Chief Administrative Officer to develop an implementation plan that lists each departments’ data that will be published on dataMontgomery. 

The main purpose of Data Montgomery initiative is to improve public knowledge of the County Government and its operations. Data Montgomery provides County dataset to the general public so the residents can be better informed and well connected to County Government services.

Direct access to County datasets offers the public an opportunity to review and analyze raw data, and the opportunity to use it for a variety of purposes. Residents can perform a data search on their area of interest, view the search result datasets, and to use the datasets in the development of Smartphone apps that create value for them.

Powered by Socrata

See the Bill 23-12 at http://montgomerycountymd.gov/open/Resources/Files/SignedOpenDataBill_23-12.pdf


Site Overview

The County has contracted with Socrata, Inc., a cloud-service provider, to provide the Montgomery County Open Data Platform at one portal address on the web rather than across dozens or hundreds of web pages.

A series of videos designed to teach you the basics about interacting with this data site, go to the following URL to learn more:

https://data.montgomerycountymd.gov/videos


Inventory Process  Overview

To collect the Open Data inventory from all County departments, the TEBS dataMontgomery team is reaching out to all County department POCs via data gathering meetings, workshops and departmental module design sessions.The raw data provided by the departments were verified by the dataMontgomery team for data quality assurance, then uploaded to the Socrata development environment for departmental review.  Datasets can only be published to the public after the approval document been completed and finalized.

DataMontgomery team also has a mission to compile a list of all inventory data from all County departments, the final inventory list will be included in  the ‘Open Data Implementation Plan’ document which  is scheduled to be completed by June 2014.  Every agency must make at least one public dataset available to be published on dataMontgomery web portal within the five years timeframe prescribed by the ‘Open Data Implementation Plan’, the dataMontgomery project team will provide annual progress report to County Council.


Dataset implementation process (click on image to magnify)

Dataset implementation process

Details will be further defined in the 'Open Data Implementation Plan'


Inventory timeline

Time Frame Milestones
August 2013 -September 2013
October 2013 - January 2014
  • Submit Initial dataset List
February 2014 – March 2014
  • Overall Inventory List, Priority and Schedule submission
April 2014 - May 2014
  • Overall Inventory List, Priority and Schedule Approval
June 2014
  • Finalize approved inventory
  • Submit to Council

Roles and Responsibilities

Key Roles Responsibilities
dataMontgomery Program Manager Serves as the primary point of contact for the political and strategic direction of the open data platform.  Will take an active role in positively impacting the position of the County’s open data platform in the Open Data Community.

Member of: Workgroup, Steering Committee
dataMontgomery Project Manager Responsible for the operation and maintenance of the open data platform and publication of approved datasets. The TEBS project manager will have responsibility for organizing and facilitating the meetings of the workgroup. The TEBS project manager will also keep the group abreast of new datasets and the status of data sets being created for publication.

Facilitates Workgroup and Steering Committee activities
Chief Innovation Officer Serves as the liaison to the community to resolve or respond to issues, comments, or concerns reported by the constituency.  Responsible for determining factors for dataset prioritization and leading data workgroup to help prioritize datasets.

Member of:  Workgroup, Steering Committee
CountyStat Manager Assists in contributing suggestions to Departments for high value datasets based on CountyStat’s knowledge of important Department and Countywide metrics.  Responsible for determining factors for dataset prioritization and leading data workgroup to help prioritize datasets.

Member of:  Workgroup, Steering Committee
Office of the County Attorney Based upon information provided by business and data expert, advises whether dataset may be published based upon applicable laws, the County’s privacy policy, and contract terms as identified by Departments.

Member of:  Dataset Approval Review Teams, Workgroup, Steering Committee
Public Information Officer Provides subject matter expertise for public information and is responsible for understanding the privacy risks and bringing them to the Project Manager for discussion with the Working Group and/or Steering Committee

Member of:  Workgroup, Steering Committee
Key Department Roles and Responsibilities
Department Point of Contact (Department POC) Responsible for analyzing available Department data, identifying potential datasets to publish, facilitating management and legal review of datasets prior to approval, understands what contracts, if any, govern the data, manages Department activities according to dataMontgomery Implementation Plan requirements and timeline, ensuring published datasets are updated as necessary.
Technical Support Contact The technical representative for the dataset. Knows how the data is derived and formatted. Provides the tables and fields to the Dataset Team. Provides expertise for data extraction to open data site.
Dataset Owner (Primary Contact)  The business representative for the dataset. Knows the definitions for the tables and fields and provides the business knowledge around the usage of the tables and fields. This person will be responsible to ensure the data remains up to date and relevant and handles all inquiries from the public regarding the dataset.  Serves as the initial point of contact for any issues, comments, or concerns related to the Open Data site. Provides necessary correspondence to working group chairs for resolution.
Department or Agency Director Provides approval to publish a dataset that has not been published previously, ensures Department participation in Open Data Implementation Plan development and execution.
dataMontgomery Groups
Project Team This is the project implementation team. This team completes the Dataset Publication Eligibility Assessment and conducts an analysis of the data considered for publication. The core team is responsible for drafting the Dataset Publication Eligibility Assessment deliverable and coordinates the data extraction with the Dataset Owner. The Dataset Team consists of the Project Manager, Integration Lead and project team resources. 
Workgroup Reviews Workgroup -level Dataset Publication Eligibility Assessment documentation and renders a decision on if the dataset should be published. Responsible for developing additional policies and procedures if needed.  Responsible for the prioritization of datasets for the Open Data Implementation Plan.

The Working Group organized by the TEBS Project Manager
Steering Committee The Steering Committee will review and approve the Open Data Implementation Plan. This group should review any policies created by the Working Group and will approve all requests to discontinue publication of a dataset. The Steering Committee will consist of a representative from each of the following departments: TEBS, PIO, CEX, OCA, CInO and CountyStat. 


Data Publishing Technical Standards

Datasets provided by County Department POCs will be prioritized for publishing jointly between the department head and the CAO in accordance with the criteria already provided as a part of the Open Data Policy.  The Open Data Policy can be view online at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/TEBS/Resources/Files/dataMontgomeryDataPublishingTechnicalStandards.pdf, see below for a couple of important excerpts.

2.0 Data Principles

The guiding data principles for the dataMontgomery initiative are:

  • Complete - All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not subject to valid privacy, security, or privilege limitations.
  • Timely - Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data. 
  • Non-discriminatory - Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
  • License-free – Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security, and privilege restrictions may be allowed.
  • Primary – Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
  • Accessible – Data is presented in a meaningful way.
  • Machine Processable – Data can be processed.

Non-proprietary – Data is available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control.

3.1.3 Upload Process

There are two methods for upload with one being manual and the other being automated. In either case, TEBS will work with the Using Department to do the actual upload.

A key point with either process is the creation of a design document. The design document will document the transform that must take place mapping the internal County data to the Socrata format. The purpose of the design document is to define a repeatable process that will take the data to the Socrata platform.

The automated process involves using the TEBS Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). The ESB has the ability to take input from a number of data sources with some examples being spreadsheets, email, web services, files and databases. The ESB has a rich transform capability and can take most structured data and transform it into an acceptable input for Socrata. More detailed information on the ESB capabilities can be found in the document Montgomery County Government Enterprise Architecture Technical Architecture [4] in the Service Enabled Domain.


Explanation of key terms

Term Explanation
dataMontgomery Direct access to County datasets in consumable formats is available here, offering the public an opportunity to review and analyze raw data, and the opportunity to use it for a variety of purposes.
openMontgomery A comprehensive initiative to create an online constituent forum and to place all kinds of public information online. openMontgomery want to make it easier for residents to reach county agencies by providing information such as property tax data, employee salaries and annual budgets. 
Dataset A collection of related sets of information that is composed of separate elements but can be manipulated as a unit by a computer.
SODA Socrata Open Data API (SODA) allows software developers to access data hosted in Socrata
POC Each County department assigns a Point of Contact(POC) person that TEBS can work with for the open data effort.


Sensitive Data

Confidential data is data that by Federal, State, or County law that must not be disclosed to the public.  Some examples of confidential data under a State law, the Maryland Public Information Act (“MPIA”), are personally identifiable health care information, student information, personnel records, an individual’s financial information, credit card numbers, and social security numbers. Additional examples of confidential information under the MPIA are information about the County’s computer and facilities security, confidential commercial or financial information, and some criminal justice data.

These examples of confidential information are not comprehensive.  Additionally, a data set may be legally publishable, but other considerations might dictate withholding publication of every piece of data within the set.

If a Department or an employee has questions about whether a particular set of data is legally appropriate for publication on the County’s open data site, they should review the MPIA (available online at http://www.oag.state.md.us/Opengov/pia.htm, “Appendix C”), and the County’s privacy policy, online at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcg/privacy.html.

If questions remain after a review of this information and after consultation with those in the department familiar with the application of the MPIA to the department’s data, please contact the Office of the County Attorney for further assistance.


Entry area for submission

See a list of  dataMontgomery Executive Branch Point of Contacts(POC)  below.

Department Abbreviation Department Name Telephone Application Inventory List
BOE Board of Elections Alysoun McLaughlin 240-777-8522 ApplicationInv_2013_03_BOE_AllData.xlsx
CAT Office of the County Attorney Ida Hsu 240-777-6717  
CEC Community Engagement Cluster Gerri Davis 240-777-8044 ApplicationInv_2013_03_CEC_VolCenter.xlsx
CEX County Executive's Office Sonetta Neufville 240-777-2516 ApplicationInv_2013_03_CEX_AllData.xlsx
COR Department of Correction and Rehabilitation Brenda Sims 240-777-9984  
CUPF Community Use of Public Facilities Paul Hibbard 240-777-2715 ApplicationInv_2013_03_CUPF_AllData-cupf.xlsx
DED Department of Economic Development Peter Bang 240-777-2008  
DEP-Solid Waste Department of Environmental Protection - Solid Waste Anthony Skinner 240-777-6438 Application_Inv_2013_03_DEP_SWS_AllData.xlsx
DEP Department of Environmental Protection Vicky Wan 240-777-7722 ApplicationInv_2013_05_DEP_AllData.xlsx
DGS Department of General Services Yung Kang 240-777-6120 ApplicationInv_2013_05_DGS_AllData.xlsx
ApplicationInv_2013_05_DGS_Fleet_AllData.xlsx
ApplicationInv_2013_05_DGS_PROC_AllData.xlsx
DLC Department of Liquor Control Matt Douglas 240-777-1916 ApplicationInv_2013_03_DLC_AllData.xlsx
DOT Department of Transportation Nectarios Aleviou 240-777-7198 ApplicationInv_2013_03_DOT_DOTTEOData.xlsx
ApplicationInv_2013_03_DOT_TRNST_AllData.xlsx
DPS Department of Permitting Services Tom Laycock 240-777-6365 ApplicationInv_2013_03_DPS_AllData-Updated.xls
TEBS Department of Technology Services Mike Tarquinio 240-777-2861 ApplicationInv_2013_03_DTS_AllData.xlsx
ECM Ethics Commission Robert Cobb 240-777-6674 ApplicationInv_2013_03_Ethics_AllData.xlsx
FIN Department of Finance Jhason Abuan 240-777-8826 ApplicationInv_2013_03_FIN_AllData.xlsx
FRS Department of Fire & Rescue Services Diane Zuspan 240-777-2489 ApplicationInv_2013_03_FRS_AllData.xls
HCA Department of Housing & Community Affairs Jim Lynch 240-777-3648 ApplicationInv_2013_03_DHCA_AllData.xlsx
HHS Department of Health & Human Services Joanne Calderone 240-777-3817 ApplicationInv_2013_03_HHS_VolCenter.xls
HRC Office of Human Rights Anis Ahmed 240-777-8454  
IGR Office of Intergovernmental Relations Robert Bates 240-777-6554  
LIB Public Libraries Tamar Sarnoff 240-777-0092 ApplicationInv_2013_03_LIB_AllData.xlsx
MCERP Montgomery County Employee Retirement Plans Linda Herman 240-777-8224  
OCP Office of Consumer Protection Lorena Bailey 240-777-3781  
OEMHS Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security Michael Goldfarb 240-777-2333 ApplicationInv_2013_03_OEMHS_AllData_MG.xlsx
OHR Office of Human Resources Kerming Tsaur 240-777-5029 ApplicationInv_2013_03_OHR_AllData.xlsx
OMB Office of Management & Budget Scott Coble 240-777-2797  
PIO Public Information Office Donna D. Bigler 240-777-6537  
POL Police Department Luther Reynolds 240-773-5067  
REC Recreation Department Ginny Horvath 240-777-6842 ApplicationInv_2013_03_REC_AllData.xlsx


Dataset Collection Template

Currently, we have two established Dataset Collections for your reference.

Contact Information

Contact us at #[email protected].