The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has declared it an imperative that state government staffs have a “command of data management and an understanding that data is a critical state government asset.” This comment, paired with news that 84 percent of state CIOs don’t have formal data knowledge programs in place, means that there’s plenty of ground to make up.
While data accuracy and quality are topics that have always been top of mind for top information officials, errors were often self-contained, only affecting the document with the problem or those mentioned within it. As we shift to a more accessible world and start to mine insights from our data, these mistakes can become representative data points used by AI or researchers that misinform decision making.
We know the importance of giving machine learning models unbiased and accurate information and this is especially so when it could be used to inform policy decisions.
Certain roles, like the CIO’s, have and will always require a focus on data quality. But government CIOs are a relatively new breed, so policies are still being established. An even newer role that NASCIO believes is crucial is that of the Chief Data Officer. These positions have popped up over the last handful of years in most states and the presence of a CDO shows that a state is serious about the quality of their data.
For more information on State Chief Data Officers, how they can be most effective, and collaborative national efforts, please check out this resource provided by Georgetown’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation.
Those in CDO roles are focused on ensuring the data they’re gathering is accurate, cleaning up existing data, and ensuring that all this information is secure. By implementing data literacy programs for all employees, government agencies will be able to reduce cleanup efforts, produce more meaningful insights from large data sets, and empower employees to spot things for the CDO or CIO in advance.
The reality is that data entry that relies on manual processes will always involve some degree of error, so keeping consistency and quality top of mind is crucial. One way that government agencies are able to generate consistency and reduce the mental load on their staff is by using automation software.
Extract offers software that gives your documents a full read through before any human even sets eyes on them, determining what type of document you have and what information should be used for indexing or redaction. If you find your documents are inconsistently classified or you need more control over your data and document processes, please reach out and we’d be happy to share how we can help.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.