April-20168GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKOIN MYPINIONOtto DollCity of MinneapolisIntelligent Operations Platformn 2011, the City of Minneapolis seized on the opportunity of participating with IBM's Smarter Cities group via a First-of-a-Kind grant program. Working with IBM Research, the City agreed to provide subject matter experts in City operations for consultation on creating a generic analytics-based research and analysis platform for improved department decision making. The result was an Intelligent Operations Platform (IOP) where department analysts can research issues or opportunities amongst data from the City, State, and Federal governments and non-profits.Coordinated Cross-Department Planning, Response and Resource Sharing for City OperationsLarge metropolitan cities are complex systems which are managed through the efforts of multiple agencies within a city government. City actions, such as permitting, taxing, licensing, policing, maintenance, etc., actually represent an event horizon of city activities--past, present and future. This event horizon consists of day-to-day operations (garbage pickup, inspections, and police patrols), normal planned events (conventions, parades, sporting events), predicted events (demonstrations, snow removal) and unplanned events (fires, severe weather, infrastructure failure). The Minneapolis IOP was designed to assist City departments in assessing their situation(s), planning appropriate actions, deploying resources, taking action, measuring their effectiveness, and capturing the resulting experience to expand their knowledge base--while coordinating and integrating activities across many departments. Also, departments act proactively to determine intervention opportunities, coordinate responses, and assess the impact of the intervention(s). Often these initiatives require two-way public communication for the best results.Previously, when a resident or an organization requests a permit to hold a 5K run, they experienced a sequential process with several City departments. The IOP affords the organizer the opportunity to sit down with all the necessary City departments and check out the race course date and time to observe if other events, such as lane closures due to construction activities, warrant a change in plans. The participants A big key for city government to achieve its goals revolves around data and analytics that are trusted, transparent and real-timeOtto Doll, CIO, City of MinneapolisIBy
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