FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2017
Contact: Katie Vane
802.734.0617
City of Burlington Launches BTVStat Dashboard
Portal Offers Public Access to Data Collected by City Departments and Analyzed at Monthly BTVStat Meetings to Improve Delivery of City Services
Burlington, VT – Today Mayor Miro Weinberger announced the launch of a new BTVStat Dashboard that will provide the public with access to data collected each month by City Departments as part of its BTVStat Initiative. The BTVStat Initiative was created in September 2016 to gather data to inform City decision-making and to provide leadership and staff with the tools and resources needed to evaluate and improve the work they do to deliver services to the public. City Departments meet on a monthly basis to share, track, and analyze data to determine future policies and projects in line with the City’s strategic goals. The BTVStat effort has already helped the City identify funding available to hire the first new firefighters in 15 years, improve our responsiveness to requests for service, and brought new focus on and improvement to workplace safety.
“The City of Burlington is committed to measuring and continuously improving the quality and effectiveness of the services it delivers to residents,” said Mayor Miro Weinberger. “BTVStat has helped us gather and evaluate data critical to this effort and re-oriented our decision-making towards evidence instead of intuitions. I look forward to the public using the new BTVStat Dashboard to engage with the data we have collected and to track our progress. Thank you to our Innovation & Technology Department, led by Chief Innovation Officer Beth Anderson, and to all of our City Departments for participating in this important initiative.”
"We created this tool to provide a platform that helps measure and communicate our progress toward the City’s goals, and that increases transparency into and encourage accountability for the services we provide as we strive toward stronger, data-driven performance improvement,” said City of Burlington Chief Innovation Officer Beth Anderson. “We look forward to feedback on the platform and our work.”
BTVStat Dashboard
The public can access the new, regularly updated portal at https://BTVStat.burlingtonvt.gov. The Dashboard includes data about City operations and services, including financial performance, arts and recreation program participation, and street and sidewalk repair. With the Mayor’s focus on data and metrics to determine the City’s success in delivering on its goals, the Dashboard offers the public an opportunity to track the City’s progress, as well as to see new data illuminating the City’s work to provide efficient and effective services.
BTVStat Initiative
The BTVStat Initiative was undertaken at the request of the Mayor to ensure achievement of the City’s strategic goals, to assist and then hold Department leadership and staff accountable for the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the services delivered to residents, and to provide the tools and resources needed to evaluate and improve the work City staff does to deliver those services. BTVStat is an evidence-based approach to management. It involves using data and analysis to measure and evaluate the work of City Departments. It requires City staff to:
- Specify organizational goals
- Collect and analyze data to evaluate performance against those goals
- Identify opportunities to improve work
The foundation of the program is the BTVStat meetings, which provide a forum for discussing and monitoring of the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of City operations and the services each Department delivers.
In other cities, this kind of coordinated approach and collaborative culture has improved performance, increased resident satisfaction, and reduced duplicative work. The Mayor believes that this kind of collaborative, team-oriented approach plays to the strengths of Department Heads and creates opportunities for staff to address shared challenges.
* Please access new BTVStat Dashboard at https://BTVStat.burlingtonvt.gov
