COMCOR 02.152.01 Open Data Implementation Plan

This Executive Regulation is authorized by Montgomery County Code, Section 2-158.

A. Open Data program governance must be comprised by an Open Data Steering Committee (“the Steering Committee”) and an Open Data Workgroup (“the Workgroup”).

B. The Workgroup is responsible for managing operational and tactical issues and must include representation from the Department of Technology Services, Office of the County Attorney, CountyStat Office, and the Office of Public Information. The Steering Committee may request additional representation, as needed. The Workgroup must meet at least quarterly.

C. The Steering Committee establishes and manages the overall policy objectives of the Open Data program and must be chaired by an Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, and include representation from the Department of Technology Services, Office of the County Attorney, CountyStat Office, and the Office of Public Information. The Steering Committee must meet at least semi-annually.

A. The Director of the Department of Technology Services (“the Director”) must publish and maintain the Open Data Operations Manual (“the Operations Manual”). The Operations Manual must be published on the Open Data web portal. Link: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/open/

B. The Operations Manual must contain detailed information for the following:

1. governance and staffing;

2. dataset inventory processes;

3. publishing priority for datasets;

4. dataset changes and removal;

5. web portal availability and bandwidth;

6. dataset inventory and publishing schedule;

7. initiatives; and

8. Maryland Public Information Act request publishing.

A. The Director, in coordination with all departments, must systematically identify and inventory public datasets that should be published under the Open Data Act.

B. The list of public datasets must be described and maintained in the Operations Manual.

C. The datasets must be assigned a level of priority for publication according to a quantitative prioritization process that includes the following internal and external characteristics:

1. publication of the data can be used to increase agency accountability and responsiveness;

2. publication of the data improves public knowledge of the agency and its operations;

3. publication of the data furthers the mission of the agency;

4. publication of the data creates economic opportunity; and

5. publication of the data responds to a need or demand identified by public consultation.

The datasets must be grouped into subcategories which describe the order in which they must be published, based on their quantitative rating.

D. A dataset publication timeline must be published in the Operations Manual, based upon budgeted resources.

E. Every department must publish at least 1 public dataset by December 31, 2018.

A. Once a public dataset has been published, the dataset must be updated at least once per year. The data update frequency for each published dataset must be listed in the Operations Manual.

B. For any changes to a published dataset (i.e., adding or deleting data elements, frequency of updates, etc.) or removal of a published dataset, the Department Head of the owning department must complete a change order process authorizing the requested changes or removal, pursuant to the process prescribed by the Steering Committee.

C. The Director must publish and maintain the detailed policy and processes for dataset changes or removal in the Operations Manual.

A. The Director must establish an Open Data Project Team that must oversee the execution of the Open Data program, including the publishing of datasets and operating the Open Data web portal.

B. Each County department must establish an Open Data Point of Contact who represents their department in the process of identifying, documenting and coordinating the publishing of data from their department.

A. The Director must create and maintain the Open Data web portal with the same or higher availability and bandwidth as the County’s main web portal. The Director must apply standard monitoring practices for the Open Data web portal to ensure availability and bandwidth are maintained.

B. The Director must publish and maintain the Open Data web portal hosting information in the Operations Manual.

A. The Director must develop and maintain a tool to facilitate publishing MPIA requests by County Departments on the Open Data web portal.

B. Along with the MPIA request response, the following data elements must be published on the Open Data web portal:

1. requestor name;

2. requestor organization;

3. request description;

4. request intake type;

5. lead and owning department(s);

6. date Response posted.

C. The Director must publish and maintain policy and process details for MPIA Response Publishing in the Operations Manual.

A. On July 15, 2015, and every July 15 thereafter, the Director must publish an update to the Open Data Operations Manual on the Open Data web portal.

B. The annual update to the Open Data Operations Manual must contain:

1. all changes to the public dataset inventory list and prioritization of datasets since the last publication of the Open Data Operations Manual, as approved by the Steering Committee; and

2. all information required in the annual report required by Section 2-158 (c) and (d) of the Code.