This article was written by Dan Rogger, Research Manager for Governance and Institutions at the World Bank and Christian Schuster, Professor of Public Management at University College London.
Public administrations are being transformed by digital systems. Most governments now have digital systems for many of their administrative operations — from paying public servants to procuring goods to processing tax cases. However, all governments are under-investing in repurposing this data for evidence-based management, or what we call ‘government analytics’.
Figure 1. Diffusion of Government Digital Systems (1984-2020)
Source: World Bank GovTech Maturity Index
In the past twenty years, public and private sector firms have invested heavily in electronic management information systems. Figure 1 shows the growth in such systems in public sectors across the world. Yet it is only the private sector that has really capitalised on innovations in data science at an unprecedented scale to improve their internal operations and productivity.
Government's own data can paint a richer picture of the functioning of government than ever before.
This means vast sums of public money are being left on the table. Studies suggest that the potential cost savings and productivity gains of government analytics are huge. Even small tweaks based on government analytics can lead to surprisingly large improvements in the speed and quality of government. One study — assessing the productivity of social security offices in Italy — suggests that merely reallocating managers based on administrative data could improve the processing of social security claims by 7 percent. Government’s own data can paint a richer picture of the functioning of government than ever before.
It can point to bottlenecks and outliers, best practices and opportunities — like better staff allocation in the Italy example.
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To support governments in their analytical work on these issues, we have developed The Government Analytics Handbook and a Fellowship Program to train Civil Servants in Washington DC, with a chunk of the costs for Fellows covered by the World Bank.
What does this mean for you?
The Handbook — which can be downloaded free of charge at https://www.worldbank.org/governmentanalytics — presents frontier evidence and practitioner insights from a range of governments on how to leverage data to make governments work better. Covering a range of microdata sources — such as administrative data and public servant surveys — as well as tools and resources for undertaking the analytics, it transforms the ability of governments to take a data-informed approach to diagnose and improve how public organisations work. You can watch an introduction to the Handbook below.
Author Talk: The Government Analytics Handbook
The Handbook is structured to help you quickly identify sources of data you already have access to and it offers practical advice about repurposing these data for analytics, as well as examples of the many possible insights that can be generated:
- Part 1 of the Handbook offers a broad overview of government analytics. Read this if you are busy or want an introduction to the topic.
- Part 2 lays a foundation for government analytics by outlining cross-cutting themes, such as statistical tools and skills, holistic measurement approaches and ethical principles that make government analytics effective.
- Part 3 dives into the many sources of administrative data available in government databases. It includes chapters on (among other data sources) human resources and payroll data, procurement data, case productivity data and expenditure data, as well as the different questions they help answer about the wage bill, corruption, customs efficiency, cost-effective procurement, spending and everything in between.
- Part 4 explains how to use data from public servant surveys to better understand how public sector organisations work and measure the quality of management. It also offers an overview of the latest research into how to design and implement these surveys as effectively as possible.
- Part 5 turns to external assessments — including household and citizen surveys, measures of service delivery and anthropological studies — to show how these data sources offer a richer overall picture of government processes and outcomes.
Become a Government Analytics Fellow
Scaling up the analysis of government data is crucial for a deeper understanding of public administration and a stronger and better government. If you are interested in spearheading government analytics work in your organisation or your government as a whole, please apply to become a Government Analytics Fellow. We are keen to train you.
The Fellowship is aimed at public servants with the authority to advance a government analytics project in their organisation or government as a whole, such as a senior analyst or department lead with prior statistical training. The core of the Fellowship is a two-week training course in May–June in Washington DC at the World Bank, with expenses — travel, accommodation, meals — covered by the World Bank. The Fellowship includes ongoing in-service support from a team of senior World Bank practitioners and academics over a six-month period to help Fellows develop a government analytics project in their organisation. Selected Fellows will also be invited to present their Government Analytics projects at the CLAD conference in Brasilia in October. If this interests you, please apply and join the data revolution. The closing date for applications — including a letter of support from your organisation — is 31 March.
Government Analytics Fellowship Programme
Done reading? We'd love to hear your thoughts on the transformative power of government analytics. Share your insights by leaving a comment below ⬇️
(Image credit: The World Bank)
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