Accountability behind performance management initiative

The town of Yarmouth’s government transparency site:
yarmouthma.opengov.com/transparency

The Cape Cod Commission and Barnstable County signed a three-year contract with OpenGov to implement a cloud-based performance management solution.

Performance management software allows communities to track and measure financial accountability and set benchmarks. The public-facing side of the OpenGov platform also provides for transparency in how money is collected, allocated and spent.

Six towns have signed on for the first year – Yarmouth, Sandwich, Mashpee, Falmouth, Chatham and Brewster – and additional towns can be brought on during the term of the contract. Provincetown has expressed interest in joining this year.

The Commission is also working with Barnstable County’s finance department to implement the OpenGov platform for the regional government.

The Town of Yarmouth recently went live with its data portal through OpenGov, yarmouthma.opengov.com/transparency. The site offers current and historical budget, salary and transactions data. These are updated in real time through the town’s accounting software. The “transactions” feature allows any user to track where and with whom the town spends money.

For the software to work, it needs data. The contract with OpenGov provides for coordination of the data collection, along with assistance from the Commission. In most cases, towns already have the information and it’s a matter of correctly connecting it to the platform.

The program is subsidizing the implementation costs and a portion of the annual licensing through District Local Technical Assistance funds. DLTA funds are distributed to regional planning agencies for technical assistance grants.

OpenGov was selected by a team of town and regional officials after an open bidding process