Analytics

Using Data Analytics to Counter Fraud: New York State Tax Case Study

This is the second blog in a three-part series exploring smarter counter fraud. “Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.” This quixotic statement from American economist and political philosopher Thomas Cooper praises honesty and fair play, while promising that the system will catch those who try to manipulate it. But in reality, Cooper’sRead… Read more »

Big Data and Positive Deviance

The triple aim continues to be the focus of payment and delivery reform. Predictive analytics and big data are poised to make an impact in achieving the triple aim. Recently, there has been interest in connecting predictive analytics with other tools to amplify impact in lowering costs, improving quality, and improving population health. Furthermore, itRead… Read more »

To Face New Threats, We Need New Ways of Thinking

This is the first blog in a three part series exploring smarter counter fraud. Technologies such as cloud computing, mobility, and web-based transactions have become pervasive in our private lives. For many of us, we are now demanding that government embrace those same technologies to create easier engagements, better service and provide information anywhere, anytime.Read… Read more »

Protecting Public Health with Smart Data

From clean water supplies to the polio vaccine, the most effective public health interventions are typically preventive interventions and policies that help stop a crisis before it starts. However, predicting the next public health crisis has historically been a challenge. Thanks to new technologies, we innovate age-old public health workflows and methods of analysis. WeRead… Read more »

Data point for banners/carousels: numbers vs. text for navigating among banners

On April 23, we launched our new home page design (http://www.epa.gov). Among other changes, we reworked our banners at the top. It used to look like this screen shot: To change banners, you clicked the numbers. Heat maps showed that people did use the numbers to move among the banners, and other analytics confirmed peopleRead… Read more »

Geospatial Intel Meets Entity Resolution: The Who, What, When, Where — and Quest for Why

Inspired by the many conversations we had at the recent GEOINT Symposium about how geospatial data can become an ideal pivot point for an entity resolution system, the time is here to transition from When and Where to Who and What –as well as the elusive Why. Eyes On the Earth Geospatial imagery abounds. ThereRead… Read more »

Four Actions to Better Integrate Performance Into Budget Formulation

Reformers have promoted the notion of performance budgeting since it was introduced by the 1949 Hoover Commission. Major initiatives have been attempted and incremental progress has been achieved. But not enough has happened. A Government Accountability Office survey last year reports that the percentage of federal managers saying they used performance information in allocating resourcesRead… Read more »

Collecting Data About Big Data

In true data-geek fashion, we collected some data points about big data during a recent online training. On Thursday, April 10th, GovLoop and Cloudera hosted a virtual training session on leveraging an enterprise data hub (EDH) to solve your most complicated big data problems. An enterprise data hub has the power to place your dataRead… Read more »