Governments have never suffered from a lack of data. In fact, one could argue that, historically, they have suffered from an excess of data, much of which was rarely used. Some countries maintained large warehouses for storing this information for the period specified by law or regulation. This information included personnel records of employees, court records, tax records, benefit eligibility records and more.

The potential value of this data was recognized by some many years ago but it was very difficult to extract that value with the tools of that time.

Governments are now using computer technology to capture and harvest this data and extract value from it. However, more can be done to apply it to agency missions.

This paper explains data-driven government and challenges related to it. It outlines a way forward in the journey to a data-driven government.