TEA Winner: Franklin County Auditor Fiscal Division, Ohio
- Industry: County
- Location: Franklin County, Ohio
- Number of Employees: 130
- Population: 1.3 million
- Tyler Client Since: 2013
- Tyler solutions used: Enterprise ERP [powered by Munis®], Content Manager, Enterprise Assessment & Tax [powered by iasWorld®], Enterprise Jury Manager, Open Finance
Challenge
Franklin County was faced with the challenge of increasing the efficiency of its responses to public records requests for financial data. Franklin County’s process for responding to requests was a labor-intensive task, which involved manual creation of reports.
“Franklin County was seeking a better way to provide access to information on county expenditures and payroll data,” says Michael Stinziano, Franklin County auditor. “Regular requests for this data from constituents used up valuable staff time.”
To meet constituent needs and optimize efficiency, Franklin County sought to:
- Provide the public with a user-friendly website that makes finance data more accessible
- Increase staff efficiency by reducing time previously spent on generating reports
Solution
“We asked, ‘Is there a way that we could respond to public records requests faster and simpler, eliminating as many steps for staff as possible and get the public what they needed?’” explains Stinziano.
To meet its public records request challenges, Franklin County, which uses Tyler’s Enterprise ERP, established parameters for selecting a solution. The county sought a solution that would:
- Increase responsiveness to the public
- Save staff time
- Be accessible, open, and transparent
“We surveyed what was available, and with the great partnership with Tyler, we were able to identify a tool (Tyler’s Open Finance) that was going to be able to meet the office’s needs,” says Stinziano.
The county used Open Finance in a new user-friendly website that has made finance data far more accessible and searchable for the public. Open Finance organizes Tyler ERP financial data into a highly consumable, interactive, contextualized visual interface as a way to meet the public’s need to understand government finances.
Results
The deployment of the county’s Open Finance site has enabled county staff to increase efficiency by reducing time previously spent generating reports in response to public records requests. The county’s user-friendly, visibly appealing Open Finance website allows the public easy access to public records. Instead of making public records requests, the public can now compare and review public expenditures on the county’s user-friendly website at their convenience.
The Open Finance website has made information far more accessible and searchable. It greatly enhances the public’s ability to drill down from type of expenditure, vendor, fund, or agency and provides many more angles of reporting to shed light on how the county uses its resources.
“Our goal is always to work smarter, not harder,” says Stinziano. “We do our best to find tools and resources that provide the information the public wants while not overutilizing staff time. Implementation of Open Finance has freed up staff to work on other priorities, allowing for good stewardship of tax dollars.”
Finally, the technology has also provided transparency and helped to connect Franklin County’s community.
The county regularly receives positive feedback from the public, media, and good government organizations for the transparency the website provides.
“Open Finance helped connect our community by improving access to the records and information individuals were looking for,” says Stinziano. “This provides them the ability to access data at their convenience.”