ICMA and SAS launch performance analytics tools to help local governments harness the power of Big Data

Increased citizen demands, limited budgets call for better services and technologies.

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Sep 15, 2014, 02:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ICMA today unveiled ICMA Insights™, a new performance management and analytics solution for local governments. Developed by ICMA and its members in partnership with SAS, a leading analytics software developer, ICMA Insights helps communities synthesize data they collect across the services they provide—such as police, fire, trash collection, building permits—to track performance metrics and drive improvements in service delivery.

ICMA Insights™ also offers communities the ability to compare their performance data to other participating jurisdictions using a core set of well-defined measures. ICMA Insights™ is being launched at ICMA's 100th Annual Conference, September 14-17, in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County, N.C.

"It's extremely fitting that as we look ahead to the next 100 years of local government leadership, performance management is front and center," said Bob O'Neill, Executive Director of ICMA. He pointed out that ICMA first addressed performance improvement in local government in 1932 and has been working to advance the state of the art of performance management since that time. "If we can get 2,000 communities in our database, participants can then match their performance against lots of other communities and make evaluations based not only on their own historical performance but against a universe of similar communities."

Paula Henderson, Vice President, SAS State and Local Government Practice, said, "The tremendous growth of local government data demands the use of analytics to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and mitigate risk. Our collaboration with ICMA puts powerful performance management tools in easy reach of local governments, regardless of size or budget."

Tiers of service
Five levels of service are offered to cover a range of community and budget sizes. The tier services range from basic summary statistics and integrated reporting to more advanced customizable graphs, scorecards, dashboards, and performance forecasting. Multiple local user licenses with additional users based on population are also available.

The service includes training modules; a private online network for peer-to-peer discussion; and ICMA-generated research, case studies, and white papers.

Communities can conveniently report, benchmark, and analyze performance using the latest technology employed by Fortune 500 companies but at a fraction of the cost, and results can easily be shared with citizens.

Demonstrations available
Scores of local government leaders will participate in hand-on demonstrations of ICMA Insights™ at the ICMA Annual Conference. Online demonstrations are also available by registering here or visiting icma.org/insightsdemo.

About ICMA
ICMA, the International City/County Management Association, advances professional local government management worldwide. The organization's mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional management to build sustainable communities that improve people's lives. ICMA provides member support; publications; data and information; peer and results-oriented assistance; and training and professional development to 9,500 appointed city, town, and county leaders and other individuals and organizations throughout the world. The management decisions made by ICMA's members affect millions of individuals living in thousands of communities throughout the world, from small villages and towns to large metropolitan areas.

About SAS
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 70,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know^®.

SAS® and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2014 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

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