The state needs an organization to establish standards to enable comparison between public and private datasets, work with State departments to make administrative data available, establish policies and guidelines for data management and sharing, and  provide leadership to overcome obstacles to achieving a federated data system. A fully funded Commonwealth Center for Data within the state administration would function as a critical component to a statewide data infrastructure, enabling data to inform public policy, planning, and evaluation.

The Commonwealth Center for Data should coordinate with other existing data intermediaries such as MassGIS, UMass State Data Center and Regional Planning Agencies. Lead by the Commonwealth Center for Data, these organizations would work together to take advantage of data resources offered by Federal agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor, and Federal Geographic Data Committee as well as to provide local knowledge to improve the accuracy of all federal administrative and survey data about Massachusetts.

The Commonwealth Center for Data would be critical in addressing the various barriers to data collection and use illustrated by the “top ten most wanted data sets”, including confidentiality concerns, lack of standards across data sets, and a lack of accountability. The Governor needs to designate one organization and work with the legislature to fund them consistently.

8.a    The Governor, MassGIS, UMass Donahue Institute, and the Interagency Consortium for Population Statistics (ICPS) should undertake a strategic planning process to create and fund a Commonwealth Center for Data

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