{
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    "title" : "Our New Center for Enhanced Analytics |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Our New Center for Enhanced Analytics",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/22/our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Our New Center for Enhanced Analytics","summary" : "Analytics and “big data” seem to be the next frontier in a number of arenas. Data researchers can use the large, real-time data sets that are available today to facilitate scientific discovery, improve the flow of traffic, and increase energy efficiency, among many other things. Last year, the White House appointed the first federal Chief","date" : "2016-09-22T11:00:55-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"gao-watchblog" : "GAO WatchBlog"},"topics" : {
        
            "analytics" : "Analytics",
            "open-data" : "Open data"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2016-09-22-our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/09/2016-09-22-our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/09/2016-09-22-our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/09/2016-09-22-our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics.md","slug" : "our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/09/22/our-new-center-for-enhanced-analytics/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eAnalytics and “\u003ca href=\"https://blog.gao.gov/2015/03/10/big-data-101-using-large-scale-data-mining-to-find-fraud/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ebig data\u003c/a\u003e” seem to be the next frontier in a number of arenas. Data researchers can use the large, real-time data sets that are available today to facilitate scientific discovery, improve the flow of traffic, and increase energy efficiency, among many other things. \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/04/600-x-395-Group-of-Business-People-in-Office-Building-data-statistics-metrics-on-tablet-Robert-Churchill-iStock-Thinkstock-469780051.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Group of Business People in an Office Building, with statistical data seen on a tablet in the foreground\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast year, the White House appointed the first federal Chief Data Scientist. And a few months ago, the federal government released a strategy for big data research and development. Also, numerous initiatives are under way across federal agencies to both release data sets for public use and better use data to manage federal programs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor years, GAO’s skilled \u003ca href=\"https://blog.gao.gov/2014/10/29/introducing-gaos-technical-chiefs/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003etechnical staff\u003c/a\u003e has provided insights into large data sets that support our work. We have also built up our \u003ca href=\"https://blog.gao.gov/2016/05/18/science-and-technology-at-gao/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ein-house science and technology expertise\u003c/a\u003e. Now, with the increasing use of data across both the public and private sectors, we have established our Center for Enhanced Analytics.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"keeping-us-cutting-edge\"\u003eKeeping us cutting edge\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur new Center for Enhanced Analytics has 4 primary goals:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eenhance access to data sources\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eassess, customize, and help deploy new technologies\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003epromote novel analytic approaches\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003estrengthen analytical skills\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of these goals are focused on making sure we have the data and analytics we need to support \u003ca href=\"http://gao.gov/about/products/?utm_source=blog\u0026utm_medium=social\u0026utm_campaign=watchblog\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eour work\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough the center itself is new, we have long used a variety of analytical approaches to conduct our work. For example, we analyzed a TSA program to determine how much of a \u003ca href=\"http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-159?utm_source=blog\u0026utm_medium=social\u0026utm_campaign=watchblog\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eflight safety risk\u003c/a\u003e each air travel passenger is, and established that the program was not based on sound evidence. In another case, we found that a Department of Transportation program meant to determine the likelihood of \u003ca href=\"http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-114?utm_source=blog\u0026utm_medium=social\u0026utm_campaign=watchblog\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ecommercial truck crashes\u003c/a\u003e relied too heavily on events that didn’t happen often enough to be useful. We have also conducted numerous analyses of \u003ca href=\"http://www.gao.gov/key_issues/medicare_payment_management_integrity/issue_summary?utm_source=blog\u0026utm_medium=social\u0026utm_campaign=watchblog\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eMedicare payment policies\u003c/a\u003e to identify challenges the program faces in payment methods, program management, and safeguards.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur new Center will allow us to continue such work and do even more of it. According to Center Director Vijay D’Souza, “Analytics is a core component of our audit capabilities, but equally important to our work is our ability to evaluate the quality of the underlying data used in the analyses. An analysis can only be as good as the data it relies on.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn future years, we are hoping to improve our capabilities so that we can analyze even larger data sets. We are also increasing the use of text analysis. This would allow us to look for key phrases, matches, and similarities in unstructured data—such as large text documents—to help identify patterns, such as those that might indicate potential fraud or \u003ca href=\"https://blog.gao.gov/2014/08/14/what-exactly-are-improper-payments/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eimproper payments\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can look forward to seeing the results of all of our work on \u003ca href=\"http://www.gao.gov/?utm_source=blog\u0026utm_medium=social\u0026utm_campaign=watchblog\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eour website\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eQuestions on the content of this post? Contact Vijay D’Souza via \u003ca href=\"mailto:Dsouzav@gao.gov\"\u003eemail\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThis post was originally published on the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) blog, \u003ca href=\"https://blog.gao.gov/\"\u003eWatchBlog\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}