SANDWICH – The Town of Sandwich is the latest Cape Cod community to partner with OpenGov.
The government performance management software is designed to increase communication and effectiveness between town departments and provide more transparency for citizens.
Finance Director Mimi Spahr says the town can upload financial data which can then be viewed as charts or graphs.
“What’s really so cool about it is that it allows you to dump in a ton of data and you can use it for decision making,” Spahr said.
The easy-to-use, cloud-based platform features products for budgeting, reporting, operational performance and open data.
The town activated OpenGov last week and a link to the information can be found at sandwichmass.org or by clicking here.
Along with town departments using the platform to ease the access of information, it can also be used by residents to increase civic engagement.
“My hope is that the residents go online, look in OpenGov, look at the data, and then if they have questions that they ask those questions,” Spahr said.
The town features six different reports on OpenGov.
“Some of the information is similar. Some of it is shown on a monthly level. Some of it is shown in aggregate for the entire fiscal year,” Spahr said. “I think each user will have their own specific interest.”
Sandwich Town Manager Bud Dunham said he is pleased the new initiative has been rolled out.
“It will greatly enhance our ability to communicate with, and present transparent information, to Sandwich taxpayers,” Dunham said.
The town is the sixth on Cape Cod to join more than 1,600 city, county and state governments, special districts and schools to use OpenGov.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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