Government Open DataUnderstand the benefits and manage the risks

Australia’s capacity to remain competitive in the digital economy is contingent upon its ability to harness the value of data. Publishing appropriately anonymised government data will stimulate innovation and enable economic outcomes.The Australian Government commits to optimise the use and reuse of public data; to release non sensitive data as open by default; and to collaborate with the private and research sectors to extend the value of public data for the benefit of the Australian public.

- Australian Government Public Data Policy Statement, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, December 2015

Government Open Data is transforming many aspects of our lives. It is enabling governments to better connect with their citizens, leverage new trends in technology, and improve transparency and accountability.

Numerous studies have underscored the benefits when data is opened up safely. Governments around the world are introducing new mandates and policies to encourage government agencies to open up more data in a safe manner. In Australia this is been evidenced by the Public Data Mandate issued by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2015, the landmark Inquiry into Use and Availability of Public Data by the Productivity Commission in 2017, the establishment of grass roots ‘civic hacktivism’ competitions such as GovHack, and most recently, the announcement for funding to establish a ‘National Data Commissioner’.

However, in an era of high profile data breaches, and heightened concerns around security and privacy – government data custodians have significant concerns when looking at opening up data. These concerns have been compounded by recent high-profile incidents involving the release of data – such as the de-anonymisation of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data that was released in 2017.

The fear of the unknown, particularly with new technology, can stifle innovation and dampen potential benefits that are on offer. If the risks are conflated or misunderstood – resulting in a lack of action – then broader benefits such as innovation and economic growth, government performance, and transparency and citizen engagement may be missed.

This paper will shed some light on the potential risks that Government agencies face when opening their data. The first part of this paper will introduce Government Open Data. It will outline what Government Open Data is, where it is going, and some of the benefits it offers. The second part will outline five core risks that agencies should take into consideration when planning to release data.

Introduction

Government Data includes all data that is collected by government agencies. This includes data about the physical world (such as weather or the environment); data on activities undertaken by government (such as education, criminal justice, or budgeting); or data on citizens’ interactions with government (such as tax records, licence and permit information or births and health).

Government Open Data is the subset of both Government Data, and Open Data. As depicted in the diagram above.

Open Data is data that is:

• Available online

• Open-licensed

• Machine-readable

• Available in bulk

• Free of charge

What is Government Open Data?

Common domains of Government Open Data

Definition: Open Data is defined as data that is: provided in a machine-readable format that anyone can access, use, or share.

Government Open Data is an emerging field. Each year significantly more data has been opened up and this trend only looks set to continue into the future. To date, open data has been released predominantly from domains (or sections) of government where the underlying data has the lowest inherent risk.

The following diagram depicts a scale of data types, and examples – along a spectrum of inherent risk in opening up that data. Lowest risk data includes macroeconomic statistics (i.e. it does not include personal information, and is already standardised). On the other end of the spectrum, high risk data includes personally identifiable unit record

Government Data Open DataGovernmentOpen Data

data, or data that is commercial-in-confidence.

Examples of domains of government Open Data that have been opened up include company registrations, crime locations and types, education, employment, environment, government process (such as the vote on same sex marriage, or budgeting information) health, science, research, trade, and welfare.

Suitability and risk ofdifferent data types

Unit record, personally identifiable, commercial in confidence

Data type Examples

Activity identifiable

Less aggregated, non - identifiable, geo-spatial

Aggregated, publicly disclosed

Linked tax and transfer payments

data

Raw census data, medical records,

customer transactions

De-identified census data,

environmental data

Macroeconomic statistics, public

infrastructure, regulatory

requirements

High inherent risk

Low inherent risk

We are seeing massive growth in data across the world. Open Data, like many things related to data, is growing at an exponential rate. This growth is driven by both technological and non-technological factors.

The technological factors are well known. These include the exponential growth in computer processing power and storage availability, smart devices, the Internet Of Things, cloud computing, and software that makes extracting value from data easier – (whether it is transformation, storage, or visualisation).

The non-technological factors include increased co-ordination between government entities, philanthropic funding of several thought leadership and advocacy bodies (such as GovLab based in NYC, the Open Data Institute and the Open Knowledge Foundation based in the UK), and the growth of grass roots and community based technology groups – such as Tech Meetups, Code For America, the Internet Society and others.

Drivers underpinning growth in Open Data

Current state

90% of the world’s data was generated in just the past two years- IBM, 2016

Consistent findings show the following:

1. Wealthier countries have more open data - there is a stark difference in the level of open data provided by poorer countries in Africa and Asia, compared to the worlds wealthiest countries (as measured by GDP).

2. Data on Economics and Finance has been opened up more than Social or Environmental Data - this is partially due to the lack of the standardisation.

3. Australia is not leading the pack – although Australia is ahead of many global aggregate averages, it is behind many of its peers. The

following diagram shows countries that ranked ahead of Australia in the 2017 Open Data Inventory by Open Data Watch.

Although Australia has opened up more government data recently, it falls behind countries such as Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Mexico in the Open Data Inventory 2017 Benchmarking Exercise

International benchmarking studies, including the Open Data Barometer, Open Data Inventory, and studies by the UN and OECD have all attempted to measure the depth and breadth of open data across countries around the world.

Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (2015)

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25

20

15

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Years Forecast >

Overall

2017 - The Productivity Commission Released its Inquiry Report titled ‘Data Availability and its Use’. This Inquiry received over 200 submissions and has recommendations, including the establishment of a National Data Ombudsman, new legislation to enable data sharing, and a framework for the identification and treatment of National Interest Datasets.

2016 & 2017 – Funding announced for Data61 to work on a series of projects that will make open data easier to find, and provide tools to address some of the risks associated with sensitive or private data. Funding also provided support for the development of interagency data sharing hubs, such as the Data Integration Partnership for Australia (DIPA).

2016 - Australia submitted its first two year National Action Plan to the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The OGP is a partnership of more than 70 countries. It is a set of commitments ranging across seven themes of commitments including public participation, government integrity, freedom of information, fiscal transparency, public service delivery, extractive resources transparency, and open data.

2015 - The Prime Minister announced the Public Data mandate “At a minimum Australian Government entities will publish appropriately anonymised government data by default”.

Productivity Commission Inquiry into Public Data Released

Gov allocation from PSMF for data integration projects

ANDS Guide to De-Identification

Data61 – De-Identification Decision Making Framework Released

Australian Innovation System Report (Industry)

Data Integration Partnership (DIPA)

Public Data Implementation Report (PMC)

Australia submitted its National Action Plan to the Open Government Partnership (OGP)

Review of Australia’s Longitudinal Data System

Open Data 500 Report (ACMA)

First Govhack

Prime Minister Public Data Policy Statement

Creation of Data61 / CSIRO

Multi Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP)

PMC - Public Sector Management Report

Murray Inquiry into costs and benefits of data sharing

McKinsey Study into economic benefits

Principles for Data Integration – CPSIC (Health and ABS)

Gov 2.0 Taskforce (Finance) on Public Data Recommendations 2009

2010

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Timeline of major events / publications in Australia

Initiatives by the Australian Government

The Australian Government has recently launched several initiatives targeted to improve the leveraging of Open Data (and public data in general).

Open Data is becoming increasingly important to Australia. This is reflected in the increased attention given to Open Data by the Australian Government. Changes in the near term will impact Data Custodians - such as the recommendations outlined in the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Data Availability and its Use.

“Open data has the potential to add more than USD $3 trillion to the Global Economy

- Open data: Unlocking innovation and performance with liquid information McKinsey, 2013

“...more vigorous open data policies could add around AUD $16billion per annum to the Australian economy...”- Open for Business: How Open Data Can Help Achieve the G20 Growth Target, 2014

“...drive efficiency and safety, create productivity gains and allow better decisions.”

Productivity Commission Inquiry into Public Data (2017)

By appropriately opening up Government Data – Government agencies are helping Australia remain competitive and innovative, they are also helping to make individual citizens lives easier and more convenient.

Government Open Data provides

benefits that fall into the following categories.

1. Improves Citizen’s Everyday lives - from transport (Google maps), to weather forecasts, through to research on which school to send children to, or information on real estate.

2. Fosters Innovation - there are many example of government Open Data fueling start-ups or allowing established businesses to innovate.

3. Improves Government Performance - Government agencies spend millions of dollars each year responding to freedom of information (FOI) requests. Where this data can be opened up it reduces transaction costs and improve efficiency.

4. Strengthens Democracy (Transparency and Accountability) - Studies have shown a strong link between Transparency and Performance. Transparency can be an antidote to corruption, and can also strengthen Accountability.

These benefits have been outlined in countless studies and research pieces by thought leaders over the past 10 years -

a small sample are provided as follows.

The promised benefits

Seek new business opportunitiesEnable new businesses

DriveInnovation

Convenience:Weather transport Property search etc

Individuals’everyday lives

FOI reduced red tape New data insight

Improved decision making

Governmentperformance

TransparencyAccountability

Democracy

Examples of Government Open Data (1/2)

Building an interface on Open Data - Google Maps

Powerful storytelling and analysis - NY Times

Real time Car Park Availability - City of Melbourne

Government Budgets - USA Facts

Google has taken public transport data, combined it with other data and presented in a user friendly interface.

For individuals, planning has never been easier. Google gains valuable data that can then be shared with new apps, or fed back to government to assist with infrastructure planning and maintenance.

https://maps.google.com

The saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is an understatement of what is possible with Open Data. A recent example, the NY Times published an interactive map, which presented hundreds of thousands of demographic data points on an interactive map.

Viewers are able to quickly see relationships and patterns between social indicators such as race, income, and education.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/07/world/europe/france-election-results-maps.html

Melbourne City Council installed inground sensors below 4300 on-street public car parking spots. The data gathered from its sensors are updated every two minutes and made available as Open Data. Commuters looking for carparks can see where available spots are – no more driving around ‘hoping’ to find a free spot.

https://data.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Transport-Movement/On-street-Parking-Bay-Sensors/vh2v-4nfs

By opening up government fiscal information in a machine readable format it allows others to build powerful interactive visualisation of the data, making it more accessible. A great example is USA Facts.

USA Facts supports both transparency and accessibility, which are fundamental planks of democracy.

https://usafacts.org/

Examples of Government Open Data (2/2)

Providing weather data for forecasters and news outlets

Transport Data - Savings of over £130m a year

Saving lives - Responding to victims of cardiac arrest

Understanding where speeding fines are issued

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has a network of sensors that collect data on rain, wind, temperature, humidity, UV, waves, and other environmental aspects. By opening up this data, BOM allows third parties to reuse this data in forecasts and new updates – benefitting more consumers, and helping BOM achieve some of its underlying goals.

http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/index.shtml

Transport for London has provided access to more than 80 data feeds through a free unified API, allowing third party developers to build innovative apps and help consumers find the most efficient journey. Benefits from this have included; saved time for passengers, increased patronage (through better information to plan journeys), commercial opportunities for third party developers, and collecting crowdsourced data through partnerships with major customer-facing technology providers.

https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/open-data-users/

In the USA there are approximately 1,000 cardiac arrests each day. Each minute it takes government emergency responders to travel to a vicitim, the chance of that victim dying increases by 10%. By providing a channel between those at risk of cardiac arrest and volunteers trained in CPR, the Pulsepoint app has saved hundreds of lives. Both the citizens and government agencies (emergency responders) benefit from this app.

http://www.pulsepoint.org/tag/open-data/

By combining local government datasets, and then providing an interactive visualisation layer, it is possible to quickly communicate where speeding fines have been issued. This example can be of benefit to drivers who tend to speed. However, if this data could be combined with further data (such as speeding sensors) the government could then target where to place mobile speeding vans.

https://public.tableau.com/profile/neil.dawson#!/vizhome/SpeedCameras/SpeedCameras

Risks

There are three groupings of stakeholders that play a key role within a highly functioning Government Open Data ecosystem. Each of these stakeholder groups have a unique profile when it comes to the benefits and risks of Open Data.

1. Central and coordinating government agencies. These agencies setup and communicate open data mandates, establish supporting infrastructure, including technology, legislation, and training.

2. Government Data Custodians. These agencies collect, and are custodians of, government data. Most government agencies are custodians.

3. All non-government entities that consume and benefit from Open Data – these organisations include non-profits, for profits, and individual citizens.

This paper will touch on the following key risks faced by data custodians:

1. Risk of reidentification

2. Release of data that is poor quality

3. Release of classified or sensitive data

4. Embarrasing data

5. Risk of lack of return on investment

Role

Central GovernmentAgencies

Government Data Custodians

Citizens and intermediaries

Whole of Government Strategy and Mandates

Prioritise, Prepare and share data

Consume data and provide feedback

Innovation, Economic Growth

Innovation, Decision making, reduced red tape

Advocacy, convenience, and innovation

Indirect - National Security and Citizen Privacy

Breaches of security, privacy, release of embarassing data

Reliance on poor data

Opportunities

Risks

Datasets with unit record level data often provide the highest value to researchers.

However, there are heavy restrictions on what can be done with unit record level data, especially when this data relates to people. There are multiple legislative and principle based frameworks that underpin what unit data can be used for. In Australia the Privacy Act and the Privacy Principles are two such frameworks that need to be complied with when releasing data.

Agencies can adopt several approaches to work around this problem:

• Aggregate the data, and only share aggregated data

• De-identify the data – by transforming / removing / hashing / encrypting the key data fields that can be used to identify the individuals

• Creation of ‘synthetic’ data sets - either scrambling real data or modifying individual records while maintaining the statistical parameters of the original dataset (including defining elements such as nulls and noise).

Although there are approaches to reduce the chance that data can used to identify individuals (and compromise their privacy) – a risk of ‘re-identification’ still remains.

Risk 1 : Risk of Reidentification

What to do:

There are thorough frameworks that can be leveraged to assess and manage these risks. A recommended framework is the ‘The De-Identification Decision-Making Framework’ developed in conjunction with Data61, and recently published by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Noteworthy principles outlined in this these frameworks include:

• Only release useful data – if data is not useful, it is not worth taking a risk over

• Zero risk is not a realistic possibility. There will always be some element of risk

• Measures put in place to manage risk should be proportional to the risk

• To understand whether deidentified data is safe to release, it is necessary to look outside that data

Some examples of reidentification:

• Case study 1: 2017, Australia – shortly after a deidentified sample of data from the Medicare Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) was released, researchers from Melbourne University were able to re-identify the data and uncover private data. This high- profile case demonstrated the risks with deidentification.

• Case study 2: 2014, USA – NYC Taxi drivers. 173m taxi trips were released as open data. But ‘hashing’ of medallion numbers failed. Subsequently, all driver addresses and details were able to be identified.

The De-Identification Decision-Making Framework Christine M O’Keefe, Stephanie Otorepec,

Mark Elliot, Elaine Mackey and Kieron O’Hara

18 September 2017

Data situation audit

1. Describe your data situation2. Understand your legal responsibilities3. Know your data4. Understand the use case5. Meet your ethical obligators

Risk analysis and control 6. Identify the processes you will need to assess disclosure risk7. Identify the disclosure control processes that are relevant to your data situation

Impact management8. Identify who your stakeholders are and plan how you will communicate9. Plan what happens next once you have shared or released the data10. Plan what you will do if things go wrong

Releasing bad quality data can be a bad look for the agency and can be misleading for users.

There is no universally accepted definition of what is meant by ‘data quality’. The Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK) has several descriptions of what is meant by data quality. Most of these definitions align with seven themes presented in The Data Quality Framework established by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, summarised in the following diagram:

Risk 2 : Release of data that is poor quality

What to do:

Firstly understand the quality of the data that the agency has that might be earmarked for release. Where it is deemed that data quality is lacking and that data is not ready to be released, understand the costs and benefits of improving the quality of this data. Broadly, there are two types of actions that can improve data quality:

Preventative actions – Catching bad data as early as possible in the data lifecycle. This can be more cost effective over the long run. Examples are: Data entry controls; training for data producers; data ‘firewall’ to define and enforce rules; demanding and enforcing high quality data from suppliers; and implementing appropriate data governance and stewardship

Corrective actions –

Correcting data after it has been collected. These actions can be time and energy intensive and not feasible in the longer term. These include rule base standardisation, normalisation, and manual corrections (i.e. cleansing and transformation).

What to do:

The Information Security Manual (ISM), and the Protective Security

Policy Framework (PSPF) are essential reference guides for the subject of

Open Data.

Releasing classified or sensitive data is a major risk and can result in severe consequences. It may be treated as a criminal act, and result in security vulnerabilities for Australia. The mandate for Open Government Data does not include classified or sensitive Data.

There are established frameworks in place for classification and treatment of sensitive data such as The Information Security Manual (ISM), and the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF).

Risk 3 : Release of classified or sensitive data

Theme Description

Institutional Environment Context within which the data is used

Relevance Relevance to users of that data

Timeliness Data is provided when it is needed

Accuracy The underlying phenomena is accurately measured

Coherence The data can be combined with other data, or used over time

Interpretability Supplementary information (i.e. metadata) used to interpret the data

Accessibility The ease with which information can be obtained

There is a risk that released data can be embarrassing to an agency or individual, even when that released data is of high quality, and does not include any classified or private unit level data.

For example, the data could be misunderstood, misinterpreted, reveal gaps in performance, poor allocation or prioritisation of resources, or be used in a political context.

Risk 4 : Embarrassing data

What to do:

An agency’s approach to the risk of releasing embarrassing data will be shaped by the political environment and culture of the agency. By endorsing and preparing for feedback, an agency can help turn this risk into an opportunity. Key components of feedback include the following:

• Feedback is easy and fast to give (i.e. on the dataset itself)

• Clearly identify and communicate who the providers of data are, and any feedback mechanisms that exist

• Be responsive to feedback and use it to demonstrate an effective and learning organisation

A high profile example of an agency releasing embarrassing data was uncovered by a citizen journalist in NYC in 2016. Ben Wellington was looking through some recently released Government Open Data from the NYC Department of Finance when he noticed some outliers in a dataset of parking fines. Ben noticed that a handful of car park locations were generating a disproportionate level of the overall fines. Ben sensed that something was not quite right, and went to see these carparks in person. He then discovered that parking tickets had been issued incorrectly by parking inspectors and wrote about this on his blog (www.iquantny.com).

Ben’s blog quickly gained a lot of attention. It even made it to some international news outlets such as BBC. The Department of Finance, compelled to act, investigated

Case study: Open Data Revealing the Incorrect Issuing of Millions of Dollars of Parking Tickets in NYC

what led to incorrect tickets and found that the training of parking inspectors had deficiencies. The Department rectified this training, and responded to Ben’s blog.

This is an example that underlines the potential of Open Data. By releasing data openly, external parties can look at it and reveal new insights. In this circumstance the Department of Finance responded to the findings and improved their operations.

For most agencies, data release will require some effort. However, this effort is only worthwhile if some positive impact eventuates. Some of the most substantial factors that can impede impact include:

1. Data release prioritisation – releasing data that required additional effort to prepare for release, and that is not of high value. This could include a mismatch in the supply of data to the data in demand.

2. Data awareness –Efforts to prepare and release data can only bear fruit when that data is easy to access and use.

3. Data currency – The utility and value of certain types of data is tied to when that data is made available. For example data on stock prices or current alerts around a natural disaster have most value.

Risk 5 : Risk of lack of return of investment

What to do:

These issues are well documented and there are plenty of available resources to address each of these factors. There are also expert consultants who can provide guidance.

The following sources are recommended for better practice frameworks or thought leadership:

• The Open Data Institute

• Open Knowledge International

• GovLab

• The International Open Data Charter

• The Australian Government Open Data Toolkit

• The Open Government Partnership

Understanding risks and benefits - a good starting point

Curent considerations

Government Open Data is still a developing field. Data custodians have varying levels of maturity and motivations to open up more of their data. Regardless of where any agency stands, there are some worthwhile and related considerations.

Data Assets • Do I understand the data that my agency has? • What the data is? • Who is responsible for managing it? • The quality of that data? • Do I have an effective data asset register?

Data Value • Do I understand the potential value of that data if it was made open? • Who might benefit from using that data? Is it in the public interest? • Do I have data that could likely be identified as a ‘Dataset of National Interest?’ • How can I prepare for the potential creation of a National Data Custodian?

Data Risks • Have I properly understood any risks or challenges that are associated with opening up data? • What are the common pitfalls that I can seek to avoid?

Data Government and Management • How mature is my organisation with regards to Data Governance and Management? • Do I need to make changes to leverage data and achieve my organisational objectives?

Future considerations

Changes resulting from Productivity Commission Inquiry • What potential changes in the policy and legislative framework may impact my organisation? • How do the recommendations from the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Use of Public Data impact me?

Leveraging leading research • Can I leverage the research efforts of Data61, and potentially partner with Data61 in solving some of my challenges around Government Open Data? • What research are Universities and leading Non-profit organisations undertaking and how can I leverage these? (for example GovLab, the Open Data Institute, and Open Knowledge International).

Leveraging related major government initiatives • Are there any learnings from the major intra-agency data sharing projects such as DIPA that I can leverage? • What are other parts of government looking at? For example data standardization, data dictionaries and data ontologies?

Changes in relation around Privacy and Data Protection • How will the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR in Europe) and the data Australian Data breach legislation impact me? • What about the new Data Sharing Legislation that has been proposed to reduce privacy related barriers to what agencies can do with data?

Leading practices • What are leading government agencies and jurisdictions around the world doing? • Who has best leveraged Government Open Data? • What lessons do they have that I can learn from?

This paper has touched on benefits and key risks that government agencies face when looking to open up the data they are custodians of. Understanding these benefits and risks can help inform a view on which datasets are worthy of further consideration. Data that is both low risk and is high value should be given priority consideration to be opened up. An agency looking to strengthen its understanding of the benefits and risks of government open data, needs to consider more than the existing data sets. Some important related considerations are listed below.

2. Current

State

3. TargetState

1.Context &

Scope

Why is Open Data important for our

organisation?

What are our organisation’s strength and weaknesses?

Which areas do we want to improve

and why?

How do we get to the target state?

What did we learn and how can we

monitor/self-assess in the future?

Phas

eFo

cus

Our Open Data Maturity Assessment Approach is flexible and extends upon leading frameworks

4. Action

Plan

5.Reporting &knowledge

transfer

Release Process(Data)

Standardisation(Data)

Governance(Data)

Expertise(Capability)

Knowledge Mgmt(Capability)

External(Engagement)

Guidance(Engagement)

Data Assets(Strategic)

Open Data Strategy(Strategic)

Financial(Strategic)

PC Inquiry (Future Prep)

Privacy (Future Prep)

TargetCurrent

3

5

2

1

0

4

Suggested next steps

Six areas to be considered in an Open Data Maturity Assessment include:

1. Data Management – inherent data risks, process of release, governance, standards

2. Capability – Existing skills, knowledge management

3. Engagement – External engagement, support, metadata

4. Financial Management – Understanding of whole of data lifecycle costs and benefits

5. Strategic Oversight – Linkage with broader data policies and management

6. Future Preparation – Proposed New National Interest Data, Privacy Legislation, Whole of Government Data Governance

Next Steps

1. Connect with us

2. Scoping meeting - where we will identify stakeholders and outline potential project plans

3. The assessment will typically take 3-6 weeks to complete. It will include workshops, surveys and interviews

4. The assessment will finish with the delivery of a final report. A presentation workshop is available if needed

Our Open Data Maturity Assessment Approach is flexible and extends upon leading frameworks

Example - Ratings from an Open Data Maturity Assessment

• Timing - An Open Data Maturity Assessment can usually be completed within 3-6 weeks

• Key activities - Agency staff will be required for a mix of workshops, surveys and interviews

• Stand alone - Assessment can be performed as a stand alone exercise

Government data custodians need to be prepared for future changes. A recommended approach to prepare for future changes is to undertake an Open Data Maturity Assessment. This assessment will consider all facets key to an organisation’s approach to Open Data and can be used to understand any key deficiencies, and to plan out a desired future state.

• Full knowledge transfer - Is embedded in our approach

• Future self assessments- We can setup future self assessments if required

About Julian Singh

Julian has a unique combination of technology evangelist with experience in major government projects and risk management. He is an adviser to the Wikimedia Foundation Audit Committee, and Open Knowledge Australia. Julian has been the guest speaker at chapter events held by ISACA, and DAMA, and has authored a book on Government Open Data. He has an MBA, nine years experience with a ‘Big 4’ consulting firm and six years with two startups in Australia, the UK, and the USA.

About Synergy

Synergy has proven professional services capabilities, with a specialisation in strategy, digital, data, and knowledge management. Synergy has over 190 consultants based in Canberra, providing a broad, flexible and experienced resource pool that can be drawn upon as needed.

Contact

Julian SinghP: +61 490 813 554E: jsingh@synergygroup.net.au SynergyP: +61 2 6260 7477E: partners@synergygroup.net.auW: www.synergygroup.net.au

The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.

© 2018 Synergy Group Australia Ltd. All rights reserved.

May 7, 2018