Guidance for staff report writers

Overview

Staff report writers have an important role to play in their division’s open data efforts, as writers regularly use data to help City Council make informed, data-driven decisions.  

In line with Council’s request (EX22.13), staff report writers should:  

1. Reference relevant open data in reports, where references would support readers’ understanding. See How to reference open data in reports for more.
   
   
2. Flag potential open data in staff reports, to help the City continue to build its open data platform. See How to flag open data in reports for more.
   
   Depending on your division’s needs, identified potential open data in staff reports will be A) prioritized for accelerated publication together with the report or shortly after, OR B) added to a division’s data inventory for consideration during the division’s annual review.

The guidance in this section intends to support staff report writers with the above tasks. Report writers can also get assistance from the Open Data Team or their divisional open data coordinators. Note: many divisions have not yet assigned open data coordinators.  

How to reference open data in reports

If comments in the main body of a report or appendixes summarize information that is also available as open data (on the Toronto Open Data website), report writers should reference the relevant dataset page.  

Referenced open datasets should help the reader learn more about the recommendation or how you arrived at the recommendation. Use this format to reference open data:

Toronto Open Data, “Title of dataset”, Vintage, <URL>, accessed on date 

How to flag open data in reports

If comments and appendixes in a report summarize information drawn from data sources that are not yet available as open data, report writers should:  

1. Use the focus, suitability, and prioritization criteria below and best judgement to identify appropriate and valuable data to be queued for release on the Toronto Open Data platform
   
   
2. Select “Open data implications” in AFS and reach out to the Open Data Team and/or your division’s open data coordinator to accomplish one of the following:  
   
   • Add the data to a “backlog” of potential open datasets, to be addressed when the division has capacity and/or as part of the annual open data publication cycle;
   • OR Create an accelerated plan to design and publish the data as an open dataset, either to be released concurrently with the staff report or after;
   • OR Determine no useful open dataset can be created, given sensitivity concerns. 

On average, the Open Data Team has been able to work with divisions to publish a new dataset in two weeks. See the FAQ How long does it take to publish an open dataset? for more.

Reports to prioritize  

Given the volume of reports that go to standing committees, the Open Data Team recommends that divisions focus initially on:  

• “Hot” and “major/strategic” reports, as these reports consider topics that are of high public interest;

• AND Source data informing these reports that:  
  • Is managed internally by the City – as these datasets tend to be most readily updatable and publishable without data-sharing agreements; 
  • OR Relates to the substance of the report – rather than data that provides added context about the division or program;  
  • OR Is likely to be requested by the public or a City Councilor.   

Criteria to determine data suitability for the Open Data Portal

Divisions should consider opening all suitable data and can contact the Open Data team for help.

To assess whether the raw source data* related to your report is suitable to be queued for addition into the Open Data, consider the following. Suitable data meets all of these criteria:

• Data is related to the substantive topic of the report   
• Data can be modified to safeguard sensitive information  
• Data is owned or managed by a city agency, board, commission, or division  
• Data is not subject to a data-sharing agreement that limits its publication as open data 
• Data will provide value to the public:  
  • Increase Torontonians’ trust in council decision-making   
  • Describe government service delivery and action to address key civic issues   
  • Help residents and businesses better access services and make better decisions   

Criteria to determine whether suitable data should be accelerated for publication

Divisions should consider publishing high priority data together with their staff report. However, depending on division capacity, report context, and general urgency, suitable data can also be added to a division’s “backlog” inventory for consideration during the annual publication cycle.

To assess whether accelerated publication is needed, consider the following. The more criteria are met, the more we would recommend accelerating publication. 

• Data has been (or we reasonably anticipate it will be) requested by a councilor 
• Data has been (or we reasonably anticipate it will be) requested by the public, e.g., through FOI, at consultations, or by other means  
• Data relates to one or more of the City’s corporate strategic priorities 
• Data is already publicly available (e.g., contained in a dashboard or another format on toronto.ca)  
• Data is continuously updated for purposes outside of the Open Data portal  
• Data is available in a format that is easy to publish and will require little effort to update or maintain 
• Data would support or enable socio-demographic analyses (including race, gender and disability)  
• Data is frequently used in the preparation of staff reports  

Contacting the Open Data Team or your division’s open data coordinator

Suitable data should be flagged for your division’s open data coordinator (if your division has one) OR the Open Data Team. The purpose is to log the data for accelerated or future publication.

Consider contacting your division’s open data coordinator first. They can provide advice about the data and manage your division’s “backlog” inventory.

1. Contact your division’s open data coordinator
   
   OR Contact the Open Data Team about suitable data in your report by: 
   • Sending an email to opendata@toronto.ca;
   • OR Creating a JIRA ticket.
     
     
2. Please also mark “open data implications” in AFS. This helps us with tracking.  

Expect that the Open Data Team will reach out to get more information about the potential open dataset and the circumstances surrounding the report.

When divisions notify the Open Data Team about potential open data, our team can help:  

• Assess the suitability of data for the Open Data Portal  
• Estimate the effort involved in opening a dataset that meets publishing standards – and provide language to help councilors understand potential delays  
• Design a dataset that mitigates sensitivity, security, privacy, and other risks  
• Communicate progress on opening the data, including when a dataset has been added to the backlog for future work  
• Accelerate open data publication to support staff report discussion at committee or council, where appropriate  

Checklist for identifying open data in reports

Have you considered all relevant data from your report? Make sure to consider:

• Data that your divisions reports on regularly to committee (e.g., to keep councillors informed about service standards)  
• Data that will be central to the analysis informing the report’s recommendations  
• Lists or inventories that will be updated if report recommendations are adopted (e.g., of assets, of projects) 

Have you assessed the data for at least one type of value?  Indicators of value include:

• Data has been requested by the public or councillors (e.g., via FOI, at engagements) 
• Data would enhance the public’s ability to partake in services offered by your division (e.g., a list of offerings, restaurant health inspection results)  
• Data would enable coordination across public/private efforts (e.g., climate impact monitoring) or further research (e.g., socio-demographic analyses)  
• Data documents government service delivery and management of public goods  
• Data describes the community impact of key civic issues 

Have you assessed the suitability of the data for the Open Data Portal?  

When conducting this assessment, make sure you’re considering the raw data (i.e., uninterpreted, unedited data drawn from the source system)  

• Data is owned by a City agency, board, commission, or division 
• Data is not subject to a data-sharing agreement that prevents its publication as open data  
• Data can be modified to safeguard sensitive information 
• If data is already available on toronto.ca, it is already public and safe to open 
• If data contains confidential info, sensitive info, or info about an identifiable individual, it may be possible to open part of the data or aggregate it 

FAQ for report leads

How is sensitive and confidential information treated in open data? 

The City does not publish open data in cases where such information cannot be adequately protected, or where the privacy mitigations would make the dataset unusable.  A key part of the process to open data is “dataset development”, where we work together with your team to determine what parts of a data source (if any) should be made public.  See Privacy Guidelines for more information. 

How can I mitigate misinterpretation of data of an open dataset?  

All open datasets are accompanied by metadata written by the publishing division. In this space, divisions can provide context information, describe limitations of the data, and link to reports or other artefacts that support responsible interpretation of data.  See Metadata Guidelines for more information.

What language can I use to describe progress on opening data?   

Below are some phrases that may be usefully adapted to talk about the progress of opening data in a staff report:  

• This data is freely available on the Toronto Open Data Portal. It’s refreshed [annually].  
• We’re working with the Open Data Team towards publishing this data as an open dataset. We estimate it will be available by [quarter].  
• We’re assessing how best to mitigate [privacy / confidentiality / data quality concerns] while still making the data available as an open dataset.  
• We’ve added this dataset to our divisional “backlog”, and working through the backlog in order of priority.   
• As part of a data migration project, data will be made available on the Toronto Open Data Portal.  

We’re working on a public dashboard; do I still need to publish open data?  

Yes! Please ensure that the data underlying a public dashboard is available as open data. This ensures:  

• Torontonians can repurpose the data, without having to scrape data out of the dashboard  

• Compliance with council directive 2019 GL8.22, which asks that data “embedded in documents, reports, or any digital artifacts available publicly on the City of Toronto’s digital infrastructure” be made available as open data;  

If your team is working on a new digital tool (including mobile applications, data visualizations or dashboards), contact the Open Data Team to create a plan for publishing your product’s source data.  

When in my staff report development process should I think about open data?  

Ideally, we hope that you’re thinking about possible open datasets throughout your work on staff reports, program changes and new policies. We’ve identified a few specific moments:   

During program design:  

• Consider how open data can streamline communication within your program (e.g., 3-D massing is available for architects to freely use in their building designs)  

During stakeholder outreach:

• Note requests for data from stakeholders (e.g., residents, experts, city councilors). This can be a good indicator of data that is high value and useful as open data.  

During research & analysis:

• Check open.toronto.ca/catalogue for data from other divisions that may be helpful for your analysis. 
• Note which datasets are substantially informing the parts of the policy or program that will be of greatest interest to Torontonians  

When should I use the “Open Data Implications” checkbox in AFS?  

Please mark “open data implications” when there is potential open data in a staff report!  

During the AFS cycle, the Open Data Team will use this indicator to double check that we are providing support for relevant reports.  On an annual basis, as part of the Annual Publication Cycle, the Open Data Team will review reports with indicators to ensure all high-value data in staff reports are included in divisional “backlog” inventories.  

How long does it take to publish an open dataset? 

The time needed to publish an open dataset can vary. On average, the Open Data Team has been able to work with divisions to publish a new dataset in two weeks.

Circumstances that can extend the time it takes to open data include:  

• Ambiguity and differences in opinion about risk created by sensitive or personal information and the best approach to mitigate these risks;  
• Difficulty securing leadership approval to open a dataset;  
• Complexity of technical solution to transfer data into Toronto Open Data servers and capacity of division teams to help develop and implement solutions. 

The quickest cases are ones where A) divisions have a strong perspective and internal alignment on what data they seek to open (i.e., what columns to include or omit), and B) the team has previous experience building pipelines from the specific data environment in question to Toronto Open Data servers.  

Where capacity constraints outweigh the immediate benefits of publishing an open dataset, the Open Data Team can help your division add data to a “backlog” or set a follow update.