The City of San José created internal working groups for City staff to strengthen how the City manages, shares, and uses data as one team. These data working groups bring together staff from across departments to build a more connected, informed, and responsive local government. 

Together, these working groups help the City make smarter decisions, deliver better services, and use new technologies responsibly and fairly. 

Data Infrastructure Working Group 

Mission  

The Data Infrastructure Working Group collaborates across departments to define, implement and maintain a robust data infrastructure framework that enables seamless data integration, ensures data availability, data integrity and support data-driven decision making. 

Objectives 

1. Design and maintain infrastructure that can grow with organization's data needs.

2. Facilitate easy access to data across departments and teams while maintaining proper security and governance controls.

3. Ensure data is accurate, consistent, and of high quality, supporting reliable decision-making. 

4. Safeguard sensitive data and comply with relevant regulations through infrastructure and access control.

5. Continuously improve data systems by exploring and adopting emerging technologies and optimizing existing solutions for better performance and cost-efficiency. 

Data Analytics Governance Working Group 

Mission  

The Data Analytics Governance Working Group aims to improve data analytic governance across applications like Power BI and Tableau.  

Objectives 

1. Establish policies, procedures and structures that ensure consistency, validity, integrity, reliability, and accuracy of data across the City for a single source of truth.

2. Ensure regulatory compliance checks by enforcing security and privacy guidelines.

3. Support collaboration with clear demarcations of roles and responsibilities for different business units involved in the governance team reducing duplication efforts. 

Data Standards Working Group 

Mission  

The Data Standards Working Group develops data standards for the implementation of information management policies and practices that focus on integrity, security and privacy, and accessibility of data across the City. 

Objectives  

1. Produce data that is accurate, reliable, and used responsibly to support public services, transparency, inform decision-making, and mitigate risks of inaccurate information dissemination.

2. Facilitate data sharing and interoperability to increase cross-departmental effectiveness and efficiency.

3. Optimize data consistency to save time requiring customization.

4. Develop a coordinated and secured approach to build a master data framework for the City. 

Data Literacy Working Group 

Mission 

The Data Literacy Working Group fosters a data-driven culture across the City to ensure that data and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, are used responsibly and equitably to enhance decision-making and improve public service delivery. 

Objectives   

1. Provide tiered training and practical learning opportunities to strengthen staff capabilities in data collection, analysis, visualization, and interpretation.

2. Promote the consistent use of data in planning, policy, and operations through knowledge sharing and collaboration across the organization.

3. Equip staff to apply an equity lens in data analysis and reporting to identify disparities and ensure fair outcomes for all communities. 

4. Prepare the workforce to adopt AI tools thoughtfully and responsibly, guided by principles of transparency, accountability, and equity. 

5. Establish ongoing resources and evaluation practices that enable staff to continually grow their data skills and measure organizational impact.