Open government in Canada up to this point has been more about ideas, while the United States is now taking formative action. 

American President Barack Obama's recently released executive order, pushing local governments to further employ open government and open data initiatives, is enough for any municipal government staff member to take note. 

But what is happening in Canada?

The Federal Government's Open Data website is still in its infant stages although work is now underway to re-launch it with more innovative tools and an easier to navigate interface.  Furthermore, many Canadian local governments we speak to are still hesitant to become transparent and haven't yet warmed up to the concept of open data.  iCompass offers Council voting and attendance records publishing in our solutions, but often get asked to shut those features off because Council and staff aren't ready for that level of openness.   There's an underlying fear that more information equals more criticism.  In stark contrast, the majority of our American partners find the thought of not openly presenting Council information blasphemy. 

Congratulations to the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ontario for officially launching CivicWeb - iCompass' new automated open government web portal.  The announcement has been met with great fanfare as local papers and other publications across North America have featured stories about this breakthrough in government transparency.  It's really exciting when you consider CivicWeb was launched only a month ago and our development team continues to receive feedback from our Pilot Program as we plan further improvements. 

Have a look at some of the local coverage:

Simcoe.com - Read
Bradford Times - Read

Want to learn more about CivicWeb?  Click here or contact sales@icompasstech.com for more information.

It's an exciting day for iCompass and the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury as it becomes the first local government in North America to launch CivicWeb.  The automated online web portal is being used to engage with the community and share information in a variety of groundbreaking ways. 

The big wins according to Town Staff and Council are a greatly improved meeting process and a new platform for citizen engagement that opens up all sorts of new opportunities for the public to communicate with government officials.  

“Our new CivicWeb solution has greatly improved the efficiency of the Clerk’s Division however we are even more pleased with how quick we can get information out to the public and how easy it is to find information about Council and Committee meetings” says Director of Legal Services/Clerk, Rebecca Murphy.

Read the official release

Social Media works best when information is free-flowing.  But that is easier said than done for local governments.  When I wrote this article for the International Institute of Municipal Clerks News Digest in February, I focused on 5 key factors local governments need to consider to ensure they are getting the most out of their social media presence.  The full details are in the article, but the 5 main points are:

• Create a Corporate Account & Have 1 Person Manage It
• Interact with the Community
• Get Elected Officials Involved
• Get Your Website Working For You
• Move To a Paperless Meeting System

But after reading this article in the Toronto Star, I’ve come to realize I didn’t address the foundation for social media implementation and success ­– training & policy.   

The Toronto Councilor featured in this article used Facebook and Twitter to promote an ‘unpaid internship’ causing all sorts of controversy about whether or not it was legal to actually employ somebody in this manner.   Social media is crucial for transparency, but there is some added pressure to get it right when employed by a local government.  A couple of points to remember:

When I sit-down with Secretaries, Superintendents, and Chief Administrative Officers I find the line of questioning when it comes to paperless meetings varies significantly.  Every organization is a bit different, but there are some crucial points to focus on, that will ensure your transition is seamless.  Almost every board secretary I talk to understands immediately how much money, time and paper can be saved by going to a Paperless Meeting Management Solution, the trick is making sure everyone else understands too.  Here’s a taste of what to expect from my upcoming presentation at the Association of School Business Officials of Alberta (ASBOA) Conference. 

5 Things School Boards Must Know Before Going Paperless

1) What are the benefits? – Do some homework and make sure everyone inside your organization knows what’s to gain. 

2) Getting the Board on Board – How to get board members to buy-in.

3) Own It – Know the Tools of the Trade.  Every organization needs an expert.  Some who knows the technology, and where to go for questions. 

4) Security & Privacy – If I don’t have paper, where will the info be located?

5) Keep it Simple Schools! – My number one rule for a successful implementation!

I’m excited to have Wolf Creek School Division Secretary-Treasurer Joe Henderson and Greater St Albert Catholic Regional Division Secretary-Treasurer Deb Schlag joining me to add some of their insights.

“Accessibility is the degree to which anyone can access and use a website using any web browsing technology.” – Unknown

As local governments rely more and more on their website to share information with the public, it’s important to understand that EVERYBODY needs to be able to this access content.  The biggest challenge of course is ensuring the visually and hearing impaired can get the same information on demand as people without those challenges. 

It’s important that someone within an organization, whether it be a communications professional or whomever manages your website, is an expert on this topic when questions are asked from people in the community.  I have listed a couple of FREE tools that I would recommend, which help those who are visually or hearing impaired access information on your website. 

ChromeVox:

ChromeVox is a screen reader for Chrome OS, intended to bring the speed, versatility, and security of Chrome OS to visually impaired users. Because ChromeVox is built by Google, it's optimized for the web. It supports the latest web standards and excels at accessing the most modern interactive websites.

VoiceOver:

VoiceOver is a screen-access technology, for the blind and visually impaired. This product is free and included with any Apple product such as iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac computers. No installation or setup required and is available in over 30 language voices, which are also included at no charge. 

iCompass Technologies is excited to announce 3 agreements with Saskatchewan municipalities as the Towns of Outlook and Hudson Bay have purchased Agenda SE.  In addition, The Town of Rosthern is implementing iCompass’ Meeting Management Solution.  This comes in the last few weeks of a group-buy program iCompass has initiated to help smaller local governments in Saskatchewan deliver ‘Big City’ services to their public while streamlining their internal meeting processes. 

If 10 municipalities provide signed agreements for Agenda SE to iCompass before April 26^th, then they will all receive a reduced sales price.

“It is exciting to be taking a positive step into the future by using iCompass Technologies' Internet based solutions for paperless council meetings,” says Town of Rosthern CAO Nicole Lerat.  “I'm also looking forward to seeing how FilePro and Action Tracking will help streamline our day-to-day operations, creating a more efficient, more cost effective organization."

Municipal governments typically receive a full return on investment in about 6 months through saved paper and overtime expenses once implementing a solution from iCompass.

iCompass was a proud sponsor of the Kamloops Innovation Centre’s Official Launch April 4^th.  The new organization is one of several popping up in British Columbia as the province’s tech sector continues to gain momentum.   Young entrepreneurs with ideas come to the Kamloops Innovation Centre looking the get their business going and many actually rent space at their facility.  They get access to mentorship from some of BC’s most prominent tech entrepreneurs in the fields of business development, marketing, networking and partnership building.

As a growing tech company that’s been around since 1999, we’ve had our fair share of experiences and are looking forward to sharing that wisdom as the next wave of Kamloops entrepreneurs makes their mark!

Check out the hashtag #KamloopsInnovation on twitter and make sure to give @KICpeople a follow.

(Pictured Above: Lincoln Smith – Kamloops Innovation Centre Executive Director)

iCompass Releases Automated Open Government Webpage

iCompass Technologies is excited to announce the official release of CivicWeb, an addition to our paperless Meeting Management Solution that will revolutionize the concept of open government.   CivicWeb takes agendas, minutes, council voting and attendance records, and data search tools and puts them on an attractive web portal promoting government transparency.  It is linked to your current homepage and becomes the public’s primary resource for information. 

CivicWeb is redefining open governance through an automated posting system that makes updating content as easy checking a box once a document is complete.  Information is updated and formatted instantly.  There are also subscription features that allow people to sign up for updates that are sent automatically to their inbox.

“CivicWeb is an open government game changer,” says VP of Sales and Marketing Scott Neufeld. “Municipal governments and school districts want to be transparent and engaging, and with today’s launch of CivicWeb its all possible, due do the automatic posting system iCompass has created.“

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Over 40 of our current academic and municipal partners quickly signed up for a pilot program to assess CivicWeb’s impact.

iCompass Technologies is pleased to announce 5 new partnerships with local governments from across Canada.  Their new solutions will improve transparency while saving time and money throughout the meeting process. 

“The excitement for our solutions isn’t limited by geography or the size of a municipality,” says VP of Marketing Scott Neufeld. “These recent partnerships illustrate iCompass’ solutions are an ideal fit for communities across North America.”

With our industry leading Implementation and Customer Success teams hard at work, all 5 organizations will be up and running in the near future. 

“Our cloud-based solutions streamline the implementation process as no on-site setup is required,” says Neufeld.  “We pride ourselves on building relationships with our customers and knowing each person by first name.”

The municipalities that have partnered with iCompass are: