Ohio

In Ohio, the State Chief Data Officer (CDO) reports to the cabinet-level Director of the Department of Administrative Services and is responsible for managing the InnovateOhio Platform (IOP) Data Analytics program. This program is part of the Lieutenant Governor’s InnovateOhio initiative, which was established by Executive Order in 2019. IOP Data Analytics also includes the DataOhio Portal, which provides transparency and information to 300+ datasets representing 100+ State programs. To date, there have been more than 350,000 dataset views. The State CDO also serves as the Chair of the State CDO Council, which provides enterprise strategy and direction related to data governance, data management, and data analytics.

The InnovateOhio Platform (IOP) was launched in 2019 via Governor Mike DeWine’s Executive Order 2019-15D, and features a set of core principles based on the concept that data is a shared strategic asset for operational and analytical purposes. The executive order resulted in a standardized ‘Data Use Agreement’ to expedite data sharing. In addition, the state has documented enterprise Data Governance policies to promote secure data sharing. All IOP projects are conducted under legally binding data use agreements. These agreements outline detailed guidelines for contractors and state so that data ownership and decision-making remain with the agencies.

Today, IOP Data Analytics has more than 1,000 datasets from 30 agencies which, through secured and governed structures, are available for shared collaboration. IOP has partnered with agencies to support 147 data analytics projects, with another 46 projects in progress.

Ohio is committed to transparency. The Lieutenant Governor announced the launch of the DataOhio Portal (DOP) in December 2020; more than 300 datasets from 100+ State programs have been viewed 350,000+ times. DOP offers data management, data integration, and applied analytics. The portal provides decision-makers and partners with flexible self-service capabilities to support innovative solutions to the complex problems that Ohio residents face.

In 2023, IOP Data Analytics:

• Enhanced its data governance dashboards by providing one secure location for agencies to monitor “who can access their data” on the IOP and “how it is being used.”
• Launched an enterprise data catalog, which enables data owners and data stewards to manage their data and expedite enterprise data discovery.
• Deployed a data quality and profiling tool that makes it easy for agency data teams to analyze datasets for completeness and integrity.    

In 2020, Ohio used a tiered evidence-based framework from both the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse to define evidence and allocate funding for the Ohio Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant program. Evidence-based strategies assessed as Strong or Moderate were required components for funding consideration. Ohio asserted that eligible applicants would be determined based on a weighted measure and cut score of two indicators: students on free and reduced lunch, and students in foster care or homeless. The request for proposal prioritized equity by encouraging grantees to award subgrants to entities with one or more local education agencies that serve children from birth through kindergarten entry; are from families with income levels at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line; or are serving a high number/percentage of high-needs schools.

Likewise, in 2023, the state recently received applications for the third round of the Ohio Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant program, which began in 2020. The program is highlighted in the Honor Roll of State Programs that Define and Prioritize Evidence of Effectiveness.

Help Me Grow is Ohio’s evidenced-based parent support program that encourages early prenatal and well-baby care, parenting education to promote children’s comprehensive health and development, and efforts to reduce infant mortality. Ohio’s Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget included $101.5 million over the biennium for Help Me Grow to support evidence-based home visiting services to 17,950 families and increase the percentage of mothers enrolled for prenatal home visits to 86.4 percent.

Ohio prioritized a need to reduce infant mortality rates across the state. The IOP Platform was used to expand and enhance predictive profiling models that leveraged cross-agency data to determine those most at risk for infant mortality, and design targeted interventions based on the data. The project involved securely linking more than 30 data sets from multiple state programs to form a 360-view of the clients that allowed the state to: (1) determine indicators that are significantly tied to infant mortality – leading indicators of positive and negative outcomes; (2) create models to predict characteristics of mothers most likely to benefit from interventions; and (3) explore which State programs for mothers are most effective. Over $300,000 was spent in fiscal year (FY) 2023 to develop additional data-informed models and dashboards to implement the evidence-based interventions. In FY 2024 the state general fund will be investing the following: Healthy Beginnings at Home $3,000,000; Help Me Grow $46,500,000; Infant Vitality $15,361,000.

Ohio partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Ohio by investing $16 million during FY 2022 and FY 2023, and proposed an additional $16 million in FY 2024 and FY 2025. This is an evidence-based program to increase literacy by providing a new book each month to registered children ages five and under. Several local studies in Ohio show the positive impacts of children receiving these books, including increasing the percentage of children considered “on track” during Kindergarten Readiness Assessments.

Ohio’s Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Operating Budget Guidance initiated Results-Focused Budgeting which requires agencies requesting funds for new or expanding programs to provide additional information in their budget request to the Office of Budget and Management (OBM). To demonstrate a program’s effectiveness, each program provided a simple logic model, proposed output and outcome measures, and data for those measures for fiscal years (FYs) 2019-2025. If funds were requested for an evidence-based program, agencies were asked to provide a summary of the findings of the evidence, along with the study citation and, if applicable, the rating given by an evidence clearinghouse. In FY 2024, the state general fund is investing in the following: Healthy Beginnings at Home, $3,000,000; Help Me Grow, $46,500,000; Infant Vitality, $15,361,000. Over $300,000 was spent in FY 2023 to develop additional data-informed models and dashboards to implement evidence-based interventions.

To facilitate agency adoption of Results-Focused Budgeting, training was developed for OBM budget analysts, the Governor’s policy staff, senior fiscal and program staff of cabinet agencies, and cabinet directors.

Results-focused information provided in the agency budget requests informed discussions that built the Governor’s executive budget proposal and the testimony before the legislature in support of the budget.

OBM is now infusing results into the implementation phase of the budget process by requiring agencies administering priority programs to report results to OBM quarterly and develop results-focused dashboards. These dashboards will provide a one-stop resource for key decision-makers to explore progress toward reaching some of the Governor’s long-term goals. The dashboards will focus on enterprise-wide efforts to demonstrate results and ROI. As a proof of concept, OBM is teaming with IOP to develop results-focused dashboards to track progress toward improving water quality. This dashboard is in the final stages of development at the time of this submission.

LeanOhio provides leadership to improve performance and outcomes. Since 2011, LeanOhio has conducted more than 400 projects in 45 agencies and has trained an agency-embedded network of 1,000 employees. The LeanOhio Network unites state employees who have attended LeanOhio training. The network includes 70 Black Belts and over 200 Green Belts. As part of their certification requirement, they manage the performance and outcomes of their project. The network includes individuals tapped as agency Lean Liaisons that coordinate Lean efforts and serve as our direct link to the enterprise. Ohio leads the nation with the most in-house Lean expertise.

Office of Budget and Management is infusing results through results-focused dashboards. These dashboards will provide a one-stop resource for key decision-makers and accountability to performance progress.

Ohio has a mix of state and county-administered operating structures; thus, it is important to note that state agencies must utilize different approaches to manage their performance based on their operating model. The Ohio Department of Health operates within a state supervised and county-administered structure and has adopted the Results Based Accountability (RBA) framework to guide its strategic planning and performance management efforts and uses the Clear Impact Scorecard to monitor performance and outcomes.

Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) is a state-administered agency responsible for Disability Determination (DD) and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) programs. OOD conducts executive performance management reviews of their Management Statistics and Reports.

The state utilizes a Major Project Governance Policy to provide all state agencies with guidance and resources to actively manage contracts and utilize data and contract procurement and management resources. Contracted projects meeting specific criteria must complete certain agency work products during the project process and coordinate with the Major Project Governance (MPG) Office. Agencies complete a baseline for key performance indicators (KPIs) and measures of success. These KPIs and measures are tracked post-implementation to determine if the project goals and benefits are achieved. The post-implementation measures are collected on a quarterly basis via the Value Reporting Portal.