At a Local Government Symposium put on by Cary-based SAS earlier this week, the Town of Cary was cited as a case study for how governments can use analytical software tools to save taxpayers money. WRALTechWire talked with Bill Stice, Town of Cary technology director, about how using SAS has paid off. The Town is a paying customer, by the way.

“Analytics has help the Town of Cary find efficiencies, which ultimately results in savings,” says Stice, who has worked for the Town since 1989 and is a UNC-CH graduate.

SAS noted Cary used SAS Analytics to crunch its budget as the “Great Recession” hit five years ago. Here’s how SAS described the Cary challenge in the case study:

“When revenue projections for the Town of Cary dipped as a result of the Great Recession, officials in North Carolina’s seventh-largest municipality had to make tough decisions on what to postpone and what be cut from its $350 million capital budget. Analytics helped them quickly spot unspent funds in active capital projects – allowing it to free up more than $10 million.

“Other analytics programs have improved situational awareness for Cary police, made apartment managers more aware of emerging crime issues in their communities, improved fuel consumption forecasts, and provided better views of parks and recreation program usage. Town employees now spend more time serving citizens, less creating reports. And the improved transparency achieved by giving local residents access to a data portal has given utility customers the power to track and, therefore, directly impact the amount of water they use hour by hour.”

WRALTechWire’s Q&A with Stice:

  • Why was the city using analytics to begin with, and for how long?

We have been using SAS since March of 2007. We chose to use analytics to continue improving the Town of Cary’s ability to allocate limited resources in the most efficient and effective manner possible in alignment with the Town’s mission. We made the decision to work with SAS and the Town of Cary project team to develop a data driven performance enhancement system to help maximize existing resources and anticipate future needs.

  • Do you recommend other governments use analytics? 

We don’t make recommendations to other governments since we don’t know their operations well enough – what we can say is that it’s working for us.

  • Who came up with idea about how analytics might find ways to save money, and what was the inspiration for that thought?

The project originated with a team effort that included several Town departments including Technology Services, Budget, and the Town Manager’s Office then later involved key user departments like Police, Public Works, Finance, and Inspections & Permits.

  • Has analytics helped save money or find efficiencies since the report SAS notes in the press release? If so how, where and what were the savings?

Analytics has help the Town of Cary find efficiencies, which ultimately results in savings. Several departments have been able to generate reports much more efficiently than the manual system used before. This has helped in areas of reporting for multiple departments’ accreditation, more efficient use of restricted capital funds, and in planning for future service provision.

  • Does SAS provide software and support to Cary at discount rate or gratis?

SAS Software was originally acquired by the Town of Cary using the Federal General Services Administration SAS procurement contract. The Town of Cary also pays an annual software support fee to SAS. We also pay for classes that our staff attend. SAS will need to answer whether their charges to us are discounted.

On the cost front, Trent Smith, a spokesperson for SAS, pointed out: “Cary’s licensing fees are in line with what customers of similar size and technologies pay. In addition to the paid classes, like many customers, the town takes advantage of free training and development opportunities such as workshops, webinars and SAS user days, which include presentations from experts in different SAS technologies. This is done with the goal of helping the customer make the most of their investment in SAS.”

Read more about SAS online.

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