Case Studies
In Their Own Words
"Get Involved, Track Government Recovery Spending with Real-Time Operational Intelligence"
(broadcast on May 4, 2011)
This webcast offers the chance to learn how your government agency or citizen developers can leverage the recipient report data through Recovery.gov. Watch the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, together with JackBe and Smartronix, as they demonstrate pratical examples of how government agencies and citizens are leveraging Recovery.gov information to better understand the impact of government funded programs in their local area.
Watch it here. Duration: 53 minutes.
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Recovery.gov Promotes Transparency, Openness and Collaboration with JackBe
The Organization
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) required the Recovery Accountability and Transparency board to create a website "to foster greater accountability and transparency in the use of funds made available in this Act." To fulfill this mission, Recovery.gov went live on February 17, 2009, the day President Obama signed ARRA into law. The site's primary mandate is to provide 
taxpayers with user-friendly tools to track how and where Recovery funds are spent. The site also offers the public an opportunity to report suspected fraud, waste or abuse related to Recovery funding.
The Challenge
President Obama challenged government agencies to fulfill the promise of an open, transparent, accountable government set forth by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Recovery.gov is the U.S. government's official website that provides easy access to data related to the Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, waste and abuse of federally funded programs. Recovery.gov was created to make data available for public use and presented in a way that informs rather than overwhelms people. The goal of the 'Recovery.gov Developer Center' is to promote unique and interesting applications and presentations of the Recovery data on projects and awards through Apps and Widgets.
The JackBe Solution
JackBe’s Real-Time Operational Intelligence Platform, Presto, plays an important role in the Recovery.gov ‘Developer Center’. The Recovery.gov Developer Center was designed to provide developers with machine-readable access to all the data reported by recipients of Recovery awards. This authoritative source allows 
citizens to use the data to create Mashups as well as widgets and Apps. JackBe's Presto was used to create the State Data Summary Widget, which allows users to personalize a portable App that shows an overview of data reported by prime and sub-recipients of Recovery Act funds in their local area including congressional district, county and state. Users are able to generate a script tag that allows them to embed their personal stimulus tracking App on any webpage.
JackBe's Presto was also used to create the Advanced Recipient Data Search Widget, which provides developers access to recipient reported data reports through RESTful API calls. The App allows users to configure their data call requests by selecting the various filtering parameters. Developers are able to access and configure the Recovery API through an easy to use interface, enter the parameters and the feed URL is automatically generated for use in various applications.
To learn more about how citizens are leveraging Recovery.gov information to better understand the impact of government funded programs in their local area, visit the Recovery.gov Developer Center.
Recovery.gov Highlights
JackBe's Presto gives Recovery.gov the ability for citizens to track federally funded programs to ensure their tax dollars are being invested in initiatives and strategies that make a difference in their communities and across the country. Some of the Recovery.gov highlights are:
- The first government wide financial system operating in the cloud, leveraging infrastructure as a service.
- Real-time reporting from recipients on federal contracts, programs and loans including sub-recipients and prime contractors which was never done before by the federal government.
- Releasing transparent and downloadable excel spreadsheets or raw data sets containing information on how the recipients are using the stimulus money to spur economic recovery
- Exposing data mapping APIs to visually show citizens where the stimulus money is being used in their local area or across the country.
- Enabling citizens to personalize their own portable Apps that track stimulus awards in their congressional district, county and state.
For More Information
More information about JackBe's Real-Time Operational Intelligence Solution, Presto, can be found at http://www.jackbe.com/products/.
Additional Case Studies of JackBe customers can be found at http://www.jackbe.com/customers/case_studies.php.