Summary

The data strategy of Freiburg im Breisgau is anchored in Freiburg positioning itself as a Smart City. As a Smart City, Freiburg strives to be a sustainable and efficient city with high quality of living that respects the needs of its citizens and responds to current chalenges. Data play an important role in achieving these goals. Therefore, Freiburg has given itself a Data Excellence Strategy.

Value

Data Excellence (DX) in Freiburg provides concrete value for various stakeholder groups by improving processes, increasing transparency, and fostering innovation:

City Administration

  • More efficient work through better transparency and clearly defined responsibilities and rules.
  • Faster and improved planning processes thanks to smooth data flows.
  • Enhanced resilience in emergencies and crises through quicker access to data.

Business and Science

  • Increased potential for innovation by connecting to the “DATEN:RAUM:FREIBURG” data space.
  • Improved collaboration opportunities through attractive data offerings.

Residents

  • Greater transparency for citizens due to more Open Data.
  • Better service quality through improved data quality and more digital services.

City Politics

  • Enhanced access to information through better-organized data resources.
  • More realistic presentation of projects through improved simulations and forecasts (e.g., traffic, climate change).

Goals

The goals of data excellence are to have at all times:

  1. the right data
  2. at the appropriate level of quality
  3. at the right place
  4. at the right time
  5. secure and legally compliant

Principles

  • Data are a strategic asset
  • Responsibilities around data
  • Data are being shared
  • Data are being controlled and steered
  • Data quality is being guaranteed
  • Data are being processed in a legally compliant way

Focus areas

  • Data Governance
  • Data Services
  • Data Management

Fields of action

  1. Principles & strategic guidelines Need for a common understanding of how to handle data.
  2. Roles & responsibilities Need to anchor data excellence in the organization.
  3. Collaboration & decision-making Need to orchestrate colaboration for data excellence.
  4. Capabilities & processes Need to define data-excellence processes and to define the required capabilities.
  5. Data landscape & data domains Need to organize all data assets that are relevant for use across functions by responsabilities.
  6. Technologies Building the data room Freiburg (DATEN:RAUM:FREIBURG) to foster transparency and data sharing.
  7. Data competencies Need to build up data competencies among the users of data room Freiburg to make colaboration a success.

Roles

The data strategy of Freiburg defines five key roles (DX Key Roles) to ensure effective and sovereign data management:

1. DX Users

  • Receive and process provided data.
  • Can be located within or outside the city administration.
  • Provide feedback on the usability and quality of data to the DX organization.

2. DX Coordinator

  • Acts as the central interface for data excellence.
  • Coordinates data exchange across departments and leads the DX Coordination Group.
  • Manages structured decision-making processes and supports the DX Steering Committee.
  • Monitors and updates the Data Excellence Strategy.

3. DX Decision-Makers

  • Highest authority responsible for a data domain (usually department heads).
  • Define strategic DX goals for their data domain and oversee internal implementation.
  • Represent their data interests in the DX Steering Committee and engage with other decision-makers.

4. DX Officers

  • Handle operational and technical coordination of data-related measures.
  • Act within their organization on behalf of DX Decision-Makers.
  • Monitor data quality, security, and integrity.
  • Regularly exchange information with other DX Officers within the DX Coordination Group.

5. DM Experts

  • Manage operational data processes (data management).
  • Have technical expertise in their data domains.
  • Solve technical data-related problems and support operational execution.

Organization

The strategies argues that data excellence needs to be anchored in the organization in a decentralized way. This is because of the decentralized nature of data and systems.

Nevertheless, the strategy establishes the DX Office:

DX Office

The DX Office is the central enabler and coordinator of data excellence. Lead by the DX Coordinator, it bridges the strategic and operational level.

Facts and Links

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