Actionable Intelligence ― Using Integrated Data Systems to Achieve a More Effective, Efficient, and Ethical Government

This edited collection presents a new approach to promoting more effective, efficient, and ethical intergovernmental decision making and problem solving - a system called actionable intelligence for social policy (AISP). Actionable intelligence is neither data nor research, although it involves both. It is derived from the combined contributions from executive leaders, practitioners, researchers, and citizens. It requires intergovernmental coordination and collaboration among bureaucracies. It is what is needed to inform disciplined, evidence-based decision making. At the heart of a process that produces actionable intelligence is a robust integrated data system (IDS). The AISP model was developed to address the major limitations to traditional approaches to American public administration identified in the literature. The purpose of this collection is to present this innovative AISP model in detail and indicate how it has more promise than existing approaches to public administration. Given the pivotal role of integrated data systems in generating actionable intelligence, these array of chapters focus on the core components necessary to establish a well-developed, sustainable IDS.

John Fantuzzo is Albert M. Greenfield Professor and Director of the Penn CHILD Research Center at University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is a Co-Founder of the Kids Integrated Data System (KIDS) in Philadelphia, USA. Fantuzzo has conducted many population-based longitudinal studies using Integrated Data Systems (IDS) to promote the effectiveness of early childhood intervention. Studies include investigations of early risk and protective factors of cohorts of children from birth to third grade: These studies have generated national recognition for IDS and have resulted in key policy changes. Fantuzzo and Culhane have recently established, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy Network (AISP). AISP is a national network of local and state governments using IDS for planning, evaluation, and research. He is the recipient of the National Head Start Research Mentor Award, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Involvement Award.

Dennis P. Culhane is the Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy at the School of Social Policy and Practice at The University of Pennsylvania, USA, and the Director of Research for the National Center on Homelessness among Veterans at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Culhane is a nationally recognized social science researcher with primary expertise in the field of homelessness. He is a leader in the integration of administrative data for research and directs the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy initiative, a MacArthur-funded project to promote the development of integrated database systems by state and local governments for policy analysis and systems reform.