MAPC PRO
Metropolitan Area Planning Council is a regional planning agency promoting smart growth and regional collaboration for the Metro Boston area.
MAPC's
Digital Services
Current Work
Challenges
Opportunities
Types of Work
Flagship Services
Data-Driven Publications
Technical Support
Engagement Support
DataCommon, MassBuilds, Trailmap
My School Commute, Rental Listings, Peak Demand
Monthly Data Viz, Climate Vulnerability Indicators,
Perfect Fit Parking, Equity Policy Agenda, Living Little
Digital Municipal Collaboration, Municipal Broadband,
IT support, DPH website design assistance
Community Engagement Support, Text Message Survey,
Interactive Asset Mapping Tool (West Station meeting),
Ask.MAPC
Digital Services Expenses
FY20
Direct Labor
Total (labor loaded 219%)
$274,324
$601,095
Non Labor Costs
$325
Digital Services Funding
FY20
Digital Infrastructure & Maintenance:
Service Contracts:
Project Support / Application Development:
Staff Support:
28%
22%
7%
DS Assessment (Infrastructure, Online Tools Maintenance Codes), IT Support
My School Commute, Rental Listings Consortium
Arts Asset Mapping, Cooler Communities , Interactive mapping tool (West Station),
Digital Municipal Collaboration (EDF), Trailmap Update
Community Engagement Best Practices, New England Aquarium, Food Access Toolkit, IT Support (Ryan)
Overhead:
16%
10%
Data-Driven Reports:
Climate Vulnerability, Monthly Data Viz, Living Little, Perfect Fit Parking, COVID Housing Gap, PPP, TCI, First Miles
1,073
1,534
265
693
4%
464
1,874
MetroCommon Digital Hub:
905
Leave Time, Professional Development, Staff Meetings, Managers Meetings, Other Overhead, Grant Development, Hiring
Digital Hub, Policy, Project Management
13%
Hours
% Staff Time
Challenges: Budget Gap
Need to support $274K in direct labor ($600K loaded) where 39% is non-recurring funding.
We run services we don't charge for, but they need care and feeding.
Most funders want to support new initiatives not maintenance & relationship building,
Informal consulting and project development with municipalities takes time but lacks clear revenue stream
Audience has high expectations for design/user experience on par with tools we use everyday.
Staff have high expectations of what can be produced, how quickly, and at what cost.
Our goal is impact (hard to measure) not growth (count the clicks/sales).
Government is a software company and doesn't know it (everything can be digital).
Challenges: Applications
Can our services generate revenue?
Sponsorships
Re-Selling Content and Reviews
Fees on Procurements
Opportunities: Funding Models
Common Models:
Potential Models:
Advertising
Data Subscription / Paywall / Freemium Subscription
Open Source Projects
Artists
Community Building and Support
Could we not just help towns buy software, but help them decide on what to buy for a commission.
Keystone Product
Could we resell our reviews of products to private review sites?
Angel Investment
Procurement is shared issue with our towns and maybe a source of funding
Operating Grants/Unrestricted funding
Project Grants
Opportunities: Funding Models
Grant Models of Funding
Grant funding that can be spent like our assessment funds on maintenance, relationship building, on-call consulting and project development.
MAPC interests and capacities must align with funder goals
Product-oriented funding--build a tool or application that advances MAPC mission and fills an important niche. However, will still need operating funds in future years!
In some cases, there is potential to hand off the service to partners (e.g., Youth Jobs matching application, MassDevelopment Block X Block.) However, most partners have limited capability to maintain.
In Consortiums
As Vendor
Stakeholder driven/defined -- Rental Listings Consortium is an example
High levels of expectation from towns - many desires for new features.
Initial scale of available funds may be insufficient for fees to support program alone
Interested partners in addition to municipalities at State Software Collaborative (Beeck Center ), Gov Performance Lab and MONUM
Lead coalition of towns developing interoperability between permit systems & vendors.
What's would it look like to work more directly with towns?
Opportunities: Funding Models
Extension of current digital municipal collaboration activities. e.g., clearinghouse for IT purchase info.
Need to find niche among private sector vendors, public agencies (Collins Ctr), others
MAPC may be more effective as purchasing intermediary than principal developer
Digital Services Review
By MAPC
