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

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

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