Roles and Responsibilities of Staff for the Open Data Program

An internal Open Data Team has been established with staff members from the Information Technology department, City Clerk’s Office, the CAO’s Office and other applicable departments. This team will review dataset suggestions, provide general open data support to departments and facilitate data release.

The staff lead of the City’s Open Data Project is a member of the Public Sector Open Data Working Group (PSOD). This group is led by a Policy Analyst from the Government of Ontario and contains members from various Ontario municipalities with open data. PSOD meets monthly through webinars or teleconferences in order to share updates on municipal open data efforts. This helps ensure that all Ontario municipalities are aligned in their open data goals and aware of new trends. The group also has a private portal on Yammer to share tools and have further discussion on various open data topics.

  • The Open Data Team will review dataset suggestions from staff and from the public, provide general open data support to departments and facilitate data release.
  • The Open Data Team may contact Supervisors and their staff to identify potential datasets for release on the Open Data Portal or gather more information about datasets that have been suggested for release by other staff or the public.
  • Supervisors will proactively identify datasets to assess for release on the Open Data Portal and will work with the Open Data Team to identify other potential datasets within the City for release.
  • Data Custodians (staff members most knowledgeable about the data) will complete the Open Data Publishing Checklist form to the best of their knowledge, describing the dataset being considered for release.
  • Data Custodians will identify concerns relating to the publication of the dataset on the Open Data Publishing Checklist form.
  • Supervisors will approve the Open Data Publishing Checklist forms completed by the Data Custodians after verifying that all information contained on the form is accurate and complete.
  • Where appropriate, Supervisors and Data Custodians will consult with other departments or persons with an interest in the data about the publication of proposed datasets.
  • Supervisors may request a special review by applicable departments if there are specific or unusual concerns.
  • Supervisors will provide the Open Data Publishing Checklist and dataset to the City Clerk for review and consultation.
  • The City Clerk or their designate will review all Open Data Publishing Checklist forms before the datasets are published on the Open Data Portal, verifying that the proposed datasets comply with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.56 and the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c.3, Sched. A.
  • In the event that a dataset cannot be released as-is due to legal or other concerns, Supervisors will try to modify the dataset so that it can be released while complying with such requirements.
  • After the City Clerk’s review, Supervisors will make the determination whether or not the proposed dataset can be released as open data and provide their final approval to the Open Data Team so that it can be published on the Open Data Portal.
  • Data Custodians will send the dataset to the Open Data Team once approved by their Manager.
  • Data Custodians will update the dataset on the Open Data Portal based on the update schedule provided on the Open Data Publishing Checklist form.