Smart Use of Data Mining Is Good Business and Good Government

The last four years have shown a profound change in the adoption and wider applicability of data mining by agencies in day-to-day management and longer-term decision-making.

Data mining supports ever-more advanced continuous monitoring and continuous auditing programs, expanded forensic and recovery auditing capabilities, and more sophisticated data analytics and business intelligence tools - all of which mine information.

Before the explosion of information technology and the development of automated monitoring tools, management had to sort through reams of paper containing top-line data based on statistical sampling to get a sense of where the organization stood and identify anything outside the norm.

With data mining, management can look at 100 percent of the data on a real-time, continuous basis and drill down into detail as needed. The level of management assurance is greatly increased.

This article explores the value of data mining and how the government can make smart use of these analytic tools to improve performance and operational efficiency and reduce costs.