Comptroller opens Checkbook 2.0

Posted January 23, 2013 By Nathaniel Herz

As New York’s chief financial officer, Comptroller John Liu is in charge of policing the city’s spending.

He wants to enlist citizens and journalists to do the same, and on Wednesday, he unveiled a new tool designed just for that purpose: a website called Checkbook NYC 2.0, which compiles data on the city’s contracts and payrolls.

The site, which Liu’s office said cost some $2 million, is an overhaul of a previous version released in 2010. At a news conference at Liu’s downtown Manhattan offices, elected officials and good government advocates alike praised the new iteration as both a “Google of city expenditures” (in the words of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer) and a set of “digital keys to the city” (Gene Russianoff of the New York Public Interest Research Group).

Checkbook draws on the city’s own centralized accounting database, the Financial Management System, to break down spending by across city agencies.

Users can search, for example, for a list of contracts specific to the Department of Sanitation.

They can also search by keyword across different agencies, for citywide spending on items like bottled water or printing of posters.

New features in the overhaul include an API, or application programming interface, which allows software developers to access Checkbook’s data in real time for use in other applications. As on Checkbook 1.0, visitors to the site can also download the results of their searches in Excel-compatible format, which will make number-crunching easier for reporters and other users looking for trends or systemic problems.

The code for the site—essentially the engine that makes it run—is open-source, meaning that other cities or states can use it without cost as a template for their own sites tracking spending. Any resulting innovations developed elsewhere could eventually be integrated into the city’s version, Liu said.

“If Chicago decides to adopt the platform and then finds a way to create a Checkbook iPad application, New York City residents would ultimately benefit,” he said.

Checkbook by no means entirely opens the city’s books. Site visitors can look up the value of contracts, for example. But the actual contract documents, which could outline key details like schedules or penalties for delays, aren’t yet available, though that’s something Liu’s staff wants to add.

And, if you want to look up the contract for the creation of Checkbook itself, you won’t find it. The work, done by a company called REI Systems, is not in the database, because it was carried out through a subcontract.

That kind of information, Liu’s office said, will have to wait for Checkbook 3.0.

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<h1>Comptroller opens Checkbook 2.0</h1>As New York’s chief financial officer, Comptroller John Liu is in charge of policing the city’s spending.
He wants to enlist citizens and journalists to do the same, and on Wednesday, he unveiled a new tool designed just for that purpose: a website called <a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.checkbooknyc.com/spending_landing/yeartype/B/year/114');" href="http://www.checkbooknyc.com/spending_landing/yeartype/B/year/114">Checkbook NYC 2.0</a>, which compiles data on the city’s contracts and payrolls.
The site, which Liu’s office said cost some $2 million, is an overhaul of a previous version released in 2010. At a news conference at Liu’s downtown Manhattan offices, elected officials and good government advocates alike praised the new iteration as both a “Google of city expenditures” (in the words of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer) and a set of “digital keys to the city” (Gene Russianoff of the New York Public Interest Research Group).
Checkbook draws on the city’s own centralized accounting database, the Financial Management System, to break down spending by across city agencies.
Users can search, for example, for a list of contracts specific to the Department of Sanitation.
They can also search by keyword across different agencies, for citywide spending on items like bottled water or printing of posters.
New features in the overhaul include an API, or application programming interface, which allows software developers to access Checkbook’s data in real time for use in other applications. As on Checkbook 1.0, visitors to the site can also download the results of their searches in Excel-compatible format, which will make number-crunching easier for reporters and other users looking for trends or systemic problems.
The code for the site—essentially the engine that makes it run—is open-source, meaning that other cities or states can use it without cost as a template for their own sites tracking spending. Any resulting innovations developed elsewhere could eventually be integrated into the city’s version, Liu said.
“If Chicago decides to adopt the platform and then finds a way to create a Checkbook iPad application, New York City residents would ultimately benefit,” he said.
Checkbook by no means entirely opens the city’s books. Site visitors can look up the value of contracts, for example. But the actual contract documents, which could outline key details like schedules or penalties for delays, aren’t yet available, though that’s something Liu’s staff wants to add.
And, if you want to look up the contract for the creation of Checkbook itself, you won’t find it. The work, done by a company called REI Systems, is not in the database, because it was carried out through a subcontract.
That kind of information, Liu’s office said, will have to wait for Checkbook 3.0.

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