OpenBudgets.eu has launched a call for tender for the improvement of transparency and modernization of budget and spending data directed at municipalities, regional governments, and qualified legal entities.

Driven by the use cases of OpenBudgets.eu, we designed a data model for fiscal data published by the public sector, covering both planned budgets and executed transactions. It is expressed primarily in terms of the Data Cube Vocabulary, conceived as a set of reusable component properties that can be composed into dataset-specific data structures.

This report is to be used as a self-contained guide to modelling datasets according to the OpenBudgets.eu data model. It contains the RDF Data Cube Vocabulary guide showing how the vocabulary is used throughout the data model. There are also IRI patterns that should be followed when creating datasets and code lists in OpenBudgets.eu.

Participatory budgeting has three phases: generating project ideas, debating and voting, and implementing and monitoring. So far, there was not one integrated tool that all the different stakeholders could use to support all three participatory budgeting phases. We have developed an interface that combines the different user needs for voting, monitoring and announcing budget processes.

Participatory Budgeting is defined by the World Bank as “a process through which citizens can contribute to decision making over at least part of a governmental budget”. At the start of such processes, two prerequisites need to be met: citizens need information to understand the relevant aspects of the budgeting procedure, and they need to be sufficiently motivated to engage in the participatory budgeting process.

In over 1,500 cities around the world citizens can decide how part of the budget is spent. These participatory budgeting processes are often accompanied with material of some form to inform and involve citizens. While these materials play a very important role, their type, content and design varies greatly, which leads to more and less valuable results. The question then is what are best practices for tutorial writing, especially for conveying complex topics such as participatory budgeting.

We at OpenBudgets.eu have frequently stressed the importance of open budget data as a disincentive to corruption. It is one of the core beliefs that motivates our work and gives it purpose. While much of our work goes into the creation of infrastructure around fiscal data and processes, the actual principle by which open budget data can serve as the aforementioned ingredient in the fight against corruption may not be obvious at first.

Over the years we have seen a number of MEPs getting into trouble over the use of their expenses.

Let’s say there were two EU-funded projects: a Greek one from 2013 that cost 1 million eur, and a Romanian one from 2007 that cost 4 million lei. Which of the projects was more expensive? While this question seems deceptively simple, providing a correct answer is not as straightforward as we might expect. Moreover, the ability to compare money is essential for analyses of fiscal data, so it is important we get this answer right.

Fiscal transparency is defined by the IMF as “the comprehensiveness, clarity, reliability, timeliness, and relevance of public reporting on the past, present, and future state of public finances”. For journalists, parliamentarians and citizens alike, fiscal transparency can mean an unobstructed view into the financial affairs of the state.