ABSTRACT
In an age in which information technology (IT) saturates society, it is worth recalling the little-known fact that the public sector has long been crucial in inventing IT's diverse devices. A Census Bureau employee, Herman Hollerith, invented for use in the 1890 census a punch card and tabulation machine, the forerunner of the computer. Organizations in all sectors have tried, with some success, to convert data into knowledge. Most public agencies have decision support systems, most are pleased with them, and they can save governments money. A geographic information system (GIS) is a location-related computer program that typically combines geospatial data with maps and aerial photographs. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-16, issued in 1953 and revised many times since, is the basis of federal GIS policy. Enterprise risk management is the use of analysis to determine the potential opportunities or perils that accompany any strategic decision in an effort to exploit the opportunities and minimize the perils.
