Better reporting technology an unexpected byproduct of stimulus

Technology that states have deployed to report how they spent federal stimulus funds is likely to permanently change information exchange across the public and private sector, despite controversy over figures on the number of jobs created and saved, said New York officials, academics and federal leaders. "Data is always problematic; it always can be improved," said Deborah Cunningham, coordinator for educational management services at the New York State Education Department. "This is the first time that I'm aware that the whole country reported at the same time in a 10-day period, and I think it's the way of the future." The mandate to make spending transparent led New York and other states to develop systems for rapidly gathering and reporting information to the federal government. The administration, in turn, used new systems to make the data, in some instances just weeks old, available to the public.