Primary Department: County Administration
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez, County Administrator
Secondary Department: Human Resources and Talent
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official: Sakita Douglas, Interim Chief People Officer
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Position
Project ID (if applicable):
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable):
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): Choose an item.
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for approval to transfer the Data Fellows Program from the Office of County Administration, including four positions, associated budget, and equipment, to Human Resources and Talent and approval of 1 temporary Analyst III position for FY25 effective January 11, 2025.
end
Background and Discussion:
The Harris County Office of County Administration (OCA) launched the Harris County Data Fellows Program, funded by ARPA, in August 2023 to empower County departments to improve their services to citizens through data-driven decision-making. Talented data analysts collaborate with County leaders to understand their data and tackle key challenges through operational insights, performance tracking, and automation, for example.
Over the last year, the Data Fellows Program has proven to be successful in empowering the agencies in which they are placed to understand and analyze their data to improve services. The Data Fellows have enacted positive change through implementing automation, creating dashboards and AI models, and improving existing spreadsheet models that allowed their respective agencies to operate more efficiently and effectively.
Commissioners Court approved recurring general fund budget starting in FY25 for three Data Fellows and one Manager. To enhance the County’s talent acquisition capacity and allow OCA to focus more staff time on strategic plan implementation, OCA requests approval to transfer the Data Fellows program, including the four positions, associated budget, and equipment, to Human Resources and Talent (HR&T). A new, temporary Analyst III position for a fourth Data Fellow in FY25 is also requested to better leverage the funds allocated in FY25 for the program, given the planned start date of the Data Fellows of mid-January. The fourth Data Fellow position will be temporary for FY25 only.
Expected Impact:
With the transition to HR&T, the program will be able to be focus on the continuous development of the Data Fellows and building a talent pipeline in Harris County. This shift will also enhance coordination between departments and continue to strengthen the ability to use data to inform decision-making and measure and communicate progress across the County.
If the request is approved, the annual Data Fellows program budget of $538,941 will be transferred from OCA to HR&T. There is no additional funding needed for the new, temporary Analyst III position that is being requested.
Alternative Options:
The program remains in OCA.
County Strategic Plan Goal: N/A
County Strategic Plan Objective: N/A
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): Choose an item.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): Choose an item.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): Choose an item.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan: The Data Fellows program is aligned with the “Leading with accountability” guiding principle in the Harris County Strategic Plan. The Data Fellows support departments with improving service delivery, using data and evidence to inform decision-making, and measuring and communicating progress.
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
5/16/23 |
23-2764 |
Approval of five positions effective July 1, 2023 and to appropriate $568K in ARPA funding to create a Data Fellows Program |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
Data Fellows |
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
Existing Budget |
|
|
|
|
|
1000 - General Fund |
$538,941 |
$ |
$538,941 |
$538,941 |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Existing Budget |
$538,941 |
$ |
$538,941 |
$538,941 |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Funding Sources |
$538,941 |
$ |
$538,941 |
$538,941 |
|
Grants - Proposed Budget (To be filled out by Grants staff only) |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
No. of Grant Years |
|
Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
|
Current Position Count for Service |
4 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Request |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
5 |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 1/9/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 1/11/2025
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department:
Janet Gonzalez, Director of Technical Assistance and Performance, Office of County Administration
Andrea Kimble, Director of Talent Acquisition, Human Resources and Talent
Attachments (if applicable): 3441s