Tennessee

The Office of Strategic Technology Solutions (STS) partners closely with the Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) to effectively manage and oversee the State of Tennessee’s data. Within STS, the director of the Center for Enterprise Data Analytics leads statewide data strategy practices, with a goal of modernizing the data platforms and deploying a common data governance framework. Further, the CEDA director, in collaboration with the Office of Evidence and Impact and other executive agencies, fosters the creation of a data-driven culture, related competencies, and data literacy across the enterprise. 

STS and the Office of Evidence and Impact partner to implement and oversee Tennessee’s efforts to utilize enterprise-wide data analytics, including the new Tennessee Data Analytics for Transparency and Accountability (TN DATA) platform.

As part of the FY23 budget, Tennessee allocated $1.5 million in recurring state dollars for rigorous program evaluations to support evidence building. Programs ready for evaluation are identified in the program inventory process, in partnership with the Office of Evidence & Impact, and agencies are connected with external research partners who conduct the program evaluation. For FY26 budget requests that were programmatic, 33% of dollars requested were associated with evidence-based programs.

To advance Tennessee’s evidence-based budgeting efforts, the Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) defined five evidence steps, conducted program inventories, developed evidence reviews, and provided evidence-building technical assistance, such as guidance for prioritizing programs for evaluation funding and implementation. In 2023, Tennessee developed evaluation guidelines to help direct efforts toward quality evidence to information decision-making. In 2024, the state released a learning agenda in partnership with the governor’s office and departments across the enterprise. OEI also helps departments engage external research partners to evaluate state programs.

Tennessee leverages a longitudinal data system, TN DATA, to link education, workforce, human services, children’s services, and economic development data at the individual level to produce insights for programmatic investments. Templatized data sharing documents and policies have been in place since 2017 and have facilitated over 100 external and internal data use projects. 

Tennessee’s templatized data sharing documents and long-established governance policies have also enabled a rapid expansion of data integration and sharing with additional state agencies. In 2023, the Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) established memoranda of understanding with the Tennessee Department of Health, Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service, the Division of TennCare, and the Tennessee Department of Correction to integrate individual health and criminal justice data in the cloud-based TN DATA integrated data system.

Tennessee’s Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) defined five evidence steps. The Office also completed inventories of state- and federally-funded program areas including corrections, mental health, substance abuse services, early literacy, labor and workforce, economic development, and higher education as a part of the state’s evidence-based budgeting initiative. Several evidence-based programs are directly administered by state staff and agencies submit updated program outcome data to OEI annually. Currently, 40 of these programs are evidence-based and over $2.3 billion state and federal are invested annually.

Beginning in FY20-21, the Tennessee budget instructions aligned the governor’s priorities with agency strategic plans. The instructions also encourage agencies to invest in programs that are supported by research and evidence. The cost increase and base reduction support forms invite agencies to, within their budget requests, highlight their programs’ level of evidence based on the five evidence steps defined by the state’s Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI), as well as the most recent performance data.

OEI reviews each submission and provides the Budget Office and Governor’s Office with a summary report for use in the budget process. The summary report objectively presents the evidentiary information and any available data for each programmatic budget request to inform the governor’s decisions regarding those requests. Departments may choose to leverage this information in presentations to the legislature.

Since 2023, Tennessee has also implemented targets for the percentage of cost increase requests dedicated to evidence-based programs. These targets aim to strategically allocate funding towards initiatives that have been proven to improve outcomes for residents, thereby ensuring that public resources are invested in programs with a demonstrated impact.

Tennessee’s Governmental Accountability Act of 2013 established a statewide performance management system, Transparent Tennessee, managed by the Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG). The Office of Customer Focused Government and the state’s Chief Operating Officer continuously track and monitor performance data and report publicly available operational performance on Transparent Tennessee’s dashboards, which include specific goals, targets, and performance data for each of the state’s strategic priorities. Delving deeper into the performance management tool, citizens can see both Key Operational Goals and Strategic Initiatives for each of the 23 cabinet level departments. CFG provides a structured approach for departments to stretch their Key Operational Goals and Strategic Initiatives in a way that provides targeted improvement to service and program delivery statewide, which ultimately promotes equitable access to high-quality, responsive governance. The site also includes state fiscal data as well as Citizen Dashboard links, which guide users to key metrics at the department level.

The Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives mobilizes Tennessee’s Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) to unite with state government in serving vulnerable Tennesseans.

The Tennessee Governor has five priorities: education and workforce development, jobs and rural economic development, transparent and efficient government, Healthier Tennessee, and public safety and criminal justice reform. Specific metrics tied to the success of each priority are publicly displayed on Transparent TN. The Governor’s five priorities set the foundation for each cabinet-level department to create annual strategic plans, which drive department operations each year from October through the following September. In addition, through Tennessee’s Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG), statewide and agency goals are aligned in a deliberative operational planning process. CFG plans serve as the operational plans tracking key customer service areas and operations for each department. Each department’s operational goals and subsequent performance measures must focus on key service offerings (customer-facing services); budget, finance, and accounting; human capital and talent management; technology systems and equipment; and legal, audit, and risk management.