Case Study: Connecticut Open Data achieves rapid COVID-19 transparency and actionable school-reopening guidance with Tyler Technologies

How open data guided local decision making during the pandemic

Connecticut’s Open Data Portal, launched in 2014, is the state’s unified platform for sharing public datasets with 3.5 million residents. When COVID‑19 hit in 2020, demand for timely, actionable data exploded and static PDF reports from public health proved inadequate for the public, media, and local leaders making critical decisions about school and business closures.

State officials used Tyler Technologies’ cloud-based data platform (Socrata) to publish COVID‑19 datasets, APIs, dashboards, and visual narratives, enabling self-service access and cross-agency collaboration. The portal replaced PDFs with up‑to‑date state, county, and town data, driving an 8–10x increase in traffic, informing School Learning Model Indicators for districts serving 500,000+ students, and improving decision making while reducing infrastructure and maintenance burdens.

Connecticut Open Data

Pauline Zaldonis

Coordinator