Playbooks — a guided experience
Get up to speed on an agency before a meeting.
You've got a meeting with — or about — an agency you barely know, and not much time. Here's how to build a fast, rounded, defensible picture: how it's doing, where its money goes, what an independent analyst thinks, what it's said in public, and what's coming — using public sources, in the order you'd actually use them.
The path: Performance → the money → an independent read → public statements & the record → what's next.
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The question
How is this agency actually performing?
The source to reach for
DMMR — Dynamic Mayor's Management Report
Official Bulk downloadThe interactive version of the Charter-mandated Mayor's Management Report: 1,000+ performance indicators across ~45 agencies, with multi-year comparisons, all downloadable.
Open your agency's section and skim its headline performance indicators with the multi-year trend. Note where a metric is improving, slipping, or flat — that's your first read on where the pressure is.What you'll find
A structured set of indicators for the agency, each with several years of values so you can see direction, not just a snapshot. It's the city's own scorecard, which makes it a safe thing to cite in a meeting.
Honest limit, straight from the source: indicators are what agencies choose to report; read them as performance signals, not the whole story.
Handoff: you know how the agency reports it's doing. Now follow the money — what it spends and what it's buying.
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The question
Where does its money go — and what is it buying?
The source to reach for
Official Bulk downloadThe Comptroller's transparency site for city spending, contracts, budget, revenue, and payroll.
Filter to your agency and a single fiscal year, then look at spending by category and its largest contracts. Be precise about fiscal year and spending category so your numbers are defensible.Then see what's being procured
Official Web onlyNYC's end-to-end procurement platform. PASSport Public (2022) lets anyone browse vendors, solicitations (RFx), and contracts.
Browse the agency's open solicitations and active contracts to see what it's buying right now and from whom. This is the procurement-stage view — pair it with Checkbook to see what was actually spent.What the data looks like
Spending and contract records are typically one row per transaction or contract. You're working with column shapes like these (no need to invent values):
- From Checkbook: spend by category and the agency's largest vendors, for a chosen fiscal year.
- From PASSport: what's being procured now — solicitations and contracts in flight.
Stay conservative: procurement-stage data and actual spend are different views; cite each for what it is and reconcile them rather than mixing them.
Handoff: you have the agency's own numbers and its contracts. Now get a read that isn't the administration's framing.
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The question
What does an independent analyst say about its finances?
The source to reach for
Independent Budget Office (IBO)
Official Web onlyNonpartisan analysis of the city's budget and finances.
Look for IBO reports and analyses that touch your agency or its programs to get an independent read separate from the administration's framing. Use it to pressure-test the numbers you gathered in steps 1 and 2.What you'll find
- Nonpartisan reports and analyses that contextualize the agency's budget and programs.
- An outside perspective you can weigh against the agency's own performance and spending data.
- Framing and questions that help you sound informed rather than credulous in the meeting.
Worth knowing: it's analysis and reports, not a live data feed — publication-paced — so the most recent report may predate the latest fiscal year.
Handoff: you have an independent read on the money. Now hear what the agency has said in public — and find the official record behind it.
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The question
What has it said in public — and what's the official record?
The source to reach for
Independent Web onlySame-day, AI-with-human-oversight transcription of Council and Charter Revision Commission meetings, broken into skimmable, citable chapters linked to the video and transcript. Free, with a newsletter.
Search recent oversight and budget hearings for your agency and skim the chapters where its leadership testified. Note the commitments and concerns in their own words — and grab the citable links.Then confirm against the official record
Official Web onlyThe Council's system of record: bills (“Intros”), resolutions, the hearing calendar, committee agendas, minutes, votes, and webcasts.
Pull the committee agenda, minutes, and votes for the hearing you found, to confirm the official record behind the testimony. Agendas rarely capture what was said — use them for the authoritative status, not the substance.What you'll find
- From citymeetings.nyc: the agency's actual testimony, broken into skimmable, citable chapters with video.
- From Legistar: the official committee agenda, minutes, and votes that frame the hearing.
- Together: what was said and what's on the record — enough to quote accurately and confidently.
Worth knowing: citymeetings can have occasional AI transcription errors and covers the Council and the Charter Revision Commission only; Legistar's UI is dense and dated. Cross-check a decisive quote between them.
Handoff: you know what's been said and recorded. Last, look ahead — what notices, hearings, and deadlines are coming.
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The question
What's coming up that I should know about?
The source to reach for
Official Web onlyThe city's daily journal of record: procurement notices (≥ $100k), public hearings, rulemaking, property dispositions, and official notices. Free email alerts.
Search for your agency's notices and set up free email alerts so upcoming hearings, procurement notices, and deadlines come to you. Skim with alerts rather than reading cover to cover.What this gets you
- A forward calendar: the agency's upcoming hearings, procurement notices, and rulemaking.
- Deadlines you can plan around — comment windows, bid dates, and public hearings.
- An alert subscription so you stay current after the meeting, not just before it.
Worth knowing: it's notice-dense and formal, which is exactly why the email alerts matter — let them surface the items that touch your agency.
That's the trail. You moved from a name on a calendar invite to a rounded picture — performance, money, an independent read, public statements, and what's next.
You now have…
- A performance read — the agency's own indicators and trends, from the DMMR.
- The money — what it spends (Checkbook) and what it's buying (PASSport).
- An independent check — a nonpartisan read on the finances, from the IBO.
- Public statements — leadership testimony (citymeetings.nyc) against the official record (Legistar).
- A forward calendar — upcoming notices, hearings, and deadlines, from the City Record.
Keep going
Conservative by design: source descriptions are quoted from the verified Directory, agency and program names are checked, and no figures are invented. Performance and procurement data are read for what they are, and decisive numbers are reconciled across sources.