Open Government Dashboard to track agency transparency

The White House launched today what it calls its Open Government Dashboard to keep track of how federal agencies are progressing in their mandates to make information better accessible to the public.

Part progress report, part information guide, the online dashboard was announced in a blog by national chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra and chief information officer Vivek Kundra. The officials launched the dashboard in their attempt to make government information transparent and accessible, an endeavor that President Obama said would lead to efficiencies and greater engagement between the public and agencies.

In the dashboard, agencies including the Justice, Commerce and Energy departments are given the grades on goals each outlined to make the agency more open. The grades are "meets expectations," "progress toward expectations" and "fails to meet expectations."

In April, the White House will supplement the dashboard with more features on agencies' goals and assessments on their progress.