Step 01
Data ingestion overview
Public budgets, procurement records, contracts, payment ledgers, audits, and agency documents are indexed from city, county, and state sources.
Product Education
How followthemoney.xxx turns records into readable civic intelligence
Built for public clarity first: summary, evidence, and methodology in one flow.
Step 02
Normalization methods
Line items and vendor names are normalized across fiscal years while preserving the original source text for auditability.
Step 03
Anomaly logic
Pattern signals include concentration shifts, unusual growth, repeated amendments, and threshold-adjacent clusters.
Step 04
AI explanation layer
AI generates plain-language summaries and investigation prompts from evidence payloads. It does not replace deterministic calculations.
Step 05
Source traceability
Every finding references source records, date coverage, and extraction confidence to support verification.
Step 06
Limitations
Coverage differs by jurisdiction and source quality. Pattern indicators are designed to prioritize review, not assign legal conclusions.
AI Label
AI-assisted summary and explanation blocks are explicitly labeled.
Evidence Label
Every pattern view links to documents, records, and date coverage.
Scope Label
Pattern indicators are review prompts, not legal conclusions.