This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Melnus
The Problem: "Vanity Metrics" in the Public Sector
Governments love big numbers.
"Total budget: $100M!" "Cumulative users: 30,000!"
In the startup world, we call these "Vanity Metrics"—numbers that look good on paper but mean nothing in reality. They often hide the denominator (population or actual needs) to create an illusion of success.
I live in Kashiwa City, Japan. Recently, the city proudly announced "3,000 users!" for a new app project. It sounded impressive until I ran a simple calculation:
City Population: 430,000
Penetration Rate: 0.7%
It wasn't a success. It was a statistical error.
I realized we needed a standardized framework to debug these "political bugs." So, I built one.
The Solution: Standard Block Comparison Method (SBCM)
I developed a logic called SBCM. It normalizes huge, vague numbers into a "Standard Block"—the capacity of a single average municipality.
1. The Algorithm
Instead of looking at the raw number ($V$), we calculate the Effectiveness Impact ($I$).
Where $B$ (Standard Block) is defined as:
- P (Population): Total population of the country (e.g., Japan: 124M)
- N (Number): Total number of basic municipalities (Japan: 1,718)
- R (Ratio): Target audience ratio (0.0 - 1.0)
By using $N=1718$ as a constant, we define "How many average towns could this project cover?"
2. The Verdict Logic (v2.0)
I codified the criteria to judge the "Social Implementation Stage."
| Impact ($I$) | Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| I < 1.0 | Error Level | 💀 Does not even cover 1 municipality. |
| 1.0 <= I < 17 | Localized | ⚠️ Less than 1% national reach. Experimental. |
| 17 <= I < 172 | Penetration | 🚀 1% - 10%. "One per classroom" level. |
| I >= 859 | Social OS | 👑 Over 50%. Infrastructure like water/electricity. |
The Code: Building the CLI Tool 🛠️
I implemented this logic as a Python CLI tool. It uses argparse for easy input and pandas for analyzing financial datasets.
sbcm-calc: Simple Calculator
A tool to verify single metrics instantly.
def calculate_impact(value, population, target_ratio=1.0):
municipalities = 1718
standard_block = (population * target_ratio) / municipalities
return value / standard_block
# Usage: 3,000 users vs 124M population
# Result: Impact = 0.04 (Verdict: Error Level)
sbcm-audit: Budget Portfolio Analysis
This is the core feature. It loads a CSV of government spending (Financial Statements) and calculates the "Budget Distortion Index ($D_{index}$)".
If $D_{index}$ is extremely high, it means "High Cost, Low Reach"—a classic sign of Pork-barrel projects (wasteful spending).
Result Visualization (The Matrix):
- Quadrant 1 (High Cost / High Reach): Infrastructure ✅
- Quadrant 2 (Low Cost / High Reach): Innovation (Good DX) 💎
- Quadrant 4 (High Cost / Low Reach): Distortion (Audit Required) 🚨
Demo: Auditing Kashiwa City 🇯🇵
I ran this tool against my city's financial report.
python budget_distortion_analyzer.py kashiwa_data.csv --pop 435000
Output:
Project A (Tablets): Budget $10M | Impact 0.5 | Distortion 20.0 -> 🚨 Q4 (Distorted)
Project B (App): Budget $2.5M | Impact 0.01 | Distortion 200.0 -> 🚨 Q4 (Distorted)
Project C (Station): Budget $7M | Impact 3.0 | Distortion 0.1 -> 💎 Q2 (Efficient)
It successfully detected that the Tablet project and the App project were highly inefficient compared to infrastructure investments.
Tech Stack
- Python 3.10+
- Pandas: For data manipulation.
- NumPy: For Monte Carlo simulations (to verify statistical robustness).
- Matplotlib: For visualizing the distortion matrix.
Try It Yourself!
I open-sourced this project. You can find the Python scripts, AI prompts for parsing PDFs, and Google Sheets formulas in the repo.
If you are interested in Civic Tech, Data Journalism, or Open Government, please check it out and give it a ⭐!
👉 GitHub: Standard-Block-Comparison-Method
Let's debug our governments with code. 💻🏛️
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Melnus
Melnus | Sciencx (2025-11-28T04:45:48+00:00) [ShowDev] I Built an Open-Source “Audit Tool” to Detect Government Waste Using Python & Math 🐍📊. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/11/28/showdev-i-built-an-open-source-audit-tool-to-detect-government-waste-using-python-math-%f0%9f%90%8d%f0%9f%93%8a/
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