What we look for online | The Data Branch

The two kinds sit on different pages, usually kept by different people, so check both tabs. The platforms are real; the example agencies and data are fictional. Highlighted rows are what we read.

A board or council packet with the bills list attached

Seven in ten of the links we get

https://go.boarddocs.com/xx/alderbrook/Board.nsf/Public

ALDERBROOK BOARD OF EDUCATION Meetings Agendas Policies Search

Regular Meeting · March 12, 2026 · 7:00 PM

Agenda | Minutes | Video

6. CONSENT AGENDA
6.01 Approval of Minutes — February 26, 2026
6.02 Approval of Bills and Payroll

Recommended action: approve the attached bills list in the amount of $1,847,203.16.

Bills List — March 2026.pdf412 KB

Warrant Detail — March 2026.xlsx96 KB

6.03 Approval of Personnel Report
6.04 Acceptance of Donations
7. ACTION ITEMS
7.01 Award of Bid — Roof Replacement, Alderbrook High School

Not the motion text — the attachment, plus any bid award further down the agenda.

Platforms that look like this

BoardDocs (Diligent)go.boarddocs.com/<state>/<agency>/Board.nsf/Public
Simbli (eBOARDsolutions)simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/…
BoardBook (TASB)boardbook.org
Granicus / Legistar<agency>.legistar.com
CivicClerk / CivicPlus<agency>.portal.civicclerk.com, <agency>.civicweb.net
NovusAGENDA, Diligent Communitynovusagenda.com, <agency>.diligent.community

BoardDocs and Simbli are most of the links we get. If your packets are on either, you already publish a monthly bills list.

What it's usually called: Approval of Bills, Warrants, Claims List, Register of Demands, Abstract of Audited Vouchers. Different name in every state, same document.
Where it usually lives: Your agenda platform. In many cases the packet is already publicly posted, so sending the URL is enough.
What we take from it: The attachment, not the agenda — vendor, date, amount, month after month. Merged PDFs are fine; we will find the pages.

A transparency portal or open checkbook

Next most common

https://checkbook.cityofmarren.gov/vendor-payments

CITY OF MARREN · OPEN CHECKBOOK Budget Payments Contracts Downloads

Vendor Payments

Every disbursement over $0, updated monthly. 148,302 records.

Payment date	Vendor	Department	Expense category	Check #	Amount
2026-02-27	Ridgeline Fleet Services	Public Works	Vehicle Maintenance	0114882	18,406.55
2026-02-27	Cardinal Office Supply Co.	City Clerk	Office Supplies	0114883	1,229.04
2026-02-24	Halden Water Technologies	Water Utility	Chemicals	0114861	42,970.00
2026-02-24	Brightpath Paving LLC	Streets	Capital Improvement	0114862	311,500.00
2026-02-20	Meridian Software Group	Information Technology	Software Licensing	0114840	67,812.00

If there is an Export button, that link is all we need.

Platforms that look like this

Tyler Data & Insights<agency>.finance.socrata.com, opendata.<state>.gov
ClearGovcleargov.com/<state>/<county>/<agency>
OpenGov<agency>.opengov.com
Munetrix, Questica / Eunabudget and spend dashboards, K-12 and municipal
A page your own IT builta table, a filter and a CSV link is all we need

Tyler Data & Insights is the current name for Socrata. Those expose a CSV and JSON endpoint, so we take the data from there and never touch the rest of your site.

What it's usually called: Transparency, Open Checkbook, Check Register, Vendor Payments, Expenditures.
Where it usually lives: Linked from your Finance or Transparency page. Usually built once and left running, so nobody has to produce anything.
What we take from it: Vendor, date, amount, department. Range matters most: two or three years is what makes a comparison work, so if a longer export exists than the page shows, tell us.

A finance page that is just a list of PDF links

Overlooked, and it counts

https://www.alderbrookschools.org/departments/finance/accounts-payable-check-registers

ALDERBROOK SCHOOL DISTRICT District Departments Board Families

Accounts Payable — Check Registers

Home › Departments › Business Office › Accounts Payable

2025–26

Check Register — February 2026PDF · 318 KB
Check Register — January 2026PDF · 292 KB
Check Register — December 2025PDF · 341 KB
Check Register — November 2025PDF · 287 KB

2024–25

Check Register — June 2025PDF · 356 KB
Check Register — May 2025PDF · 303 KB
Annual Vendor Payment Summary FY25XLSX · 1.2 MB

A plain page of PDF links is worth as much as a polished portal, often more, because it goes back further.

Where these usually sit

Your own CMS/departments/finance/…, /business-office/budget-and-expenditures
A document portallaserfiche.<agency>.org, portal.laserfiche.com/<id>
A shared drive linka public Google Drive or SharePoint folder, which also works
Finalsite, Apptegy, ParentSquareK-12 site platforms that host the files behind the page

A folder link counts — several agencies have answered with nothing but a Drive or SharePoint URL. If it needs an account, tell us and we stop trying.

What it's usually called: Check Registers, Accounts Payable, Warrants, Expenditures, Financial Reports.
Where it usually lives: Your own site, under Business Office or Finance. Usually three or four clicks deep and never linked from the homepage, which is why we ask instead of searching.
What we take from it: Every file on the page. Send the list page, not one file. If the page stays public, it also means we can refer back to it later instead of sending another request for the same type of record.

A single register PDF that gets replaced each month

Easy to miss

check-register-current.pdf 1 / 14 100% ↓

                          Town of Whitfield
                      Accounts Payable Check Register
                    Check Dates 02/01/2026 to 02/28/2026

Run Date: 03/02/2026                                        Page 1 of 14

Check #   Check Date  Vendor                          Invoice        Amount
-------   ----------  ------------------------------  ----------  ----------
 0088431  02/04/2026  RIDGELINE FLEET SERVICES        INV-77120     4,182.90
 0088432  02/04/2026  CARDINAL OFFICE SUPPLY CO       884-0219        612.44
 0088433  02/04/2026  HALDEN WATER TECHNOLOGIES       HW-2026-118  21,485.00
 0088434  02/11/2026  BRIGHTPATH PAVING LLC           2026-0034   155,750.00
 0088435  02/11/2026  NORTHGATE UNIFORM & SUPPLY      NG-41882      3,207.18
 0088436  02/11/2026  MERIDIAN SOFTWARE GROUP         MSG-9921     33,906.00
 0088437  02/18/2026  ALDERBROOK TIRE & AUTO          A-55210       1,944.72
 0088438  02/18/2026  PINEHURST ELECTRIC SUPPLY       PE-70448      8,115.60
 0088439  02/25/2026  RIDGELINE FLEET SERVICES        INV-77390     6,022.15
 0088440  02/25/2026  SUMMIT GROUNDS MAINTENANCE      SG-2026-02   12,400.00
                                                                 ----------
                                            Page total            247,625.99

The URL never changes, so each month overwrites the last. If you keep the old ones anywhere, even an unlinked folder, send that instead.

How this one usually shows up

A fixed filename/files/check-register-current.pdf, /docs/ap-register.pdf
A dated filename/files/check-register-2026-02.pdf — better, because the old ones survive
Linked from one pagea Finance or Transparency page with a single “current register” link

A dated filename helps most. Keeping last month's file at its own URL costs nothing and means the record still exists in five years.

What it's usually called: Current Check Register, Monthly Warrant Report, AP Register, Monthly Disbursements. A straight print from your finance system.
Where it usually lives: One link on a Finance or Transparency page. Older months usually sit in a folder somewhere — nobody deletes them, they just stop being linked.
What we take from it: Check number, date, vendor, amount. Scans are fine. We cannot recover months already overwritten, so an archive link is worth more than the current file.

A statewide system your agency already reports into

Statewide

https://openbook.<state>.gov/payments?agency=alderbrook

STATE TRANSPARENCY · PAYMENTS TO VENDORS Agencies Schools Local Government Downloads

Alderbrook School District

Reported payments, FY2021 – FY2026 · 41,880 records · updated quarterly

Fiscal year	Payee	Object / category	Fund	Amount
2026	Meridian Software Group	Technology Services	General	67,812.00
2026	Northgate Uniform & Supply	Supplies	General	14,330.82
2025	Summit Grounds Maintenance	Purchased Services	Operations	803,500.00
2025	Brightpath Paving LLC	Capital Outlay	Capital Projects	1,244,000.00

Send the link, and say how your agency appears in it. Names rarely match between a state file and anywhere else, and matching them up is most of the work.

Systems of this kind

State transparency sitescomptroller, treasurer or Department of Administration spending portals
State open-data portalsopendata.<state>.gov, data.<state>.gov
State education agenciesdistrict financial reporting, vendor payment files
Statewide e-procurementthe system you file awards into as a condition of purchasing

Coverage is uneven: some states publish every local payment, some only state agencies, some a summary too aggregated to use. Telling us none covers you is just as useful.

What it's usually called: OpenBook, Open Checkbook, Payments to Vendors, Spending. Run by a comptroller, treasurer or Department of Administration.
Where it usually lives: Not on your site. You file into it, the state publishes it. "We don't post anything, but we report into X" is a useful answer.
What we take from it: The bulk download for your agency. Granularity is the problem: state files are often one row per object code per year, which does not show what was bought. Your own export is better.

Contracts are published in more places than payments are — your own site, a bid portal, a contracts page, an open-data register, a statewide system, a cooperative. Most agencies use three or four at once. Send whatever you have.

Your agency Send the link Solicitations, awards, bid tabulations, agreements. Nobody else holds these. Shapes 01–04
Your state Send the link, and name yours Term contracts you may purchase under. Naming the ones you use connects a published rate to a real purchase. Shape 05
A cooperative Send the link, and name yours Sourcewell, BuyBoard, NASPO ValuePoint. Which ones you belong to is not public anywhere. Shape 06

Send it even if you think we already have it. Our coverage is uneven and systems get renamed. The one thing we cannot get anywhere else is which contract your purchase order was written against.

Your own bids and awards page

Award notices and bid tabs

https://www.alderbrookschools.org/departments/purchasing/bids-and-awards

ALDERBROOK SCHOOL DISTRICT District Departments Board Families

Bids, RFPs and Awards

Home › Departments › Purchasing

Open solicitations

RFP 26-018 — Student Transportation Routing Softwaredue 04/09/2026
IFB 26-019 — Cafeteria Equipment, Districtwidedue 04/22/2026

Awarded

RFP 26-014 — Districtwide Janitorial Services — Notice of AwardPDF · 210 KB
RFP 26-014 — Executed Agreement and Pricing SchedulePDF · 1.4 MB
IFB 25-207 — Asphalt Overlay — Bid TabulationPDF · 96 KB
IFB 25-160 — Water Treatment Chemicals — Award and Unit PricingPDF · 488 KB

The awarded part, not the open solicitations — especially anything with pricing, tabulation or schedule in the filename.

Where these usually sit

Your own CMS/purchasing, /bids, /procurement, /rfps, /doing-business-with-us
A document portallaserfiche.<agency>.org, portal.laserfiche.com/<id>
Inside the board packetthe bid-award action item, which is shape 01 on the other tab
A shared drive linka public Google Drive or SharePoint folder, which also works

Many agencies post the award notice but not the agreement, because nobody asked. If only one is online, post the one with the pricing schedule.

What it's usually called: Bids & RFPs, Solicitations, Awards, Bid Results, Bid Tabulations. On a smaller site the awards are the bottom of the bids page.
Where it usually lives: Under Purchasing or Procurement, kept by whoever runs the solicitation. Often more current than anything on the finance side of the same site.
What we take from it: Award notice, bid tabulation, executed agreement. The tabulation is the most useful and the most often left off — every bidder's price for one specification. We skip open bids.

An e-procurement portal your agency runs

Your own portal

https://cordellcounty.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=closedProjects

CORDELL COUNTY · PURCHASING Open Solicitations Awards Vendor Registration

Awarded Contracts

Active and expired awards, searchable by vendor, commodity or solicitation number.

Solicitation #	Title	Awarded vendor	Award date	Term	Not-to-exceed	Documents
RFP 26-014	Districtwide Janitorial Services	Summit Grounds Maintenance	2026-01-21	3 yr + 2 opt	2,410,000	4 files
IFB 25-207	Asphalt Overlay, District 4	Brightpath Paving LLC	2025-11-06	1 yr	4,180,500	3 files
RFP 25-188	ERP Hosting & Support	Meridian Software Group	2025-09-18	5 yr	1,975,600	6 files
IFB 25-160	Water Treatment Chemicals	Halden Water Technologies	2025-07-02	2 yr	890,000	3 files

IFB 25-160 — Water Treatment Chemicals Award documents · Pricing schedule, page 3

Item	Description	Unit	Est. annual qty	Unit price	Extended
1	Sodium hypochlorite, 12.5%	gallon	96,000	1.7400	167,040.00
2	Liquid aluminum sulfate	ton	1,150	312.5000	359,375.00
3	Hydrofluosilicic acid, 23%	ton	210	648.0000	136,080.00

The row gives who and how much. The pricing schedule is what makes a contract comparable — a unit price another agency can hold against its own quote.

Platforms that look like this

Bonfire<agency>.bonfirehub.com/portal
Vendor Registryvrapp.vendorregistry.com/…
IonWave<agency>.ionwave.net
BidExpress, Periscope / BidNet Directbidexpress.com, bidnetdirect.com
OpenGov Procurement, Munis / Tyler bid portalsbundled with the finance system you already run
Your own Bids pageshape 01 above — a plain page of PDFs, which counts just as much

Open solicitations usually need a vendor login; the awarded tab stays public. A portal that looks closed from the front page is often readable one click in.

What it's usually called: Awarded Contracts, Bid Results, Awards, Solicitations — Closed.
Where it usually lives: Purchasing or Procurement. The awarded tab is normally public even when open solicitations need a vendor login.
What we take from it: Vendor, date, term and value from the row, then the pricing schedule in the documents. We skip open bids. The row alone is still worth having.

A contracts page with the agreements attached

Where the pricing actually is

https://www.cityofmarren.gov/finance/contracts

CITY OF MARREN Government Departments Services Transparency

Contracts and Agreements

Executed contracts above $25,000, posted as required. Home › Finance › Contracts

2026

Professional Services Agreement — Meridian Software Group — ERP HostingPDF · 2.1 MB
Exhibit B — Pricing Schedule — Meridian Software GroupPDF · 184 KB
Amendment No. 2 — Meridian Software Group — Rate AdjustmentPDF · 96 KB
Master Agreement — Summit Grounds Maintenance — Janitorial ServicesPDF · 1.8 MB
Exhibit A — Unit Pricing by Facility — Summit Grounds MaintenancePDF · 212 KB

2025

Supply Agreement — Halden Water Technologies — Treatment ChemicalsPDF · 1.1 MB
Interlocal Agreement — Cordell County — Shared Fleet MaintenancePDF · 640 KB

The exhibit is the file that matters — the agreement names the winner, the exhibit gives the unit prices. Amendments post separately, so send the page, not one document.

Where these usually sit

Your own CMS/contracts, /finance/contracts, /transparency/contracts, /legal/agreements
A public document repositoryLaserfiche or OnBase public portal, browsable by folder
Attached to a board action itemthe executed agreement filed with the award vote
A statutory posting pagea page that exists because state law requires contracts above a threshold to be published

The statutory ones are worth looking for. Where a state requires posting contracts above a threshold, the page exists and is complete but is often linked from nowhere. Illinois districts publish under the School Code; equivalents exist elsewhere.

What it's usually called: Contracts, Agreements, Executed Contracts, Interlocal Agreements. Unlike the bids page, this one is organised by contract or vendor.
Where it usually lives: Finance, Legal or the Clerk's office — rarely Purchasing, which is why it is easy to miss. Kept by whoever holds the signed originals.
What we take from it: The agreement, its pricing exhibit and every amendment. The exhibit holds the unit prices, which is what makes a contract more useful than a payment record: it shows the agreed rate, not just the total paid.

A searchable contract register, or a contract dataset

The best answer on this page

https://data.cityofmarren.gov/procurement/supplier-contracts

CITY OF MARREN · OPEN DATA Datasets API Developers About

Supplier Contracts

3,914 rows · updated nightly · every active and expired contract since FY2018

Contract #	Supplier	Department	Category	Start	End	Not-to-exceed	Docs
C-26-0441	Meridian Software Group	Information Technology	Software & Hosting	2025-10-01	2030-09-30	1,975,600	3
C-26-0398	Summit Grounds Maintenance	Facilities	Janitorial	2026-02-01	2029-01-31	2,410,000	4
C-25-0287	Halden Water Technologies	Water Utility	Chemicals	2025-07-01	2027-06-30	890,000	2
C-25-0166	Brightpath Paving LLC	Streets	Construction	2025-11-15	2026-11-14	4,180,500	5

One link here replaces a records request. The rows give vendor, term and value; the documents give unit prices.

Real systems of this kind

Contract transparency portalscontracts.ocp.dc.gov (Washington DC); CTsource Contract Board (Connecticut)
Comptroller contract searchOpen Book New York contract search, run by the state comptroller
City vendor / contract searchChicago's vendor, contract and payment search — contracts, modifications and bid tabulations
Open-data contract datasetsSocrata / Tyler Data & Insights: DataSF Supplier Contracts, Montgomery County MD Contracts
Statutory disclosure portalsChicago Public Schools contract awards, published under the Illinois School Code
Open Contracting Data Standardbulk JSON, Excel and CSV, where a publisher has adopted it

Most browse without a login even where ordering needs one, and most expose a CSV or API next to the table. We take the export rather than reading the page.

What it's usually called: Contract Register, Active Contracts, Supplier Contracts, Contract Search, Contract Board. Some are a page, some a row in a data catalogue.
Where it usually lives: An open-data portal, or a procurement transparency site separate from your main website. Built once and left running, so it stays current on its own.
What we take from it: The export or API, then the documents on each row. If there is a download link, that URL is the most useful thing you can send us — complete, current, machine-readable.

Your state's contract database

Statewide

https://contracts.<state>.gov/statewide-term-contracts/search

STATE PROCUREMENT · STATEWIDE TERM CONTRACTS Search Categories Vendors Who May Use

Statewide Term Contracts

Competitively awarded by the state. Available to state agencies, and in most categories to school districts, cities and counties as well.

Contract #	Category	Vendor	Effective	Expires	Who may use	Docs
STC-4412	Janitorial Supplies	Northgate Uniform & Supply	2024-07-01	2027-06-30	State, local, K-12	Pricing
STC-4530	Water Treatment Chemicals	Halden Water Technologies	2025-01-01	2027-12-31	State, local	Pricing
STC-4602	Light & Medium Duty Vehicles	Ridgeline Fleet Services	2025-09-01	2028-08-31	State, local, K-12	Pricing
STC-4655	Office Supplies	Cardinal Office Supply Co.	2026-01-01	2028-12-31	State, local, K-12	Pricing

Send the link even if you assume we have it. Then tell us which of these contracts you actually buy under — nobody outside your office can supply that.

Real systems of this kind

TexasComptroller statewide contracts search; LBB Searchable Database of Texas Contracts
VirginiaeVA statewide contracts — eva.virginia.gov
CaliforniaCal eProcure — leveraged procurement agreements, CMAS, master agreements
PennsylvaniaeMarketplace — emarketplace.state.pa.us; COSTARS for local entities
OhioOhioBuys — procure.ohio.gov
Georgia, FloridaTeam Georgia Marketplace; MyFloridaMarketPlace

Nearly every state runs one, under a different name each time. Several also publish a separate database of the state's own awarded contracts above a threshold, which is equally useful.

What it's usually called: Statewide Term Contracts, Master Agreements, Centralized Contracts, Mandatory Use Contracts. Run by the state comptroller, DGS or department of administration.
Where it usually lives: Not on your site — the state publishes it. Most portals need a login to order but not to browse, and browsing is all we do.
What we take from it: The contract list and pricing attachments. Send the link, and say which contracts you actually buy under. Only your office knows that, and it is what connects a published rate to a real purchase.

A purchasing cooperative's contract

Cooperative

https://www.<cooperative>.org/contracts/041521-RFS

PURCHASING COOPERATIVE · AWARDED CONTRACT Contracts Suppliers Members How It Works

041521-RFS — Fleet Vehicles and Related Services

Awarded through a competitive solicitation on behalf of member agencies nationwide.

Field	Value
Awarded supplier	Ridgeline Fleet Services
Contract number	041521-RFS
Term	2025-06-01 → 2029-05-31
Category	Light & medium duty vehicles, upfitting, maintenance
Who may purchase	Member agencies: K-12, higher ed, cities, counties, special districts
Documents	Pricing catalog (PDF) Solicitation Award notice

Send the contract page or just the number. What we cannot see from outside is that your district bought three buses under it last March — only your purchase order shows that.

Cooperatives of this kind

SourcewellK-12, higher ed, cities, counties, nonprofits
NASPO ValuePointmulti-state, led by state procurement offices; IT and large commodities
OMNIA Partnersformerly National IPA and U.S. Communities; state and local
BuyBoardTexas-founded, K-12 and local government
TIPSK-12 and public agencies, national
E&I Cooperative Serviceshigher education, member-owned
State and regional co-opsCOSTARS in Pennsylvania, 1GPA, Choice Partners, regional ESC co-ops

A co-op negotiates the rate in advance. A comparison lets you check afterwards whether it was a good one.

What it's usually called: A cooperative contract, piggyback contract, interlocal agreement, or simply "we bought off Sourcewell." On a purchase order it is usually a bare contract number in a reference field.
Where it usually lives: On the cooperative's site, fully public, pricing attached. Nothing needs releasing. Your board minutes recording the decision are often the only public record on your side.
What we take from it: The pricing catalog, plus which co-ops you belong to. The field we are missing is the contract number on your purchase order. If your PO or AP export carries it, say so — that column links your spend to a published rate.

If it's already posted, nobody has to send us anything.

This is what a page we can read actually looks like.

A board or council packet with the bills list attached

A transparency portal or open checkbook

A finance page that is just a list of PDF links

A single register PDF that gets replaced each month

A statewide system your agency already reports into

Your own bids and awards page

An e-procurement portal your agency runs

A contracts page with the agreements attached

A searchable contract register, or a contract dataset

Your state's contract database

A purchasing cooperative's contract

Only what you already publish.

Five places to look first.

One reply. However many links that takes.