City of Abbotsford UBCM Awards Submission 2005 Best Practices, City Website. Project Summary

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1 City of Abbotsford UBCM Awards Submission 2005 Best Practices, City Website Project Summary The City of Abbotsford s website was re-designed in January 2005 with a focus on improving customer service and ease of navigation for visitors. The goal was to make City services and information easy to find and reference in an attractive online environment. Bright new, graphics make visiting the site a pleasant experience and a re-designed navigation tools and a search engine make it easy for visitors to browse and find very specific information. Online information is presented in a clear and concise format and many of the City s services can be ordered and administered online, including Home Owners Grant Applications, license renewals and many property services such as searches, building permit updates and tax certificates. The end result is a bright, pleasant virtual City Hall, which is portal into a rapidly growing and diverse community. For more information contact: Jay Teichroeb Economic Development Manager City of Abbotsford Tel: jteichroeb@abbotsford.ca

2 City of Abbotsford UBCM Awards Submission Best Practices, City Website Project Report Website Overview The City of Abbotsford launched a new website on January 17, Site information was re-organized and evaluated by a staff committee beginning in August Staff worked with managers to prioritize department services and information and key stakeholders in each department had a venue for input and suggestions. A local design firm, Circle Graphics, was contracted to re-design the site in January The main criteria for the re-design was to make a bright and fun interface that was easy to navigate. This was achieved by de-cluttering the homepage and breaking it down into four categories: Online Services, What s New, Contacts The home page offers a drop down menus for each of the four main categories which allows visitors to see what is in each of the areas at a glance. Menu levels are restricted to four levels, so visitors can easily find the information they are looking for and navigation is simplified. Every page of the main site includes four links at the top of the page which allows visitors easy access to local politicians, Abbotsford Tourism, and the City s interactive WebMap site, as well as to the Service Directory, which is a comprehensive listing of City services. The four main categories, along with Mayor and Council and the Service Directory form the main site menu. Visitors can reference these menus at anytime, from any location in the site. The graphic elements are fun, with bright colourful images that represent the diverse community of Abbotsford. The result is a virtual city hall and a portal into the community. Maintenance The website is owned by the City of Abbotsford and a Web Team of 24 city employees maintain the information and keep the content current. A Website Editor approves the content submitted by each department and is supported by a staff member in the Information Services Department which administers the content management software and provides technical support. The website is an important part of each City department s work plan and two staff members, work within each department to keep their content up-to-date on a regular basis.

3 Site Navigation and Organization Summary The City of Abbotsford s website is organized into four main categories: Online Services, What s New, Contacts These main categories are accessed through the homepage and through the site menu. The focus of website is customer-oriented and was designed so services can be easily accessed in all areas. Visuals are uncluttered with intuitive drop-down menus so that visitors can find what they are looking for with minimal searching. Online Services This section provides is a one-stop shop for the City s online for services. Here visitors can choose from a menu of services like ing council members, renewing licenses, ordering tax certificates, conducting property and building permit searches as well as purchasing e-commerce reports like business permits issued for the year. A new service launched this tax season was an on-line application for the Homeowners Grant. In a four week period, more than 31% of the Home Owners Grant Applications were processed on-line. This is a great testament to the ease of the service and the willingness of Abbotsford residents to use online services. Service Directory This section boasts a comprehensive alphabetical listing of all services and initiatives at the City of Abbotsford. Here, visitors can find City services in a phonebook-type of format that with a direct link to the appropriate web page and when available. Contacts This section is a who s who of City Hall. Staff can be located by department and name and current telephone and contacts are provided. City departments are displayed alphabetically and a current listing of community contacts as well as City Hall hours are found This section is a listing City services organized by topic. Staff stayed away from listing each department and it various responsibilities and instead grouped services by subject, in an effort to be more customer-friendly. Subjects like transportation, employment, building and development, are listed instead of department titles like Engineering and Development Services which were confusing for visitors searching for a service. Now visitors only need to know their subject to find their comparable service. Mayor and Council This is a unique section that can be accessed from the top links as well as through the site menu. This section allows visitors to communicate directly with each member of council through an automatic interface. Residents can each council individually or as a group. City of Abbotsford, Best Practices, City Website 2

4 Access to official Council Minutes, Resolutions and Reports can also be accessed through this area of the website. Material is archived for the last four years and can be searched by title, and printed with the click of the button. A complete listing of Council Committees and their Chairs are listed here as well as a direct link to the Mayor s Office, which details how to contact the mayor and the special services provided by this office. WebMap This interactive map details the entire City of Abbotsford. The map can be searched by a variety of custom settings including address, parks, business name, and intersection and zoning category. Details can be viewed at the click of mouse on land parcels, engineering details such as sanitary, water and traffic light systems, developmental information like zoning and development permits, environmental attributes such as floodplain, creeks and agricultural land reserve designations. This is a popular feature on the re-designed site and is accessed on a regular basis by residents, developers and business owners. Data can be downloaded in a DXF format which allows consultants to access valuable information quickly, easily and without leaving their desk. What s New This is an up-to-date listing of the City s most recent initiatives. Broken down by category, visitors can see what is currently happening at the City. This section is where press releases, an alphabetical listing of capital projects, announcements including invitations to tender, and a photo gallery with downloadable images of the City are posted. Search Engine The search engine can be accessed at any time from any of the pages on the website. An industry-standard search engine provides results in all formats such as MS Word, PDF and HTML. Visitor Feedback More than 60,000 visitors have browsed the City s website since the end of January Website service numbers continue to climb as residents become more comfortable using the virtual City Hall. Six months into the year, already 16% of residents have renewed their dog licenses online, compared to a 23% total of on-line renewals for Statistics have also shown a steady increase in after hours site activity as residents access services after 5 p.m. City staff has received many comments from users and every effort is made to respond directly to the complaints in a timely and friendly manner. The majority of the feedback has been positive as illustrated by a few examples: City of Abbotsford, Best Practices, City Website 3

5 I would like to compliment the City of Abbotsford for their website. You have done a great job of creating an inviting site which allows access to contacts, events and developments in the Abbotsford area. The ability to online search Development Applications and Building Permits is both innovative and practical. Tony Dean, submitted via Thanks for speedy response to my concern. I look forward to transacting more Abbotsford services via PC Computer online, maybe our property taxes this year on July 1?! Thanks again. Wally Ebare, submitted via Thank you for your attention to my . I have now purchased my dog license renewal online, and felt confident to use your online payment system. There are so many sites out there that have fraudulent stuff on them, I find that I am extra cautious when making purchases or payments online. It is excellent to be able to see that the site is indeed secure and that when you move your mouse over the lock, it shows that it is in fact 128 bit SSL Secured. This is the same level of security the banks use for online banking. Thanks again for your quick response and for being alert to your community s needs. Ruth Penner, submitted via . City staff is proud of the newly designed site and will continue to improve and streamline the access to information as customer service takes a top priority in The City of Abbotsford is dedicated to making the process of dealing with municipal government as user friendly as possible, especially as more residents go online from the comfort of their own homes and make the line-ups at Abbotsford City Hall a thing of the past. City of Abbotsford, Best Practices, City Website 4

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