Nomination for NASIRE 2001 Recognition Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology

Transcription

1 Nomination for NASIRE 2001 Recognition Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology NOMINATION FORM Title of Nomination: accessindiana Next Generation Portal Redesign Product/System Manager: Job Title: Agency: Department: Candy Irven Director of egovernment Services accessindiana Marketing Address: 10 W Market St, Suite 600 City/State/Zip: Indianapolis, IN Telephone: Fax: Category for Judging: cirven@ Accessibility PERSON NOMINATING Name: Title: Agency: Laura Larimer Chief Information Officer Indiana Department of Administration Address: 100 North Senate Avenue, N551 City: Indianapolis State: IN Zip: Telephone: (317) Fax: (317) llarimer@doit.state.in.us

2 NASIRE Award Nomination Accessibility accessindiana Next Generation Portal Executive Summary accessindiana ( Indiana s official Web portal, is now reorganized to focus on life events and everyday situations that face citizens and businesses. Divided into eight distinct categories: About Indiana, Government, Online Services, Living In Indiana, Working In Indiana, Learning In Indiana, Visiting Indiana and Social Services, the accessindiana Web portal is designed so that citizens and businesses can easily navigate the site. With approximately 175,000 Web pages, information and services can be obtained easily and efficiently. The accessindiana Web portal has also been redesigned with certain graphic elements that will be carried throughout the entire portal. These elements were created with considerations and accommodations made for people with disabilities. The Center for Applied Special Technology s Bobby service has been utilized throughout the redesigned pages, eliminating problems that seriously affect usability of the portal. As the rest of the portal s pages are resigned, the pages will have to adhere to the Bobby standards. The reorganization and redesign effort of the accessindiana portal has been named the Next Generation Portal. 2

3 a) Description of project, including length of time in operation. Prior to reorganizing and redesigning the accessindiana Web portal, navigating the Indiana Web site proved difficult for those without a clear understanding of the services provided by state government agencies, boards and commissions. Organized by the categories: State, Local, Associations, Premium Services and General, the accessindiana portal was not intuitive for most, nor was it user friendly to people with disabilities. In addition, there was no common look and feel among the various agencies, boards and commissions Web sites. As a user browsed through the agency sites a common accessindiana ender, located at the bottom of every Web page, was the only indicator that the user was still within the Indiana portal. The state recognized that the Web portal was not user-friendly and was not accessible to all citizens and took the first steps towards accessibility in January The accessindiana Web portal ( has been reorganized to focus on life events and everyday situations that face citizens and businesses, rather than organized by the state s organizational structure. This redesign also features considerations and accommodations for people with disabilities. By utilizing the Center for Applied Special Technology s (CAST) Bobby service, problems that seriously affect Web pages usability by people with disabilities have been identified and remedied. The accessindiana portal is now divided into eight distinct categories: About Indiana, Government, Online Services, Living In Indiana, Working In Indiana, Learning In Indiana, Visiting Indiana and Social Services. The portal also provides on its top tier levels: Featured Sites (focuses on the latest state information offered online) Need Help? (provides tips and tricks for navigating the site and a search function) State Information Indiana State Agency List Indiana State Phone Directory Indiana Directory State Calendar System State Press Release System In addition to the reorganization, the portal has also been redesigned with certain graphic elements that will be carried throughout the several thousand pages of information. This reorganization and redesign effort has been named the Next Generation Portal (NGP). Broken down into three phases, NGP Phase I was completed in February This phase consisted of the development of the new accessindiana Web portal along with the redesign of 12 state agency sites. Utilizing specific graphic elements from the top-level accessindiana pages a common look and feel was established throughout the 12 sites. Phase II, which began in February 2001, consists of redesigning an additional 20 agency sites with the common look and feel elements and is to be completed by August Additionally, each state agency s redesigned site adheres to CAST s Bobby standards -- a service, which helps identify and repair significant barriers to access by individuals with disabilities. Phase III of NGP will consist of implementing the common look and feel approach to the remaining agencies, boards and commissions sites while working to identify the design, usability, and accessibility elements and standards that will commence the implementation of the Next Generation Portal version 2 in mid In addition, accessibility to information technology legislation has been past by the General Assembly, authorizing the CIO s office to form a public/private task force to set and 3

4 enforce accessibility standards House Bill 1926 ( 1926). b) Significance to the improvement of the operation of government. NGP The implementation of the common look and feel design elements to the state agency sites visually represents the Indiana portal as one state with one voice where citizens can acquire all the information they need from their state government. Now more functional and customer friendly, users of the site are not required to know which agency offers which services. Picking up on the human element, accessindiana organized the information so users can acquire what they need easily and effortlessly. The NGP implementation eliminated the appearance of several separate state agency sites linked together by only a common ender. Now citizens and businesses can search among the several state Web sites and know they are within the state portal. The common look and feel design elements have also provided layout, content, organization and functionality guidelines to state agencies as they begin their site redesigns. The state of Indiana has also kept citizens with disabilities as a primary consideration while developing this new portal. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines accessindiana is proud to bear the Bobby seal of approval! To accommodate Indiana citizens with certain types of visual, cognitive, motor and hearing disabilities, Indiana utilizes the Bobby service, provided by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), to help identify and repair significant barriers to access by individuals with disabilities. As each state agency s Web site is redesigned as part of the NGP initiative, the site is first run through the Bobby test. The accessindiana Web pages are 100% accessible, at the Priority 1 level, to people with disabilities according to the Bobby system. Priority 1 accessibility eliminates problems that seriously affect the pages usability by people with disabilities. The 12 state agency Web sites, redesigned as part of the NGP initiative, are also Priority 1 Bobby approved. As each state agency s Web site is redesigned, the site will be required to meet the above mentioned standards before going live. Priority 1 Bobby approved status is the equivalent to Conformance Level A for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ( WEBCONTENT/). accessindiana is also working to ensure that the portal and all new state agency Web sites adhere to the Section 508 standards(of the Rehabilitation Act, for electronic and information technology established by the Access Board ( ). The Access Board is an independent Federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities. The guidelines are closely aligned with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Specifically, Section 508 guidelines, which take into account nearly all of the WCAG Priority 1 guidelines. To continue to adhere to the standards established by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and other accessibility standards, the Indiana Technology Oversight Commission (ITOC) will lead an accessibility taskforce charged with developing and enforcing a statewide accessibility policy. With ITOC leading the way, the Indiana Webmasters group will continue to meet and discuss the standards, policies and new technologies that will assist in making the accessindiana Web portal ever more accessible to people with disabilities. In addition, 4

5 ITOC will enforce that the accessindiana Web portal and all state agency sites within the portal comply with the established WAI guidelines and meet the Section 508 standards. Web ivr In addition to utilizing the Bobby approval system and adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, accessindiana is also piloting two new technologies using Web ivr, which provides the same features and services of a Web-based application to a telephonebased application. This service offers citizens an additional choice of preferred medium to conduct business with state government. This service, utilizing a telephone instead of a personal computer, allows individuals with certain disabilities such as the visually impaired to conduct certain interactions with the state. The Web ivr system is currently being piloted with the Indiana Department of Revenue s epay system and the Indiana Department of Health s Indiana Nurse Aide and Home Health Aide Registry system. c) Benefits realized by service recipients, taxpayers, agency or state. The Next Generation Portal provides Indiana citizens and businesses a more efficient, costeffective method for obtaining state government information and conducting Internet-based transactions with their state government. The reorganization and redesign of the accessindiana Web portal allows users who are unfamiliar with the inner workings of state government to more easily find the information and services they need. Users can search state agency sites, obtain state contact information ( addresses, phone numbers and addresses), review online services available or utilize the I Want application. In addition, accessindiana Web portal accommodates several citizens with disabilities by meeting the standards of Priority 1 in the CAST Bobby approval system and Conformance Level A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Some examples of the measures that the accessindiana portal is taking to accommodate people with certain types of visual, cognitive, motor and hearing disabilities include: provide a text equivalent for every non-text element, organize documents so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet, insure that each site has significant color contrast and design Web pages to avoid the screen-flickering between certain frequencies. In addition, accessindiana is exploring the option of embedding a text link at the beginning of each agency site. The link will generate, on the fly, an up-to-date text version of all content for that Web site. Users will be able to select that link immediately when entering a new home page and view text only, no graphics, of that site. This link is in place on an experimental basis at the following URLs: The accessindiana Web ivr systems, epay and Indiana Nurse Aide and Home Health Aide Registry system, both allow individuals to utilize services via a telephone that are also available on the Internet. The epay system, an easy and secure online payment service, enables citizens to pay either an Individual Income Tax return or a bill received from the Department via credit card. To utilize the system a user needs the following information: To pay the balance due on an Individual Income Tax return: social security number, spouse's social security number, 5

6 period ending date and credit card number and expiration date. To pay a bill received from the Indiana Department of Revenue: taxpayer identification number, liability or case number and credit card number and expiration date. The Indiana Nurse Aide and Home Health Aide Registry allows users to obtain instant verification of the status of a nurse aide on the registry or to change the name and/or address of Certified Nurse Aides and Home Health Aides. To acquire verification of status a user must enter the nine-digit social security number of the nurse aide. To change name and/or address, a user must leave a recorded message of the changes. Both easy-to-use Indiana agency services provide the option to utilize Web based interactions without the need or use of a personal computer. d) Return on investment, short-term/long-term payback (include summary calculations). Projects must exhibit measurable operational benefit. The Next Generation Portal allows citizens, businesses and government to go to one Web portal to access Indiana information, forms and services. Not only are the information, forms and services convenient, but also cost-effective, accurate and immediate. Since the introduction of the accessindiana Next Generation Portal in January 2001, feedback from state agencies, citizen users and business users has been phenomenal. Users appreciate the organization and ease of navigation throughout the site and among the agency pages. With over 175,000 pages of information and over 150 interactive services, developing a userfriendly, accessible portal has been a huge undertaking. The citizen-centric format of the accessindiana portal has proven to be beneficial among users and agencies and will support future updates and revisions to the portal. As more and more users familiarize themselves with the accessindiana portal the more the information and services will be utilized. As of March 2001, accessindiana has experienced more than 33.3 million accesses in 2001, which is double since end of last year. If this trend stays true to form, accessindiana can expect 12 to 15 million monthly accesses through the end of Since the inception of accessindiana, the portal has had almost 200 million accesses! As the accessindiana portal is utilized by more and more citizens everyday, Indiana is determined to make the portal accessible to all who wish to utilize its services. The first steps taken to meet this goal have been to utilize the Bobby approval system through CAST. As part of the NGP initiative each state agency s Web site must comply to the Bobby Priority 1 approval system before its site redesign is complete. The accessindiana portal meets the Priority 1 level approved 100%. The 12 state agency Web sites, redesigned as part of the NGP initiative, are also 100% Priority 1 Bobby approved. In addition, accessindiana is taking the next step to ensure that the portal and all new state agency s Web sites adhere to the Section 508 (of the Rehabilitation Act, final.htm) Web accessibility standards for electronic and information technology established by the Access Board. The accessindiana Web portal and all agency sites within the portal are currently being evaluated, to determine what additions and changes are needed to adhere to Section 508 standards and accommodate citizens with certain type of visual, cognitive, motor and hearing disabilities. This initiative is being lead by the Indiana Technology Oversight Commission s accessibility taskforce. 6

7 Web ivr is another avenue that the state of Indiana continues exploring to assist in providing services to citizens who are unable to take advantage of the services made available online. epay and the Indiana Nurse Aide and Home Health Aide Registry were made available in January 2001 and both have experienced significant use! With several options of payment available to citizens by the Indiana Department of Revenue, over approximately 4000 citizens took advantage of epay within the first four months. Over 16,700 citizens utilized the Indiana Nurse Aide and Home Health Aide Registry. These usage figures indicate that Web ivr is definitely a beneficial service to citizens and is worthy of exploring additional uses of the service. The state of Indiana in conjunction with the state portal, accessindiana, recognizes that accessibility is a concern and challenge that each state must face. As new technologies evolve, Indiana is exploring all options available to make the accessindiana portal accessible to all citizens with disabilities. Feedback from citizens is also obtained and utilized. Focus groups were conducted before the release of the new accessindiana portal to ensure that ease and accessibility were truly integrated within the design and organization. In addition, accessindiana works closely with several state agencies and commissions (Indiana Technology Oversight Commission, Center for Disability Information & Referral, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Indiana Governor's Planning Council and Indiana Institute Disability and Community), focusing on accessibility issues for people with disabilities. The first steps have been taken to make accessindiana accessible to all citizens with the Next Generation Portal initiative Bobby approved and Web ivr. Indiana realizes that these efforts only partially meet the needs of citizens with disabilities and is working diligently to provide Indiana information via digital technologies to all citizens. accessindiana Accesses in 2000 and ,000,000 12,000,000 10,000,000 8,000,000 6,000,000 4,000, ,000,000 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec 7