2006 NASCIO Recognition Awards

Transcription

1 2006 NASCIO Recognition Awards Category: Government to Citizen (G to C) SC.gov The Official Web Site for the State of South Carolina

2 Executive Summary One of the State s biggest success stories of 2005 is how Governor Mark Sanford described the launch of SC.gov in his Executive Budget. SC.gov is a private/public partnership put in place to update technology for citizens across the state, and is projected to save money for state agencies for years to come. In November 2005, South Carolinians were introduced to a dynamic new place to interact with government, The redesigned Web portal includes a fresh design, better navigation, and vastly improved tools to help citizens and businesses quickly find the government information and services they need. Acknowledging the improvements, the South Carolina State Library recognized SC.gov with a 2005 Notable State Documents Award for an outstanding example of government information being provided to the citizens of South Carolina. SC.gov is in the business of connecting citizens, businesses and government by providing easily accessible South Carolina information and services. SC.gov takes a multi-navigational approach by categorizing this information by traditional agencies, like education or public safety, and then also taking a cross section of that information and presenting it along with additional links grouped by residents, businesses and state employees. This allows users of the portal to access information in many different ways, depending on their own needs and thought processes. With the abundance of information that is available through SC.gov, it may still be difficult to find some of the more obscure areas. To remedy this situation, users have the option to use Google Search or the Help Center. The Help Center includes commonly asked questions and a Live Help feature. Customer service is also available by phone and . Rather than using appropriated funds, the State of South Carolina partnered with South Carolina Interactive using a self-funded model to fund the development and ongoing maintenance of SC.gov. SC.gov is an outstanding resource for citizens, which is convenient and easy-touse. Because SC.gov is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, SC.gov facilitates interaction with government when the time is convenient for citizens. Citizens can stay abreast of state government news and information through the SC.gov News Center, shop for products offered at state stores during nontraditional store hours or view contributions given to candidates for constitutional office from the comfort of their home.

3 Description of the Business Problem and Solution Business Problem The State of South Carolina was faced with several issues in 2004 as they were managing the Web site. Those issues included: Increasing demands and expectations from constituents for Fresh Content and new egovernment Applications The previous Web site was not funded No Content Management tool Limited Search Capability ecommerce Platform was no longer supported Hardware / Infrastructure was not redundant Description of Solution The SC.gov State Portal is offered through a private/public partnership between the State of South Carolina s Budget and Control Board, Division of the State Chief Information Officer and South Carolina Interactive, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NIC. SC.gov provides portal and online services to any governmental entity within the State of South Carolina without requiring any appropriated funds or tax dollars. There are no development or support fees charged to the state partners. The portal was redesigned and developed with usability and accessibility in mind. Testers were asked to execute specific tasks on the Web site, while their navigational tendencies were observed. Common trends were discovered and adjustments were made to improve the usability of the site. Every effort was made to ensure the Web site is accessible in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Furthermore, SC.gov adopted the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Many new features have been added to the State Portal homepage to assist in finding information quicker and easier, including: How Do I? Information on common subjects such as taxes, starting a business, or getting a license Help Center ( Customer service is available by phone, or Live Help. Since SC.gov was implemented, 90% of the rated Live Help sessions, were given a score of Excellent or Very Good.

4 Google Search SC.gov uses Google, one of the nation s leading search engine technologies, to help generate fast search results The following key online services have been developed for governmental entities in South Carolina: News Center ( The News Center allows governmental organizations to post headlines and press releases directly to SC.gov. Multiple user roles (i.e. author, editor) are set-up to meet workflow needs. Press releases can be created without having to know hypertext markup language (HTML). Users who are already familiar with Microsoft products will find generating news stories similar to creating a Microsoft Word document. These news stories are available for public access and can be viewed grouped by Recent News, Agency or Topic. This provides citizens and businesses with a single source for obtaining information across governmental agencies and the state. Online Shopping Mall ( The Shopping Mall storefront is presented as a list of stores along with common shopping categories and featured items. Users can select a specific store and view the categorization for that store and its featured items. Items are placed in a shopping cart and payment is made with debit or credit cards. Real time authorization is performed and the funds are disbursed to each of the participating organizations bank accounts. Governmental organizations can create a store, maintain inventory, display images and set prices all online. Campaign Finance Reporting ( All candidates for constitutional offices began filing online through the new Campaign Finance Reporting system in the first quarter of Candidates complete a simple upload process and their filings are then available for viewing by the State Ethics Commission through an administrative tool and by the public through SC.gov. The public can search by candidate or contributor name and view contributions and expenditures for each candidate. Significance to the improvement of the operation of government South Carolina has taken tremendous strides in delivering a state of the art egovernment platform. Within the first year of operation, the following has been delivered as a part of this partnership. Fully redundant 3 tiered architecture Automated off-site data storage Disaster Recovery Google Search Engine Content Management System

5 Live Help Module News Center 20 new egovernment applications SC State Chief Information Officer, Jim Bryant, says SC.gov s innovative approach of delivering at the enterprise level has already begun paying dividends to the State of South Carolina. With the portal comes a fully redundant system, which includes a content management tool, a payment engine for e-commerce, a news center and specialized application development that every government entity within the state can leverage without using any appropriated funds. SC.gov provides e-government solutions with stunning visual impact and superior usability and citizens are also noticing the difference. It is not busy, it is gentle to my eyes and I get to my information with fewer clicks. Practical, simple, productive - that s the way I like it, says Jamie Pedrero, a SC Information Resources Consultant. Benefits realized by Service Recipients, Taxpayers, Agency or State The redesigned Web portal, SC.gov, includes a fresh design, better navigation, and vastly improved tools to help citizens and businesses quickly find the government information and services they need. It takes a multi-navigational approach by categorizing this information by traditional agencies, like education or public safety, and then also taking a cross section of that information and presenting it along with additional links grouped by residents, businesses and state employees. This allows users of the portal to access information in many different ways, depending on their own needs and thought processes. With the abundance of information that is available through SC.gov, it may still be difficult to find some of the more obscure areas. To remedy this situation, users have the option to use Google Search or the new Live Help, where you can chat directly with Customer Service. The SC.gov News Center allows governmental organizations to instantly post headlines and press releases directly to SC.gov. This provides agencies with another avenue or marketing channel for disseminating information to citizens. It also provides citizens and businesses with a single source for obtaining information on state government that crosses over traditional agency boundaries. Through SC.GOV s Shopping Mall, governmental entities can build and update inventory while creating an online store for selling goods. This allows agencies to expand their retail business outside of the brick and mortar gift shops and provides customers the convenience of shopping 24 X 7 from anywhere they have internet access and paying by debit or credit card.

6 With the new Campaign Finance Reporting system, candidates for constitutional offices no longer mail or hand deliver paper filings to the Ethics Commission and can file any time of the day or week. The Ethics Commission does not have to process their paper filings and can easily access filings online anytime. The media and the public previously had to call or go to the Ethics Commission s office to access these disclosures and pay fees for copies. Now they can access this information anytime directly through the internet and at no charge. In addition, the public can search by candidate or contributor and view these contributions and expenditures online immediately when they re filed. Realized return on investment, short-term/long-term payback Return on Investment (abbreviated ROI) is typically a measure of a company's ability to use its assets to generate additional value for shareholders or stakeholders. With SC.gov, the investment was equal to the State of South Carolina s Budget and Control Board s, Division of the State Chief Information Officer belief and trust in the self funded business model to fund the State Portal and its ongoing maintenance. There are three categories of value achieved through this partnership: 1. Hard dollar savings for the State 2. Savings for applications delivered with no appropriated funds 3. Soft benefits Hard Dollar Savings The annual cost to support the previous Web site by the CIO s office is estimated to be $200,000 per year. This does not include any cost for infrastructure which was in need of updating. Savings for applications delivered with no appropriated funds The State Legislature had appropriated $330,000 for development of a Campaign Finance Reporting Application. This application along with 19 others has been developed for the State without the use of appropriated funds. Soft Benefits In terms of soft benefits that are measurable, increased usage of the Web site are good indicators of use by constituents. Since the launch of SC.gov in November of 2005, the following Web stats have been collected: November 2005 Hits: 7,138,352

7 May 2006 Hits: 9,213,366 Total Hits November 2005 to May 2006: 55,052,213 Growth in Hits per month (November to May): 29% Summary of Results Investment Zero dollars Value Minimum of $500,000 in real savings (plus the following) Fully redundant 3 tiered architecture Automated off-site data storage Disaster Recovery Google Search Engine Content Management System Live Help Module News Center 20 new egovernment applications 29% growth in Hits over a 7 month period Results A state of the art solution with the use of no appropriated funds.