Proving the Value of a Good Government Website

According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, nearly 66% of mayors project their city will experience a budget shortfall this fiscal year and 81% anticipate a shortfall in the next. In a similar survey conducted by the National Association of Counties, 47% of counties are expecting budget shortfalls this year and nearly 82% said the shortfalls will continue into 2010.

So what does this mean for local government websites? It means that taxpayer dollars spent on developing a new website, or additional functionality, are under increased scrutiny. While you and I understand the value of a functional and interactive government website, it's not always immediately clear to all government leaders or tax payers, which is why we need to validate the value of our online initiatives.

Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves
The best way to illustrate a website’s value is with cold, hard ROI (return on investment) numbers. This is done differently in the public sector than it is in the private sector. In the private sector, especially with e-commerce websites, the end goal is converting website visits into sales.

In the public sector, the goal varies between organizations; Organization A may want to reduce customer service phone calls by placing interactive forms online, while Organization B wants to increase the number of job applications they receive via their website.

Let’s look how Organization A can determine their ROI:

1. Organization A records the number of incoming customer service calls two months prior and two months after the release of their online forms.
   
   
2. Organization A records the average time spent on a customer service call and the average hourly cost of customer service representative.
   
   
3. To determine their costs prior to using online forms, Organization A multiplies the average number of phone calls per month before using online forms by the average length of each phone call. This number is than divided by 60 (to define it in hours), than multiplied by the average hourly cost of customer service staff.
   
   ex: Average of 120 incoming calls/ week Each call lasts 6 minutes Hourly cost of staff is $11.00/hour
   
   120 x 6 = 720/60 = 12 hours x $11.00 = avg weekly cost of $132 x 4 = avg monthly cost of $528
   
   
4. After two months of using the online forms, Organization A uses the same equation provided in Step 3 to determine their new monthly cost.
   
   ex: Average of 65 incoming calls/ week
   Each call lasts 5 minutes
   Hourly cost of staff is $11.00/hour
   
   65 x 5 = 325/60 = 5.4 hours x $11.00 = avg weekly cost of $59 x 4 = avg monthly cost of $238. This is a monthly reduction of $290 and a yearly reduction of $2856.
   
   
5. Let’s say the investment for the online forms was $500. Organization A takes the gain from their investment, $2856, minus the cost of their investment, $500, and then divides this total by the cost of their investment, $500. They multiply the answer by 100 to achieve the percentage increase or decrease. In this case, Organization A experienced a 471% return on their investment!
   
   ex: ROI = [$2856 (gain from investment) - $500 (cost of investment)] / $500 cost of investment= 4.712 x 100 = 471% ROI
   

These steps can be easily adapted to any of your website objectives. The idea is to quantify your objectives to prove that your use of taxpayer dollars was a wise investment.

Award-Winning Validation
Another way to prove the intrinsic value of your website is to win a website award from one of the many prominent government associations. Obviously this is easier said than done, but when your website is honored as one of the best in its class by a group of government website professionals, both your constituents and leaders will take notice of your wise investment.

While there is no single secret to an award-winning government website, there is a rule of thumb that if you maximize online customer service and interaction, you are on the right track. When you do this, you will simultaneously impress the judges and better serve your constituents.

With the current status of our economy and tightened government budgets it’s more important than ever to maximize the use of every dollar spent. When you invest in a well thought-out e-government website, or functionality, you are investing in a medium that will streamline procedures and automate routine tasks. By providing a positive ROI analysis and winning government website awards, you are further justifying your educated decision.

Maximizing Transparency on the e-Government Landscape

First created in the mid-1970’s to increase public disclosure of government agencies, Sunshine laws are evolving to include the current e-government landscape. The pertinent question is how are these changes going to affect local governments agencies and what can they do to be prepared?

Explicit and Implicit Requirements
Explicit requirements have come from legislation which specifically mandates archiving websites. These laws are usually at the state level, vary widely between states and may not apply to your organization. Your State Archivist will be able to tell you quickly if there is specific legal guidance regarding archiving your site.

Implicit requirements arise due to out-dated general record retention requirements which do not address websites. These requirements generally outline the retention and disposal guidance for all sorts of records, but don't specifically address websites. Thus websites fall into the "all other records" category, which commonly doesn't allow for disposal -- ever. Fortunately, state archivists are actively pushing for updated legislation which addresses new electronic media.

If you are not required by law to archive, you may still be required to archive by supervisory directives or legal advice. City councils, county commissions, school boards and other supervisors may direct the website to be archived, and your own legal council may recommend archiving your website.

If you are archiving your website, here are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself:

What is my retention period? If there isn't controlling legislation mandating how long to keep your archives, you'll need to decide how long to keep information. Storage space may be a concern if you have large files. It may be tempting at this time to think you can simply accumulate cabinets of back-up tapes, but wait! There are more factors to come...

Periodic vs Dynamic Archiving
What will be my archiving format? How often will I save what's on the site? The choices are usually one of two: Periodic Snapshot Archiving or Dynamic Archiving.

Snapshot Archiving is making a record of what was on your site at a regular point in time. It's very similar to backing up computer files. You choose a time (e.g. every Tuesday at midnight) and make a record of what's there. The drawback, of course, is you don't have record of what happened between Tuesdays.

Dynamic Archiving tracks every change to your website, so you can do point-in-time retrieval. Pick a date and time, and you can deliver exactly what was on your site at that time. When compared to Snapshot Archiving, Dynamic Archiving is a more comprehensive solution.

For Dynamic Archiving to be ideal, it needs to be a feature of your content management system. Attempts to manually create Dynamic Archiving become cumbersome, bordering on the ridiculous. Consider the incredible work load in this scenario: "Every content manager must send updated versions of every page to the Archiving Clerk every time a page is modified. The Archiving Clerk will track all changes and respond to records requests."

Retention Parameters
Perhaps the key retention parameter to consider when putting together an archiving system is Recovery Time frame. Here's a fly for your archiving ointment: State Sunshine Laws usually require any request for a public record to be made available within a specified period - often as quickly as three business days! The challenges of complying with the records request parameters through a manual archiving system or a third-party vendor are significant! The simplest solution is an automatic archiving feature within your CMS from which you can call a record for any point in time, whenever you want.

Just a point about Sunshine Laws (Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Sunshine laws mandate retrieval, but not retention of records. In other words, they don't make you archive records, but they do make you produce copies of anything you archive. They also usually provide a mechanism for the records request process, which often allow you to charge your true costs in producing a record. Be sure to become familiar with your state's requirements, as you may be able to recapture staff time as well as any other associated costs to you.

How To: 5 Little Known Tools of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is by far the most powerful free tool available to track website statistics. Once the tracking code is added to your content, you have a wealth of information at your fingertips including common statistics such as visits, page views and bounce rates. However, it’s some of the lesser-known features that provide the most useful information.

1. Filtering Your IP Address
   It’s very important for your data to be accurate. This means filtering data from internal traffic coming from your staff. To do this, you need to find your static IP address and then create a filter. This allows Google to differentiate between internal visits from your staff and outside traffic from your community.
   
   Since city and county websites often act as an information hub for employees, filtering out your static IP address is crucial to acquiring accurate and relevant statistics on how the community is using your website.
   
   
2. Viewing Internal Site Search Statistics
   Some of the most relevant information available on your website is knowing what visitors are searching for when using your website’s internal site search. Understanding your user’s search behavior allows you to provide them with relevant content that will help them easily achieve their end goal. In addition, this data allows you to determine keywords - and their variations – that can be included in your main navigation structure.
   
   
3. Tracking Clicks on Links and Document Downloads
   To enhance your site user’s experience you must first understand where they are going and how they are getting there. To track the links that your visitors click on, you just need to add a small piece of JavaScript to the link. These instructions refer to outbound links, but they work equally as well to track internal links.
   
   To track the specific files being downloaded for your website, you once again add a short piece of JavaScript to the download link the enables Google Analytics to track that specific file.
   
   By tracking individual links and downloads you will be able to better map your site visitor’s course of action. This information is essential for optimizing your site’s navigation structure and making it faster for users to find the information they need.
   
   
4. Making Site Overlay Work for You
   Currently, the results displayed on the Site Overlay tool only show static pages that have unique links. If the page has numerous links, the total number of clicks will be displayed, not the amount for each individual link. You can get around this by adding “&location=x to” the end of each additional link (where x is the number of the link, so the first link would be 1, the second would be 2 and so on).
   
   
5. Exporting your Data
   While this may seem trivial to some, it’s a very handy feature. I have actually spoken with very experienced and technical Google Analytic users that were copying data out of Google Analytics and pasting it into Excel. With the export feature you can easily create PDF, CSV, TSV or XML reports. You can even set-up your account to e-mail your report daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly in your preferred format. Just click on the “E-mail” button located to the right of the “Export” button to schedule the delivery of your reports.

If you have any other tips, tricks or suggestions, share your knowledge and leave a comment!

Web Accessibility: A Growing Consumer Niche, Part I

Many people are surprised to learn just how much of the world’s population is affected by a disability, and how valuable accessible web design is to private industry, government, and educational institutions.

To understand the impact, one has to look no further than the World Health Organization (WHO) (2003) which indicates that people with disabilities are one of the largest and fastest growing minority groups. It is becoming clear that public and private entities who make their technology (both web and non-web) accessible can reach a largely untapped and underserved market, a demographic that represents both spending and voting power.

Industry analysts expect that the buying power of people with disabilities will quickly exceed the $1 trillion mark in the years ahead, much of this spent on technology and/or using the online environment to make purchases. The compelling evidence of the purchasing power of this market segment makes it clear that organizations need to conduct operations, including web design, in ways that will attract citizens with disabilities to their services.

For a quick assessment of your website’s accessibility, consider the following basic questions:

1. Roll your mouse over all graphics (pictures, logos, graphs, maps and any other visual items)--are they alt tagged (does a text description of the graphic appear)?
   


2. Do images, movies, sounds, and applets have alt tags?



3. Do all video clips have captions and transcriptions?



4. Unplug the mouse--can the application be managed by only using the keyboard? Without using a mouse, tab through the links and form controls making sure you can access them and that the links clearly indicate where they lead.



5. Turn off the sound – does it impact the application?
   a. Are all videos captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers?
   b. Do all videos carry an audio component that describes visual images for blind and low-vision users?



6. Tab through the website (without using the mouse)--does it tab in a logical order or jump all over the page?



7. Has color been used as an indicator? If important information is being conveyed using only color, for instance using RED text, then it will be inaccessible to people with vision impairments or color blindness.



8. Have table attributes been used? (i.e. column and row headers) If not, tables cannot be read properly by Assistive Technology.
   


9. Does anything on the webpage flicker, blink or flash? It must have a frequency greater than 2Hz and lower than 55 Hz. The frequency can be timed using a watch.



10. Are there timed instructional events? Are they adjustable? If not, they may not allow enough time for a person with a disability to complete the task.

Currently, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) estimates that the number of people with disabilities is dramatic, impacting an estimated 1 in 5 households or roughly 60 million Americans.

Adding to this population is the 76 million strong “Baby Boom” generation. With the leading edge of this demographic having turned 60 in 2006, the Administration on Aging projects that we will continue to see a dramatic leap in the number of people developing disabilities for the first time in their lives — disabilities such as, but not limited to: vision, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy indicates that as the population ages, approximately 40% of those over 65 will likely acquire a disability.

An inclusive and universal design approach to technology is critical to both federal agencies and private industry wishing to anticipate future needs of this growing population, an untapped market that is fast becoming a prized consumer niche.

Be sure to stay tuned to the e-Gov Gateway blog for "Web Accessibility: A Growing Consumer Niche, Part II".

Also, join Debra Ruh, CEO and Founder of TecAccess , for her presentation at the 2009 WMC Online Series.

About Debra Ruh
Debra is a keynote speaker and has authored numerous articles appearing in consumer publications and trade journals such as Learning Solutions eMagazine. She has also been featured in Washington Technology and Entrepreneur Magazine. She has spoken before the European Union, Executive Offices of the President, USDA Conference on Disabilities, IDEAS, CSUN, GSA Usability Universes, Fed Web Conference, USPTO Panel on Accessible E-Learning, and the Leadership Institution on Design of Accessible Online Education at Georgia Tech Global Learning Center.

CP News: 3-Minute Video, CivicPlus Clients Win 17 Awards & The '09 WMC Online Series

CivicPlus Launches New 3-Minute Video!
Want to learn more about what CivicPlus has to offer? Take a quick 3-minute video tour that outlines the benefits of choosing CivicPlus as your award-winning website designer, developer and hosting provider

Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Brings Home the Gold at Horizon Interactive Awards
On May 15, five CivicPlus clients were recognized by the Horizon Interactive Awards competition for their excellence in online media in the Government category.

• Wheat Ridge, Colorado - Gold Award
  
• Maui County, Hawaii - Silver Award
  
• Raymore, Missouri - Bronze Award
  
• Carlsbad Dept. of Development, New Mexico - Bronze Award
  
• Onslow Water & Sewer Authority, North Carolina - Bronze Award

In its 8th year, the Horizon Interactive Awards were created to recognize excellence in interactive media production worldwide. Since 2001, the competition has received thousands of entries from countries around the world and nearly all 50 US States.

Maui County, Hawaii, Wins NACIO Website Best of Class
On May 19, the National Association of County Information Officers announced their 2009 Awards of Excellence winners, with four CivicPlus clients winning five of the top awards in the Computer Media/Internet Websites category.

Maui County, Hawaii, received top honors with the Best of Class Award in the Computer Media category and the Superior Award in the Internet Websites category.

Other CivicPlus clients honored with NACIO awards include:

• Cumberland County, Pennsylvania – Excellence Award in Internet Websites
  
• Hidalgo County, Texas – Meritorious Award in Internet Websites
  
• Contra Costa County, California – Meritorious Award in Internet Websites
  

"I'm extremely gratified that the positive responses we've been receiving on the community level have been echoed by the web industry," said Maui County Mayor Charmaine Tavares. "Our redesigned website not only provides expanded public access to government services and information, it helps reduce our use of natural resources by offsetting 100 percent of its carbon footprint through renewable energy credits purchased by CivicPlus.”

Temple, Texas, Wins TAMI Award for Best Web Home Page
On Friday, June 19, the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers announced their 2009 TAMI Award winners. Temple, Texas, won the TAMI Award for Best Web Home Page.

Other CivicPlus clients honored by the 2009 TAMI Awards include:

• Shenandoah, Texas - Silver Star Award for Web Home Page
  
• Hutto, Texas - Third Place for Web Home Page
  
• Hutto, Texas - Silver Star Award in the under 70,000 population range
  
• Little Elm, Texas - Silver Star Award in the under 70,000 population range

3 CivicPlus Client Recognized by NSPRA Publications and Electronic Media Awards
Three CivicPlus clients were honored with the 2009 National School Public Relations Association‘s Internet/Intranet Award of Merit.

• Bay Village City School District, Ohio
  
• Edgecombe County Public Schools, North Carolina
  
• San Bernardino City Unified School District, California

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The 2009 WMC Online Series Schedule
Join us for the 2009 Website Management Conference Online Series, including one live and educational seminar for the local government professional every month throughout 2009.

Managing Information Overload in the Age of Social Media
Presented by CivicPlus on July 14

Portals - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Presented by the Center for Digital Government on August 11

Maximizing Your Website’s ROI
Presented by Google on September 15

Web 2.0: Web Evolved
Presented by Government Technology on October 13

Making Websites Accessible and Usable for All
Presented by TecAccess on November 10

The Extreme Art of Web Design
Presented by CivicPlus on December 8

To participate in all the live seminars with access to past and future on-demand versions, there will be a one-time charge of $79.

View complete 2009 WMC Online Series details

Upcoming July Seminar
Managing Information Overload in the Age of Social Media (LIVE)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 – 2:00 to 3:00 P.M. CST

Presenters:
- Jesse Manning, Director of Product Strategy, CivicPlus

The Internet is a fantastic medium by which to provide information to the world. Sometimes far too much information. In this seminar you will learn best practices to effectively present information so that your site visitors can quickly and easily navigate to the content they need in an accessible and interactive way. With social networking sites becoming a well-known method for organizations to communicate in cutting-edge ways, governments are facing the daunting challenge of managing the two-way flow of information. This seminar takes a look at a few of the policies that local governments are implementing as they wade into the world of Gov 2.0 as well as the latest tools available to aggregate and organize collaborative traffic.

Register for the WMC Online Series to attend this webinar:
Managing Information Overload in the Age of Social Media

Developing a Social Media Policy with Cumberland County

When developing our local government social media policy, I originally looked at Sun Microsystems’ and IBM’s policies. A few drafts later, it looked little like the first version, but hit the important points. As we worked through the process we decided that a simple, straight forward approach was our goal. There is enough ambiguity associated with Web 2.0—what it is and how a local government can utilize it—that the policy need not add more questions.

This policy has cleared our legal team and is now waiting for official approval from our Board of Commissioners, so it is currently in a draft status. I have added it below, identified as County Social Media Policy. I also have included our Library System’s Web 2.0 policy, with their permission. It is identified as Library Social Network Policy. They are also working on similar goals related to Web 2.0.

The Policy
Purpose
The purpose of this Social Media policy is to ensure the proper use of Cumberland County’s Web 2.0 technologies by its employees. Web 2.0 technologies, also referred to as “social media” are tools for communication and users have the responsibility to use these resources in an efficient, effective, ethical and lawful manner.

Ownership
All social media communications messages composed, sent, or received on the County IT equipment are the property of the County.

Privacy and Security
The County has the right to monitor employees’ social media use on County equipment and will exercise its right as necessary. Users do not and should have no expectation of privacy. Social media is not a secure means of communication.

When using Web 2.0 technologies, such as Facebook, Twitter, SharePoint, MySpace, blogs, or discussion boards, Cumberland County employees will act in a professional manner by:

• Identifying themselves by name and as an employee of Cumberland County
  
• Using only appropriate language
  
• Being aware that what is written will not only reflect on the writer, but also on the Elected Officials of Cumberland County and other County employees
  
• Not providing confidential information about cases or clients, including names, or be using such material as part of any content added to a site.
  
• Not commenting on business partner’s or their competitor’s practices or services or using such as part of content added to a site.
  
• Not providing information related to pending business decisions that would compromise negotiations or including such as part of content added to a site.
  
• Being aware that all content added to a site is subject to open records/right to know laws and discovery in legal cases.
  
• Insuring that all content posted to an external site will include a disclaimer that the comments and/or opinions posted are those of the postee and not the County.

When in doubt about the appropriateness of content you are going add to a site, it is best to refrain. Employees should think of social media in the same manner as writing on a wall in public with the addition of their name and address attached to everything written. There are no truly anonymous postings to social media.

Cumberland County Library System Social Networking Policy
Purpose
The Cumberland County Library System sponsors staff blogs, wikis, photo sharing, video sharing, tagged websites and other social networking sites to further its mission to meet the cultural, educational and informational needs of library users and community residents. The Cumberland County Library System’s sponsored sites are also a place for the public to share opinions about library related subjects and issues. Comments are welcome and will be reviewed prior to publishing.

Acceptable Use
The goals of Cumberland County Library System sponsored social networking sites are:

• To increase the public’s knowledge of and use of library services
  
• To promote the value and importance of the Library System’s services among governing officials, civic leaders, and the general public
  
• To maintain open, professional and responsive communications with members of the public and the news media.

Publicly posted information will be professional and reflect positively on the Cumberland County Library System, its member libraries, staff, volunteers and services. Staff shall check facts, cite sources, present balanced views, acknowledge and correct errors, and check spelling and grammar before publishing any posts.

The Cumberland County Library System reserves the right not to publish any posting, or to later remove it.

Comments from the Public
Where moderation of comments is an available option, comments from the public will be moderated before posting by Cumberland County Library System designated staff editors. The Cumberland County Library System reserves the right to modify or remove any messages or postings that it deems, in its sole discretion, to be abusive, obscene, defamatory, in violation of the copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party, or otherwise inappropriate.

The Cumberland County Library System also reserves the right to edit or modify any submissions in response to requests for feedback or other commentary. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Cumberland County Library System is not obligated to take any such actions, and will not be responsible or liable for content posted by any subscriber in any forum, message board, or other area within the service.

By posting a comment, customers agree to indemnify the Cumberland County Library System, its officers and staff from and against all liabilities, judgments, damages, and costs (including attorney's fees) incurred by any of them which arise out of or are related to the content posted by customers. Forums and messaging may not be used for commercial purposes or for organized political activity.If a customer does not agree to these terms, the individual should not use the Cumberland County Library System sponsored sites as a violation of these terms may lead to legal liability.

Copyright
Content on Cumberland County Library System blogs, wikis, and other social web applications is governed by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States licensing (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/).

Management of Social Web Applications
The Cumberland County Library System’s administrative office is responsible for overall blog or wiki administration. All staff-related blogs and wikis must be approved by the Cumberland County Library System Executive Director before an account may be set-up. Set-up questions and problems can be directed to the CCLS Training Services Coordinator.

Each site should have wording that indicates who the owner of the site is and an email link back to the library or individual who maintains it. The name of the library should be on the site, as well as an indication that the library is a member of the Cumberland County Library System.

Hosting, Training and Support
Currently, Cumberland County Library System blogs are hosted at blogger.com and wikis are hosted at pbwiki.com. Cumberland County Library System also uses Facbook.com business pages and MySpace.com sites for social networking, Flickr for photosharing, YouTube for video sharing and Delicious for tagged websites. As technologies evolve, use of other hosting sites must be approved by the Cumberland County Library System Executive Director.

Cumberland County Library computer services staff will install any necessary technical updates needed for the basic operation of tools hosted at approved sites. The Cumberland County training services coordinator will provide basic training to the primary staff members responsible for editing and maintaining the sites.

Moderating Public Comments
Where moderation of comments is an available option, comments from the public will be moderated by Cumberland County Library System staff editors before posting. Where moderation prior to posting is not an option, sites will be regularly monitored by library staff.

Cumberland County Library System designated staff editors shall not post any comments that are abusive, obscene, defamatory, in violation of the copyright, trademark right, or other intellectual property right of any third party, or otherwise inappropriate or incorrect. For example, the following may be removed by Cumberland County Library System editors before being published:

• Potentially libelous comments
  
• Obscene or racist comments
  
• Personal attacks, insults, or threatening language
  
• Plagiarized material
  
• Private, personal information published without consent
  
• Comments totally unrelated to the topic of the forum
  
• Commercial promotions or spam
  
• Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion

Recommended Guidelines
These guidelines will help ensure your site’s success.

1. Only establish a social networking presence if you plan to maintain it regularly.
   
2. Determine in advance who will contribute to the site and how much time you have for maintaining it.
   
3. For successful, time-sensitive topics, consider using “found content” (ready-made data from library email lists, Web news, etc.) rather than drafting original content.
   
4. Aim for brief, newsy posts with strong opening sentences.
   
5. Determine your audience. Is this a site for your department? For your users? For library-wide reading? All of the above? Any of these uses are appropriate, but use the answers to this question to guide your content and your marketing.
   
6. Consider a “soft launch” where you begin using a site quietly for a month or so to get used to it.
   
7. Links to related posts are encouraged, but editors should post original content rather than reposting entire items from other sites.
   
8. Pictures enrich blog entries and provide informational value to posts.
   
9. Do not feel compelled to post every day. Post when you have something to share.
   
10. Share your site in appropriate venues. Don’t rely on being “found.” If you have a site of interest to home schoolers, let them know.
    
11. Use your blog URL in instructional materials. Add it to your email signature file.
    
12. Obtain Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States licensing language and logo from http://creativecommons.org/license/

I want to thank Bill Finnerty, Cumberland County Assistant Information Technology Director, for putting together this fantastic post on local government social media policies.

If you have any feedback or questions, just add them to the comment section below.

Why Local Governments Need SaaS-based Website Management

As budgets continue to shrink, IT managers and Finance Directors search for cost-effective solutions for improving technology; and many are turning to the software as a service (SaaS) model. Often used for customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), the SaaS model has proven itself a viable website management solution.

The concept is simple and attractive - rather than commit a sizeable expenditure for software and hardware, you pay a monthly fee for a web-based website management solution hosted by your selected vendor. Such solutions integrate the website tools, publishing environment, content management system (CMS) and analytics into a single service. So, what can the SaaS website management model do for your organization you ask? Here are five benefits that will positively affect your bottom line.

Reduce IT Costs
When you subscribe to a SaaS website management solution you avoid the overhead costs associated with buying and installing conventional software and hardware. Hosting and maintaining a website typically involves purchasing and maintaining servers as well as installing and maintaining software on individual PCs. This requires an experienced IT staff that has to allocate large amounts of time not only for the maintenance of your software, but your hardware as well.

Save Staff Time
The implementation of the SaaS website management model eliminates many of your typical maintenance and management tasks associated with licensed software and hardware. Your IT staff will no longer have to focus on supporting your server infrastructure, maintaining equipment redundancy and installing system upgrades; instead, they will be able to focus on your organization’s core business goals.

Gain Economies of Scale
The real benefit of a SaaS website management approach is the considerable cost savings you’ll experience. A true SaaS application is reflected by the economies of scale achieved with multi-tenancy. Multi-tenancy refers to a single instance of the software running on the vendor’s servers, but serving multiple clients simultaneously. This solution allows you to take advantage of the substantial investments made by the vendor into their software for a fraction of the cost.

Receive Instant Upgrades
With the SaaS website management model you have instant access to system upgrades. As soon as new or improved functionality is available, you can begin using it without having to move your organization to a new browser or operating system. A reputable provider will rollout these upgrades free of cost.

Pay as You Go
Another benefit of the SaaS website management model is the payment structure. Instead of trying to incorporate a large one-time payment for software and hardware, you pay a monthly or annual subscription fee. Most of the time, your SaaS subscription will allow you to pick and choose the features you want, instead of paying a lot of money for tools you will never use. Depending on shifts in your organization’s needs, you can then add or subtract features as your needs – or budget – changes.

In addition to these five benefits, the SaaS website management model just takes a load of an already overburdened IT staff. By transitioning to this model, you will realize a higher ROI and an overall improved staff efficiency.

Yes, You Should Facebook and Twitter

It’s been great to see local governments embracing social networks and realizing their importance as both communication and marketing tools. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become an oasis for cities and counties wanting to interact with citizens in a relaxed atmosphere.

While it’s quick and easy to set-up a fan page on Facebook or a profile on Twitter, it can be difficult to align these pages with your official brand. CivicPlus has made this easy with consulting and design services for your Gov 2.0 and social networking initiatives.

Your Fans Will be Raving on Facebook
Once home to only drunken party pics of early twenty-somethings, Facebook is now the largest online social network; outranking MySpace by more than 380,000,000 visits a month (1). Between June 2008 and January 2009, Facebook experienced a 276.4% growth in users age 35-54 (2).

As user numbers continue to rise across all demographics, cities like Hutto, Texas are utilizing CivicPlus’ services to maximize their image on Facebook. Working with the City’s IT Analyst, Tim Howell, CivicPlus developed custom graphics for the Boxes tab that includes the “Hutto Help Center”, “Hutto’s Hot Hits” and “How Do I?”; which link to the City’s main navigation as well as their frequently visited pages. They are also pulling their RSS feeds into the Boxes tab to keep it updated with official announcements and events.

The City is fully utilizing their Wall tab to provide links to H1N1 influenza information; announce upcoming council meetings; and post videos and snapshots from around the City.

CivicPlus has also recently developed custom Facebook pages for the cities of Santa Fe, NM and Dania Beach, FL; with pages for Billings, MT and Cumberland County, PA coming soon.

Don't Be a Twit on Twitter
Twitter, the 140-character social phenomenon that broke into the limelight during the 2008 presidential elections, is now the third most popular social network in terms of monthly visits (1).

Innovative cities such as Navasota, TX; Santa Fe, NM; and Levelland, TX, have recently worked with CivicPlus to develop custom Twitter backgrounds that are aligned with their online branding efforts. These unique backgrounds set each organization apart from the vast crowd of mundane Twitter profiles.

The advantage the Twitter is that it lets you instantly develop relationships and involve constituents. As soon as a tweet is published, it can be picked up and re-tweeted, delivering the information to those that other mediums may not have touched.

It’s important to note that on Twitter, users want a sense of personalization. It’s easy to distinguish between those who just pull in RSS feeds and those that make the effort to personalize posts. You will be rewarded with more followers and more interactions if you take the time and update your profile yourself.

I came across this chart, and even though it’s business-oriented, it relates well to local governments (since customers are citizens and products are services provided). It was released under creative commons by Ogilvy PR (360 digital influence).



Photo credit: ogilvyprworldwide

It Takes Time
The key to an effective social networking strategy is the dedication of time. You cannot set-up an account, update it once a week and expect to gain an involved following. Whether its 15 minutes or an hour, you have to dedicate a certain amount of time a day to update your pages and interact with constituents.

You must devote time to marketing your profiles. Adding links to your website, announcing it in newsletters, and distributing articles to the press are some of the most effective ways to gain a following. You can also do a little research, find users in your area and build your following by asking them to join your network.

Measuring Your Success
Measuring the success of social media campaigns for local governments is different than that of, let’s say, a business-to-business company. For local governments the idea is to engage and interact with citizens—so, this is how you should measure your success. The objectives will vary depending on the size, location and demographics of your community. Some may define success as a specific number of monthly interactions between citizens and their organization, while others have a completely different set of metrics. Just remember to clearly state your goal for the campaign and then work backwards to develop metrics that will help you analyze your success.

1 Compete.com “Top 25 Social Networks Re-Rank (Jan ’09)”
2 iStrategyLabs.com “2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report”

Better Governing Through Online Transparency

In President Obama’s January 21st memorandum, “Transparency and Open Government”, he conveyed our nation’s rejuvenated commitment to openness and transparency by writing:

“Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. […] [Government] should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.”

With billions of dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) making its way to cities and counties, local governments must remain committed to delivering unprecedented levels of transparency and openness.

Citizens have the right to know how tax dollars are being used and it’s the government’s responsibility to deliver this information in an easily accessible format—and what’s more readily accessible than the great digital frontier of the world wide web?

No matter how much—or how little—ARRA funds you receive, allocating a portion of your website to keep citizens informed of requests and plans for funds is the first step towards transparency.

The City of Alexandria, Virginia developed www.Alexandriava.gov/Recovery, to promote the ARRA funding requested by the city, how much they will receive and how the funds will be used. Visitors are greeted by a video from Mayor William D. Euille who discusses the importance of the website and information provided. Users have access to city issued ARRA press releases and a comprehensive list of FAQs.

The city also provides detailed PDF reports of potential projects submitted for funding, potential funding sources and a work flow chart for implementation of ARRA funds.

It should be noted that you don’t have to create an entirely new website to provide basic transparency about ARRA funding. Anytime there is a request, plan, or announcement regarding your ARRA funds, pull it out of the meeting minutes or archives, and place it on a page created specifically for the stimulus bill. By doing this, you will better serve your citizens, without having to invest a substantial amount of time or money.

As mentioned in President Obama’s memorandum, government needs to embrace new technologies to make information and decisions readily available to the public.

The City of Columbia, Missouri’s website is an excellent example of using technology to provide citizens the ARRA information they need. The City’s “Transparency in Local Government” site features the basics, including: goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as outlined by the President, press releases from the City and links to other Recovery Act websites.

What’s exciting about the City of Columbia’s transparency page is their Filtered Projects Report. This filterable report outlines all of the projects for which the City has requested funds; the amount requested; what federal agency and program the funds are being requested from; the status of each request; and even details how many jobs will be retained or created with each request. The report is also date-stamped so users know if they are viewing the most up-to-date information.

The City of Madison, Wisconsin’s Federal Stimulus website, www.cityofmadison.com/federalstimulus, is encouraging citizens to provide their thoughts on the best use of stimulus funding with on online form. They also offer live—and on demand—online broadcasts of stimulus package briefings by the Board of Estimates.

Unlike those cities and counties that unwittingly hide their ARRA plans in council or committee minutes and agenda, these cities have brought their spending to the forefront. By informing constituents on the use of their tax dollars and encouraging feedback, these cities should be applauded for their commitment to open and transparent government.

2009 Local Government IT Survey Results

We recently conducted a short survey of local governments regarding their website and IT plans for 2009. The results provided some very interesting insight—some expected, some surprising— into the IT priorities of cities and counties.

Question One
Will your organization be participating in social networking websites in 2009?

- No 77%
- Yes 23%

Out of all the questions, this one provided the most surprising results. Only 23% of those surveyed are planning on using social networking sites in 2009. I believe there is a hesitation among local governments to use these sites—Twitter, Facebook, YouTube—due to lack of usage policies, public record requirements, first amendment issues and limited resources.

These hesitations are valid, but can easily be overcome through the development of through usage policies and stated terms of service. Social networking and Gov 2.0 are here to stay and should used to deliver information to otherwise hard-to-reach demographics.

If Yes, what social networking websites will you be participating in?

- Facebook 45%
- YouTube 33%
- Twitter 33%
- Other 11%

Out of the 23% that plan on using social networking sites in 2009, the majority will be using Facebook; with YouTube and Twitter following close behind. Facebook is an excellent interactive environment for posting news announcements, photos, videos, website links and contact information.

YouTube is a good resource for posting council meetings, community leader speeches, and public service announcement. Add personality to your channel with holiday greeting videos and impromptu interviews of local citizens; basically anything that adds character to what’s behind the perceived cold doors of government buildings..

Twitter, just like Facebook, is great for posting announcements, but your posts must be under 140 characters. I have seen some governments effectively using Twitter as a secondary mode for emergency communication; especially since it can be updated via almost any mobile phone.

Question Two
What is the highest priority for your IT department in 2009?

- Maximize IT Budget 31%
- Improving your website 25%
- Implementation of eGov Solutions 23%
- Other 18%
- Greening IT Dept 3%

It was expected to see maximizing IT budgets as the highest priority for 2009, since many cities and counties are trying to do more with the same, if not less. Of the 18% that responded “Other”, nearly all of them were replacing or purchasing new hardware and/or servers.

Question Three
What is the highest priority for your website in 2009?

- Allowing citizens to perform more business online 49%
- Improving communication with citizens 38%
- Open access to government information 13%
- Other 0%

It’s no surprise that allowing citizens to perform more business online came in at number one. In the midst of a deepening recession, organizations are looking for ways to streamline procedures and trim the fat, so to speak. Providing core business functions online can automate processes and dramatically reduce the amount of staff time needed to complete a task.

Question Four
How will your IT staff development and training budget be affected in 2009?

- Remain the Same 56%
- Decline 39%
- Increase 5%

While many staff development budgets are declining, the majority have remained the same. Especially in a sputtering economy, the return on investment you will experience by keeping staff educated on the latest trends and techniques far outweighs the cost of the education.

Question Five
How will your travel budget for IT staff be affected in 2009?

- Decrease 64%
- Remain the same 36%
- Increase 0%

This is a trend that we expected to see. Through research for the 2009 Website Management Conference we heard from a lot of organizations that their travel budgets had, at the least, been frozen. These results support our expectations as it appears a lot of organizations that hadn’t officially decreased staff travel, they encouraged it even though the budget would remain the same.

GovLoop: The "Facebook for Government"

Launched in June 2008, GovLoop.com is becoming the "Facebook for Government" where over 8,500 federal, state and local government employees connect to share best practices and ideas to improve government. There is a ton of great information on the site with over 1,300 blogs, 1,000 discussions, 200 videos, 3,000 photos and 400 events. Members range from city managers, county CIOs and municipal public affairs officials to federal senior executives, public policy professors and brilliant new government innovators.

Especially of interest on GovLoop is the number of groups on the site ranging from Acquisitions 2.0, Human Resources, Open Source Software and Communications Best Practices. Additionally, members post openings at their work so it is a great place to find new opportunities and recruit new staff. Furthermore, GovLoop has expanded into other additional mediums with a Twitter feed (@govloop) and a Gov 2.0 Podcast (gov2radio.com) with guests including Tim O'Reilly and TweetCongress.

The site was started by Steve Ressler, a federal government employee and co-founder of Young Government Leaders. Steve explained the background of GovLoop in his blog post, "Top 10 Reasons I Created GovLoop." Here's five of them:

Meet New People
While Facebook and LinkedIn are great, they are mainly about staying connected with people you already know. I wanted to meet and connect innovative people in the government community that I don't already know. (GovLoop does has privacy controls if you don't want to do this). Personally, I've already met a ton of innovative people and found a number of great blogs through GovLoop.

Break Down Silos
Government can easily be siloed. You can be stuck in your agency (HR, IT, Policy, etc); or only talk to one sector of government (federal, state, local). But I noticed in my participation in conferences, there were a lot of great ideas and action going on in a wide range of places. However, they often did not know about each other, but would always be excited when they could make new connections and learn from one another other. Hopefully, GovLoop will break down some silos and increase sharing across all levels.

Outlet for Ideas
Most people who work in the government community are passionate about public service. Additionally, they have a lot of ideas on improving government. However, these ideas may not always have a voice at your agency. This could be due to your organization’s structure, budget constraints, or management. GovLoop offers an outlet for people to share their ideas from the inside on how to improve government.

Central Hub
It is hard to keep track of all the good stuff happening in government. There are tons of great trade magazines, professional organizations and professional development events that are excellent for government employees to get ideas and improve their career. However, it’s hard to keep track of what is going on as these discussions are stuck in their silos. For example, rather than just web managers talking about social media, wouldn't it be cool to open up the dialogue to academics/students who may be innovating, digital natives who use social media daily, as well as state/local innovator? I hope GovLoop can serve as a central hub for these great conversations.

Open Up the Community
Great ideas come from everywhere. However, a lot of the places where the government community connects and discusses ways to improve government have geographical and time constraints. As I attended more of these events, I thought more about the government employee who couldn't attend events after work; or all the govies who don’t have the funding to attend these great conferences; or the just retired fed who lives in NC but would still like to share his/her ideas; or the academic/student living in Madison or Lawrence. GovLoop opens up the community and eliminates these restrictions (you just need Internet)

*Side Note
I want to thank Steve Ressler taking the time to submit this article. GovLoop is truly an excellent resource for government professionals to make new connections and share ideas; especially for IT professionals and web managers. With groups ranging from MuniGov 2.0 to Web Metrics, you are guaranteed to learn something new while connecting with the best and brightest in the government community.

CP News: CivicPlus is now on Facebook and Twitter, The '09 WMC Online Series

CivicPlus is now on Twitter and Facebook!
You can now follow CivicPlus on Twitter for announcements, WMC updates, industry news, e-Gov Gateway blog posts and general tweets, or you can join our Facebook Fan page for more of the same. Why not go crazy and join both!

- Follow us on Twitter.com/CivicPlus
- Be a fan on Facebook

We look forward to hearing from you!

The 2009 WMC Online Series
In the face of shrinking staff development budgets how do you keep up with the latest trends and best practices in local government website management?

Join us for the 2009 Website Management Conference Online Series that will feature one engaging live seminar every month throughout 2009.

With seminar topics ranging from emerging trends in Gov 2.0 to maximizing your IT budget, the WMC Online Series is guaranteed to both educate and inspire all local government website professionals

To give you a taste of what the ’09 WMC Online Series has to offer, our May seminar is complimentary to all attendees.

View complete 2009 WMC Online Series details

If you're interested in what the 2009 WMC Online Series has to offer, take a look at the On-Demand version of April's seminar, "Local Government 2.5: A Global Perspective", presented by Dr. Alan Shark, Executive Director of the Public Technology Institute.

Upcoming Complimentary Seminar
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (LIVE)

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 – 2:00 to 3:00 P.M. CST

Presenters:
- Deb McNew, Director of Production, CivicPlus
- Jesse Manning, Director of Product Strategy, CivicPlus

Reserve your spot for this complimentary seminar!

Don’t miss this chance to have your website evaluated and optimized in real-time by our team of experts.

In this free optimization seminar we will examine the areas of usability, functionality and audience expectations. You will walk away with real knowledge you can apply in your day to day practices.

NOTE: To be considered for a live website review, you must submit your site when registering. You can still sign up and attend without submitting your site.

Reserve your spot for this session and submit your website!