Arkansas.gov has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top state government sites on the web. Below you'll find an interview with Janet Grard, General Manager of the Information Network of Arkansas.
- Arkansas.gov is a top-notch web portal; what has been your role in its development?
Arkansas.gov is a service of the Information Network of Arkansas (INA), which is responsible for delivering e-government solutions for the state. As the portal’s general manager, I work with state and local government agencies to bring a host of web sites and online services to the citizens and businesses of Arkansas. We have developed over 1,000 web sites and online services in the past 13 years and have relationships with over 240 state and local government agencies.
- Can you summarize the history of Arkansas's web portal?
The Information Network of Arkansas Board was created in 1995 and has statutory responsibility of assisting the state in exploring and improving citizen and business access to public information and online services. The objective of INA is to improve the accessibility of Government, be that in the form of public information or electronic transactions. These transactions may be between Citizens and Government, Businesses and Government or between Governmental Agencies and offices.
INA has a 13-year partnership with NIC, a private company that provides a variety of essential e-government services under the NIC self-funded model. Financial efficiencies are realized by the state and taxpayers through no appropriation of state funds to operate the portal. Operational efficiencies are also achieved, as the portal is an enterprise solution that each agency leverages without investing financial or staff resources for development, maintenance, hosting or marketing services.
- What are the overarching objectives of Arkansas's current e-government initiatives?
Our overarching objective is to bring government services to the people and businesses of Arkansas and to make these services and information easy to access.
As an example, guidelines for a Common Look and Feel standard for agency department, board, or commission websites has been created based on Governor Mike Beebe’s initiative and web site. These templates will allow State of Arkansas web sites to comply with guidelines and/or standards promulgated by the Department of Information Systems. The guidelines are created to produce a more cohesive look and easy, consistent navigation for all of Arkansas’s government entities.
The state is also offering mobile users new methods of accessing state and local government information and services. The Arkansas.gov mobile site offers mobile users access to county tax payment services, inmate deposits and parole payments, voter registration lookup, and Game and Fish Game Check services. The mobile payment services were the first mobile applications in the nation to accept government payments on a mobile device, and the Game Check service was the first iPhone application to actually complete a transaction with a government agency.
- From a marketing standpoint, what are some of the strategies that you have utilized to draw attention to the information and services provided by Arkansas.gov, both on- and off-line?
We use a variety of methods to promote our services including email campaigns, direct mailings, banner ads on the agency web site and the Arkansas.gov site, and even social networking sites. With each service we deliver, we work with the agency to help market the service and increase adoption. With the self-funded business model, we are incented to increase adoption through the marketing of our services.
- How has citizen feedback influenced the development of Arkansas's e-government services?
We certainly listen to feedback but also try to be leaders in offering innovative service for the state. We work with our agency partners to understand their business and needs, allowing us to offer creative solutions both for the agency and citizens.
- What is the most-used feature or service on the site?
The most used feature on the portal is the search function. People are comfortable using a search feature and we worked at making ours as helpful and user-friendly as possible. We also try to put our most popular services front and center on the portal home page so users can find what they are looking for quickly. These are constantly updated to reflect seasonal services, filing periods, and deadlines. An updated mapping function also connects citizens with jobs and training opportunities, as well as online services, and state offices relevant to their current location. The service utilizes geo-IP mapping to help pinpoint services based on the users current location.
Our Inmate Deposit service has been one of the most used services for years and continues to grow. We recently added the ability to make inmate deposits from any mobile device and have seen impressive growth from users making payments from their smartphones for this and other payment services.
In addition to the mobile payment services, the portal also offers a mobile Voter View service to lookup polling locations, candidate and other details for upcoming elections. A mobile and iPhone application provides hunters the ability to check harvested game and reporting for the Game and Fish Commission wildlife management team.
Other popular services include, Criminal Background checks, UCC filings, Financial Disclosure reporting and searches, Tax filings and payment services, and driving records.
The new Universal Financial Aid System that was rolled out at the beginning of 2010 has been one of our most popular services so far this year. The system allows students to search and apply for scholarships from 21 available programs. The system also automates the awarding process for the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and interfaces with both Federal and State services to pull the necessary details for eligibility determination. The states 2008 ballot initiative to amend the constitution to allow for a state lottery with all revenue going to student scholarships made this system a necessity for the agency. More than 100 million in available scholarship funds was projected for this year, and financial aid applications have increased from 25,000 in 2009 to over 143,000 so far this year.
- Arkansas.gov’s online chat service would seem to be a very useful feature for a state government website. How many people are utilizing the service, and who manages it (i.e. a third-party)?
The Arkansas.gov “Live Help” feature is managed internally by our tier-one support staff. We will typically respond to around 3,500 requests for assistance each year. Our support staff has been trained on all the applications and services we provide and are able to resolve most issues without the need to escalate an issue to level two support. In addition to the “Live Help”, we also offer telephone and trouble ticket support to our users and agency partners.
- In what ways has social media (Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc.) allowed you connect more directly and personally with the citizens of Arkansas?
We have been utilizing services like Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube for some time now. We use these services not only on the portal, but many state agencies and constitutional officers also use these services as a way to connect with citizen and share information. We are also seeing increased usage of Facebook and Twitter to help promote service and make the public aware of timely filing periods, tax deadlines, and other useful information.
- Where do you see e-government heading in the next 2-3 years? Are there any exciting new features or services currently in the works for Arkansas's web portal?
We believe mobile services are a key element for e-government services in the coming years and we are working to position Arkansas.gov to be a leader in this area. A large segment of the population use mobile devices as their primary way of accessing information and we need to provide solutions for the way citizens will want to interact with government.
We are constantly looking for new ways to provide information and new services to the citizens of Arkansas.
- What else that you would like to tell us about Arkansas.gov?
We will continue to develop new services that cross all levels of government including Federal, State, County and Local agencies as well as Government-to-Government, and Government-to-Business services. There is so much more that government can do to serve the citizens and we are always looking for innovative was to provide greater access to information and services for the citizens of Arkansas.