WITSA Global IT Excellence Award Nomination for Public Sector Excellence Award Nominee: New York City Government Application: NYC Portal NYC.gov Nominated by: Accenture Nomination Contacts: David Moskovitz, Accenture Partner 917-452-6039 Steven Hurst, Accenture Partner 617-454-4970 Rick Nessel, Accenture 917-452-0734 1
Summary New York City has recently launched an exciting new portal entitled NYC.gov. The City has adopted a portal model in which emergency, informational and interactive services along with traditional business transactions are provided in a one-stop government site. The new NYC.gov portal is revolutionizing the way New York City residents, visitors, and businesses interact with government. NYC.gov allows New York City government to more effectively meet the needs of its citizens by improving access to, and quality of, services, communication, and information within government. In the City that never sleeps, NYC.gov was developed to provide a government that is available and accessible 24 hours a day not just for emergency services, but for informational services and traditional business transactions. New York City has an ambitious vision for NYC.gov. Key elements of this vision include: Virtual Agencies The size and complexity of New York City government requires a citizen not only to perform research to determine what agency provides a desired service, but may also require a citizen to deal with multiple agencies. An activity such as opening a restaurant may require working with 7 different City agencies. The vision for NYC.gov is to break down these traditional boundaries, allowing citizens to focus only on the service they require while technology manages the process within the City. Many of the pilot common components implemented as part of NYC.gov set the stage for this radical transition. 100% Self Service NYC.gov seeks to allow users to complete transactions on-line, eliminating the need for them to visit City agencies or handle telephone or mail requests. This will also lead to significant efficiencies with City government. Several of the pilot applications developed utilize new technologies to enable this vision, including integration with legacy applications. Customer Support Across the Web and Other Channels Given the diversity of the New York City population, the government realizes that customer support requires managing citizen requests across multiple channels. The City is piloting applications that manage web-related requests, but will provide a platform to integrate with other citizen channels as well. Secure The issue of security of data within government is very important. The City has designed NYC.gov to protect the City s assets and the data that it maintains. Cost Effective As a publicly funded project, the City must ensure that their approach to building NYC.gov is cost effective. The City has established a strategy for leveraging their investment as they continue to provide new services and to prioritize proposed projects. Always Open The motto for NYC.gov is always open. This vision requires an architecture that is designed to provide nearly 24x7 availability. In fact, NYC.gov was architected to provide 94.7% availability. In order to allow citizens to effectively access the more than 50,000 pages of content and 100 online transactions available on the site, NYC.gov employs an intuitive intentions-based design approach. NYC.gov s new intentions-based approach reduces the need for visitors to understand the complex structure of City government, and provides them with direct and intuitive access to information based on categories of services. As part of the intentions based site, users have four distinct methods to access government. These are: Service based the 12 most frequently accessed service areas I Want To - the most commonly requested City services Agency based services provided by agencies Customized based on a user designated profile specifying their areas of interest 2
In addition to extensive content, NYC.gov provides important online transactional services. Many of these services are pilot projects employing exciting new technology, built as components that can be leveraged for use in other agency on-line services. Examples of the wide range of services currently available through NYC.gov include: View real-time traffic cameras Access property tax records and water/sewer statements Pay a parking ticket or locate a towed vehicle Apply and pay for Parks permits Access building code, inspection and violation information Review restaurant inspection reports Order birth certificates View crime statistics Request Sanitation services Look up personalized Sanitation collection schedules Search the City s medical Provider Directory Access services provided by other regional governments In the remainder of this justification, we discuss the key virtues of: the portal design, which facilitates user access to information and services the exciting pilot applications that the City has implemented to provide citizens with new online services, and the efficient use of technology that supports the application. I. NYC.gov Portal Design Breakthrough Intentions-Based Portal Design New York City is one of the largest governments in the United States. In fact the only governments larger than NYC are the states of California and New York. New York City government has a annual operating budget of $40 billion, more than 300,000 employees, and provides more than 900 different services. In keeping with the size of the City, NYC.gov is one of the largest and government websites in the world. NYC.gov has more than 50,000 pages on its site, maintained by more than 80 different government agencies. Therefore, it was essential to design a simple, intuitive approach for users to navigate the City s expanding list of informational and interactive services. New York City wanted to design a government portal that allows real-world activities to be accomplished online rather than in line, allowing users to locate information and services based on what they want to do, rather than requiring them to navigate the City s complex bureaucracy. NYC.gov s intentions-based portal design helps demystify government by providing direct and intuitive access to specific areas of information and categories of services. The NYC.gov portal interface is designed to provide multiple intuitive navigation paths in order to facilitate use by New York City residents, commuters, persons doing business with and in the City, as well as visitors. NYC.gov offers users four different ways to access the information and services they seek. These options are: 3
Intention Based when users know what they want to do, but do not know where to turn, the Services section points them in the right direction. This section aggregates all information into twelve frequently used categories called services. The twelve services are Business, Community, Education/Research, Health, Housing, Human Services, NYC Employees, NYC Job Opportunities, Public Safety, Recreation, Transportation, and Visiting New York City. I Want to this extensive listing presents New York City s most commonly requested services through a menu organized in the City s familiar twelve service areas. Agency Based when users know the agency responsible for the information or services they need, they can make a selection from the City Agencies page and access specific agency pages. My NYC.gov when users want to create a personal online government using the search function, bookmark module and customization. Users can customize NYC.gov to reflect their areas of interest by registering and obtaining a user ID and password. Registering with NYC.gov will allow City agencies to contact or distribute information to a registered user based upon their interest(s) or geographic location. User Friendly Portal Design Each portal page has a similar design so that visitors will find a comfortable, familiar look and feel no matter where they are within the portal pages. The NYC.gov portal page templates were designed to present specific information along with a common list of services, all within a consistent design. Each portal page has the same basic design: a banner at the top and footer at the bottom, a menu module on the left, a module with links to the Office of the Mayor and a resources module on the right, along with features, services or links down the center of the page. A sample of the The NYC.gov home page is shown below. My NYC.gov allows for site customization C - Features Section Easy access to City Officials and commonly requested services B Specific Services and Related Content D Resources Module Customizable Features A - 12 Service Areas 4
All of the twelve service areas are listed in the center of the NYC.gov home page (see A in the figure above). Links to each of these services can also be found on the pull-down menu on the banner of each Service page. The left-hand module is a comprehensive, custom designed menu that links to specific services and related content for each of the twelve Service pages, but visitors will always find the familiar seven common menu selections at the bottom of each menu module: I Want To.., Online Services, Forms, Publications, Events, FAQs, and What s New On NYC.gov (see B in the figure above). The Features section, found at the center of the Home page and on each Service Home page, provides interesting, timely and emergency information with links to additional content (see C in the figure above). The features may contain breaking City news, important events and/or information about an emergency situation. The Resources module on the Home page (see D in the figure above) is called Elected Officials and has links to elected officials in New York City, New York State, and Federal governments. On the Service pages, the Resources module provides graphics with links to the agencies and/or specific applications that provide some of the services linked through the menu. As visitors navigate through the Service menus, they can keep track of the path that they have taken through the breadcrumbs that are found above the directory. For instance if the user chooses the Business service page and selects Taxes/City Tax information they will see breadcrumbs that look like Business> Taxes> City Tax Information> above the menu. This visual tool not only allows users to know what path has been taken, but also provides a quick link back to the specific service main page. The I Want To directory has a service-based menu that leads users to information based on the service they are seeking. Extensive Help Features to Meet the Needs of All Users The NYC.gov Tour found on the NYC.gov banner and available on the site in both broadband and modem versions, was created to help new users learn how to navigate through the four ways provided on the portal to access online services, forms, publications and information. In addition, New York City has provided an extensive portal help section for its visitors. The help information is provided within two principle categories: Navigation and Personalization. The Navigation Help section provides an overview and instructions on the many ways that you can navigate NYC.gov. It provides visitors with instructions on the several ways to navigate to the services and information sought. The navigation features are classified into three navigation categories: Traditional, Virtual, and Personalized. The Traditional navigation features are those navigation methods carried forward from the old NYC.gov website (i.e., City Agencies, City Government Links, Search). The Virtual navigation features are those that classify services based on categories of user interest (e.g., Business, Community). The Personalized navigation features allow users to develop a personal directory (My NYC.gov Bookmarks) that is accessible from most NYC.gov portal pages. The Personalization Help section provides an overview and instruction on the ways visitors can personalize NYC.gov portal pages. Personalization features allow users to create custom navigation and page views, as well as register for E-mail notification updates. Users must register to use NYC.gov Personalization features, although it is not necessary to register to access all other NYC.gov content. The NYC.gov Help section provides step-by-step instruction on performing all personalization features from registration through creating custom page views. 5
Providing the Public with Greater Access to Government NYC.gov also provides the public with direct access to top elected officials. It offers them the opportunity to e-mail the Mayor and each Commissioner in the administration directly from Contact Us on the banner of all portal pages. Future enhancements will manage the status of responses to these e-mails. II. NYC.gov Pilot Applications Use of Pilot Projects to Evaluate and Create Common Components Selecting an approach to implementing services on the Internet is a complex task, give the size and breadth of New York City government. New York City needed an efficient approach that would result in developing important services quickly while also facilitating future applications and controlling ongoing maintenance costs. In order to do this, NYC identified over 200 potential applications and identified the components common to these applications. They then prioritized this list, and sought to begin building strategic pilot applications that created common enterprise components. NYC identified the following common components as their first priority enterprise solutions: Mapping Services (e.g., locate City services online, locate City facilities, find out about local events geographically, locate your local firehouse) Consolidated Payments (create centralized payment system to be used by multiple applications) Citizen Relationship Management (e.g., correspondence tracking, e-advisor wizard to provide users information based on answers to questions, e-forms, service center for tracking e-forms) E-Procurement (e.g., sell to the City, e-bids/e-rfps, e-auctions/reverse auctions) Examples of GIS Based Services One of the most notable characteristics of New York City is its size. It is often easy for citizens to lose a sense of neighborhood in New York. The City recognizes the value to it s citizens of being able to provide services in a more localized fashion in other words, creating neighborhood views of the services the City provides. The City s goal is to provide a neighborhood-oriented view of services using an underlying, sophisticated GIS application. The goal is to be able to create this capability as a common component that can be leveraged across multiple service applications. There are now online GIS based health services on NYC.gov that allow users to receive targeted data by selecting an area of a map or providing a zip code. For example, the restaurant health inspection information application allows a user to search by restaurant name or location to find out about the most recent significant violations issued to any New York City restaurant. Another GIS-based service is the Medical Providers Directory that is made available as a reference tool for New York City consumers of Medicaid Managed Care and Child Health Plus, and those who advise them, in selecting a medical provider. The data for the provider directory was compiled and formatted by the NYC Department of Health and is derived from reports by participating health plans to the Health Provider Network internet system managed by the NYS Department of Health. 6
In addition, through NYC.gov the NYC Department of the Aging provides the Department for the Aging Online. By selecting a borough and then clicking on the map to select the zip code, users receive a list of supportive housing for the elderly. Examples of Citizen Relationship Applications Buildings Information Shortly, business entities and property owners will be able to accesses New York City property profiles to determine if there are any violations listed in the Department of Buildings legacy database through the Internet. The information available online will include a property profile summary with information such as permits issued for the property, a list of building violations issued and landmark status of a building. There will also be access to information about licenses of building contractors and a list of complaints against a property. Previously, this information was only available through a public access terminal at Department of Building borough offices or through a subscription service. Taxi and Limousine Licensing and Adjudication Information - NYC.gov provides a Taxi and Limousine For-Hire Vehicle Base application. This application allows For-Hire Vehicle (FHV) base station operators to access current licensing and adjudication information. In addition, FHV base station operators can also verify the TLC license status of any of its affiliated vehicles or drivers through an application link to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles license information system. By having this information readily available, FHV base station operators are better prepared to conduct business when visiting TLC offices, avoid repeat visits, and ensure that no unlicensed or improperly licensed driver or vehicle is dispatched on to New York City streets. This Virtual Private Network on the web provides access to this application to authorized For-Hire Vehicle base station operators who must obtain a confidential password that is issued by TLC's For-hire Vehicle Base Unit. Parks and Sanitation Services Online - The public can process on-line requests for various Department of Sanitation and Parks Department services. They can also apply for Parks Department permits for tennis courts, sports fields, and special events. The public can also process secure credit card payments for these permits. Users can sign up to receive the latest Parks News and Updates on the News Groups and e-mail Services page. Once signed up and selecting their favorite topics users will receive periodic e-mails and notifications of the latest Parks Department information corresponding to their indicated interests. Business Incentives Finder - The Business Resource Guide is a cross agency intentions-based guide to help businesses find out about all the business programs, services and advice that New York City offers. A user interested in starting or developing a business fills out a simple questionnaire. The application then sorts through approximately 150 different incentives offered by multiple agencies and presents the user with a list of links targeted to their industry and areas of interest such as licensing/permits, contracting with the City, finance/loan programs, training initiatives and information about real estate and office space. Real Time Streaming Video - The New York City Department of Transportation's Traffic Management Center monitors closed circuit television cameras on major New York City arteries, which allow operations staff to track traffic conditions at key locations in the city. Visitors to NYC.gov also can access these cameras to view real-time traffic movements via realtime streaming video. The Advanced Traveler Information System provides both streaming 7
video and frequently updated still images from forty-five locations in the five boroughs of New York City. EProcurement Pilot The City recently provided access via NYC.gov to the electronic version of the Procurement Notices that appear in printed version of the City Record. This application allows vendors to identify opportunities to sell their products and services to City agencies. III. Efficient Use of Current Technology The new NYC.gov offers the City both short and long term value. Over the long-term, the City has invested in a standardized platform that will allow them to scale their growth, and take advantage of economies of scale. The new site infrastructure is already being used as a base infrastructure for other technology projects such as the citywide geographic information systems utility (GIS) and the City s citizen relationship management system. In addition to economic benefits derived from the architecture, the new portal offers many economic advantages. Automated transactions that are processed through the site allow the City to reduce our reliance on in-house staff at agencies. In terms of central web management, the portal is driven by a dynamic database that allows the City to reorganize and restructure content on the fly. The portal structure was developed using templates. Using this foundation, they can focus their efforts on content rather than continual work of web developers. In this respect they gain two advantages; the subject matter experts, City agency staff, can focus their efforts on delivering information and services to the public; and the staff at NYC.gov can focus on running and maintaining the site. The portal was built so as to make most efficient use of current technology. NYC.gov employs Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) portal products and a proven technology architecture. In order to provide the level of availability warranted by NYC.gov s motto, always open, the portal is built on a redundant architecture with failover designed so as to provide 99.7% availability. In addition, the portal is designed with multiple levels of security so as to protect the City s valuable assets and the data that the City maintains. 8