Case Study 2 Web Portal for State of Michigan Provides Services and Savings

Government and their agencies often are pressured to improve services to the public with little funding for those improvements. State and federal agencies have found the Web to be an ideal tool to provide public services for a relatively small investment. Over time, services and information provided on government Web site end up saving money by streamlining operations and automating processes that were traditionally handled by government workers.

The state of Michigan provides an excellent example of a successful implementation of a government Web site. It recently launched an initiative to save costs by offering moreservices over the Internet. Michigan's government agencies had more than 100 different Website operating independently and lacking a standard design. The state needed to unify its Web resource that would enable constituents to access government services online.

The plan for a new state of Michigan Web site included several criteria: it needed to be a Web-based portal that was user friendly, had a citizen-centric design and would make all information, services and transactions available within three mouse clicks. The portal needed to be developed using open standards, have uncompromising security, deliver availability around the clock and be scalable for future expected growth. Lastly, the Web site portal needed to be up and running in 90 days.

The project had two primary challenges: first was the development and design of the portal and the second was the on-going hosting of the portal. The state of Michigan decided that they preferred not to host the Web portal on government-owned servers. They decided to outsource the project and Web hosting to IBM Global Services.

The IBM team worked closely with the State of Michigan to refine the portal specifications and requirements and to develop portal application components that would allow citizens to interact with government information systems.

In addition to working with the state to design and set up the state of Michigan Web portal system, IBM provides server hosting, middleware support, database support, security services, backup and restore services, network support services, firewall support services, server monitoring services, helpdesk support, host and network intrusion detection services, account management and other services.

The result is a user-friendly Web portal developed for the state of Michigan within the 90-day deadline. The portal offers citizens and businesses a single point of access toMichigan's government resources. The solution meets the state's requirements for ease of useand intuitive navigation. The site has achieved near 100-percent availability and the flexibility of the portal application enables the state to launch new sites without developing new code. Since the introduction of the new portal, the average daily volume of traffic towww.michigan.govhas increased more than tenfold. More citizens and businesses are finding information via the portal instead of by mail or phone calls. The state is saving money through higher employee productivity and reduced mailings and Michigan residents can find information and services that they need more easily.

Discussion Questions

1-How can a government Web site improve the government's service to citizens for less money than traditional methods?

2-Why do you think the State of Michigan decided to outsource the Web portal project rather than doing it themselves?

3-List TWO (2) cost saving benefits after the launch of the new web portal.

Critical Thinking Questions

4-Why do you think the State of Michigan found itself with 100+ different Web sites operating independently of one another and lacking a standard design?

5-How do the pressures on governments to improve service differ from those of a profit- driven business?