User-Centered Web Redesign: Enhancing Tax Information Accessibility

1. User-Centered Web Redesign: Project Overview Presented by: Susan Powell and Jen Strand NYS Department of Taxation and Finance www.tax.ny.gov Webmasters’ Guild

2. What we’ll cover • Project context • What we did, how we did it & our time frame • Key success factors & challenges Webmasters’ Guild

3. Project context • Strong web governance structure & web blueprint • Very large site: 3k pages, 20k PDF’s, 50+ online services • Decentralized content management structure • Mature CMS implementation (Interwoven) & templatized web pages • Data: web statistics (Web Trends), survey data, call center data, etc. • Skill sets: usability, writing for the web, graphic design, HTML, scripting Webmasters’ Guild

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6. What we did, how we did it & time frame • Usability consulting firm expert review • evaluate site’s strengths & weaknesses • focus: support business objectives and provide an effective UI • create formative page design including navigation, content • provide long-term, strategic recommendations • Recommendations • create new site structure & supporting navigation • write content for the web • design customer-focused, task-based site pages • integrate site task elements within pages • Review time frame: Two months Webmasters’ Guild

7. What we did, how we did it & time frame • Phase 1 (six months) • interviewed customers & stakeholders • analyzed web statistics • benchmarked similar sites • developed site structure & recommended task-based content • recommended UI prototype & navigation structure Webmasters’ Guild

8. What we did, how we did it & time frame • Phase 2 (nine months) • built prototype & wrote new content • conducted online card sort usability test • contracted for usability testing with consulting firm • revised design based on test results • contracted for technical assistance to create/automate new structure • tested new site Webmasters’ Guild

9. What we did, how we did it & time frame • New site design • Persistent (secondary) navigation bar: users can ‘bin’ themselves by audience or select Get Help • More integrated, task-based content • Online services log in/create account featured on home page • Audience pages include ‘ads’ and news • Left navigation bar expands/contracts • Underlying folder structure changed for some content, changing URLs Webmasters’ Guild

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13. Key success factors • User-centered design process based on objective user behavior data • Strong executive support • Web governance structure • Consultant expertise • Communication • Post-launch analytics & focus on continuous improvement Webmasters’ Guild

14. Challenges: project & ongoing • Writing for the web capacity • Shifting content format from PDFs to HTML pages • Lack of usability test facilities and ability to compensate testers • Lack of customer satisfaction survey (aside from web survey) • Integrating static content with online services • Increasing multilingual web content • Integrating Office of Real Property Tax Services site Webmasters’ Guild