In just 80 days, create a cohesive and citizen-centric Web presence that allows the agency to interact with and deliver information more efficiently to the public. The Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) original Web site was designed to match the Department's organizational structure, which is made up of over 20 operational and staff divisions. So, to find information, users had to know which HHS agency provided the information they required. In addition, each HHS division's section of the Web site had a different look and feel.

To maintain consistency and to provide users with better information delivery, HHS' mission was to funnel information from each of its division's pages into a single portal. Working with SRA International and AMS, Aquilent was charged with redesigning the HHS Web site in 80 days. Key requirements for the site included :

• Categorization of information and services by topic
• Creation of an enterprise search engine
• Implementation of an e-mail response capability

In accordance with HHS' decentralized system, the solution was not to re-engineer or centralize the multitude of Web sites across HHS, but to provide the public and employees access to the information contained on those sites through a common, citizen-centric interface.

The site redesign provides a user-focused information architecture that creates a unifying agency portal, rather than one divided by organizational boundaries. The result is a searchable pool of information from a single point of entry, with a consistent look across all HHS divisions.

End users now have access to a single, measurably improved portal to access HHS information and services, previously housed in numerous, disparate locations. The new Web service helps HSS to achieve its ultimate goal of enriching and empowering customers, including:

• Researchers gathering information on disease
• Citizens seeking information about applying for Medicaid benefits
• HHS employees looking for information about benefits
• Other government agencies seeking a point of contact at HHS
• Businesses or educational institutions seeking information about grants

Formal and extensive usability testing demonstrated that our newly implemented information architecture and Web site design improved the end user success rate (in terms of finding specific solutions and information) from 41% to 92% over the previous HHS.gov Web site.

CFTC – CFTC.gov Web Presence Initiative
GSA – USA.gov Refresh

GSA – GSA.gov

USPS – USPS.com

Learn more about Agency-wide Web Presence Solutions