Project Details: Town of Blacksburg

Site Launched: August 2000

Since the inception of the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV), the Town of Blacksburg has been considered to be on the forefront of technology. However, with Town government itself had only a minor web presence. Its web site was compartmentalized by department, each section often having a completely individual graphic "look", and with no coherent feel to the web site. Graphic and content standards were not in place. Clearly, a comprehensive overhaul was needed.

The Town formed a Web Site Committee of volunteer staff representing every department, and hired Anderson & Associates as the consultant to lead the redesign effort. The first phase, assessing the needs of the Town, included several stages:

• Reviewing popular web sites to identify aspects of design and execution that were desirable or disliked.
• Constructing three individual graphic concept mock-ups for review by the Committee. Comments from the Committee were incorporated into the mock-ups to arrive at one final, official graphic concept.
• Compiling "wish list" items from all departments to determine what the initial solution design should accomplish and how the solution might grow in the future.
• Assembling a phase one report that identified the current status of the web site, the proposed approach for redesigning the site, a suggested navigation structure, and the official graphic concept.

The second phase commenced with Anderson & Associates meeting with each Town department. The goal of the meetings was to assess the types of information handled by each department, how that information was generated and maintained, and how often that information changed. In addition, these meetings addressed what requests citizens made of these departments, and how the web site might facilitate better communication between the government and its citizens. With these meetings, the process of collecting information and establishing its relationship to the web site structure began.

Because the inadequacy of the original site resulted mostly from out-of-date content, the redesign efforts were conducted with the knowledge that a support system for all information must also be established. Many database-driven applications, such as the Town-wide calendar, the directory of staff and departments, and the crime statistics report, were developed to be maintained through a secure, web-based form. These forms allow anyone with the proper access to add, modify, or delete information displayed in these applications. This solution minimizes the technical expertise required of administrative personnel to maintain web site information, and the ease of using these forms encourages timely updates.

The secure access to these types of applications was an understandable concern of the Town. Anderson & Associates' solution approached the security in a number of ways: requiring specific knowledge of how to access the login page, encrypting the usernames and passwords in such a way that they could not be reverse engineered if intercepted, and including an automated, forced logout after fifteen minutes of inactivity. In addition, the Town Technology Director has full control over all user accounts, to add, modify and delete as necessary. While further measures are being taken to protect credit card transactions and information sent to the police department concerning homeowners leaving their property unattended during vacations, these precautions provide more than sufficient protection of these web-based maintenance tools.

The benefits of the Town's redesigned web site come not only from a better, more comprehensive resource made available to its citizens, but also from the efficient accomplishment of its goals. The benefits gained by the Town are summarized below:

• A reliable, current, informative web site available for use by all citizens and staff.
• Efficient methods for maintaining database driven information, through the use of web-based forms.
• Consistent formatting through the use of page templates and common header, footer, and styles referenced in every page.
• Autonomy over the final product, through the training of Town staff and the availability of a detailed user manual.

 

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