As road trips go, a journey to visit each of the Top 10 states as ranked in the 2008 Digital States survey (conducted every two years by e.Republic's Center for Digital Government) would cover 12,928 miles (if done in order) from coast to coast, with stops in a number of state capitols in between.
In the spirit of those famous 5-day tours of Europe, here is a busboy's recap of an only-time-to-hit-the-highlights trip to the eleven states that earned the distinction of being a Top 10 Digital State.
The tour begins in the industrial heartland and ends, after crisscrossing the country at least three times, in the emergent new mountain west.
10. Pennsylvania(Image: Pennsylvania Portal)
COMPASS brings together these programs in a simple fashion - the
customer does not have to have the detailed understanding of federal,
state and local policy knowledge and focuses on 3 key steps - Click,
Apply, Benefit. A customer is able to access a wide variety of human
service programs online that are spread across 20 different bureaus,
agencies and departments. COMPASS began by integrating the various
forms of state Medicaid assistance programs offered by DPW and
Insurance and integrated healthcare access to individuals, pregnant
women, families and children who are in need of healthcare assistance.
Through the much publicized "Cover all kids" program, Pennsylvania
expanded access for healthcare to all eligible children, and COMPASS is
the primary access point for the commonwealth. In addition to health
related access, including access to long term care and home and
community based services, customers can access benefits for food
assistance, school meals, and Women and Infant Children programs
online. COMPASS expands access to critical emergency programs such as
fuel assistance and general assistance for needy residents. COMPASS
improves customer service by providing electronic features to report
any coverage changes, and allowing access to benefit and service
information similar to online banking features.
10. Tennessee
(Image: Tennessee Maps)
Tennessee.gov maps drivers license stations, schools, county clerks,
state parks and other public facilities. Below the covers, the state
has consolidated three-quarters of what had been 1,600 widely dispersed
servers and more than 200 IT functions into a shared data center.
9. Maryland(Image: Maryland DG Promo)
Service Access and Information Link (SAIL), a web-based screening and
application tool open to all Maryland residents, provides online tools
to determine potential benefit eligibility and examine various social
services offerings. SAIL is available publicly and DHR has partnered
with many community-based organizations such as the United Way of
Maryland to encourage awareness and promote access. In addition to
allowing individuals to pre-screen for benefit eligibility and explore
information about social services programs.
8. South Dakota
(Image: South Dakota Open SD)
On information: In addition to more than 180,000 pages of information
already available on state government websites, OPEN SD provides
financial information about state government, in a searchable format,
which currently includes over 106,000 different financial records.
On
services: Residents can now apply for UI weekly benefits through
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or the Internet and have his/her
weekly payment delivered by direct deposit or debit card. The
automation also provides the citizens 24x7 access to track their
current claims process through online self service. Mailing and
printing cost have been eliminated or reduced. Client trips to the
Career Centers have been reduced or eliminated resulting in lower costs
for citizens.
7. Kentucky
(Image: Kentucky Tech Trooper)
Kentucky State Police officer demonstrates a mobile data terminal,
scanner and digital driver's license in his cruiser near the State
Capitol in Frankfort. Kentucky is emphasizing wireless delivery of
state services as part of its e-Government strategy.
6. Washington
(Image: Artist rendering of Washington Tech State)
With
newly implemented systems in the corrections and personnel departments,
and new initiatives in e-health and master business licensing, the
Evergreen state has turned its attention to sustainability: 2/3 of
agencies use energy conservation software on their PCs and laptops
(with $1 million in estimated annual savings); and embraces industry
standard sustainability practices for environmentally preferable
purchasing and disposal.
5. California(Image: California YouTube Channel)
The
home state of silicon valley relaunched its portal with new video,
blogging and social network entry points while moving mission critical
systems that do the heavy lifting of determining eligibility,
administering and delivering social services to modern technology
architectures.
4. Arizona(Image: Arizona @ Your Service)
Building
on success of online self service, the Arizona Health Care Containment
System has transitioned 20 percent of its workforce (300 people) to
full time teleworkers, saving $667,000 each year, cancelled the leases
on two office buildings, with employee productivity up by up to 45% and
turnover down by 16%.
3. Virginia
(Image: Virginia CMOC)
Virginia's Centralized Management and Operations Center for information
technology at theChesterfield Enterprise Solutions Center, a key
element in a ten year
$1.9 billion partnership with Northrup Grumman to create a
standardized, shared statewide computing utility. It is expected to
save $120 million in the next ten years in energy costs alone.
2. Michigan(Image: Michigan Self Service Station)
Business
Intelligence Competency Center (BICC) - In 2007, the Governor's
emergency financial advisory panel called for structural transformation
of public service delivery. Across every state program the directive
was given to eliminate fraud/abuse, streamline operations and get
critical services to the citizens needing it most. In just two years,
BICC has become core to optimizing outcomes and measuring programs,
through successfully integrating BI and performance management. Results
include:
- Compared food stamp records for 429,000 kids (4-19)
against our student database, automatically qualifying 337,000 for
school lunch assistance without filing out a single form;
- Matching
health screening records against birth records identified thousands of
newborns eligible for but not receiving free screening;
- By comparing day care benefits against wage records, detected over $17 million in fraud/abuse;
- BICC
influenced policy when data analysis found that many homeless were
eligible for, but not utilizing, program assistance, leading to the
statewide homeless initiative, proactively getting assistance to
at-risk families before they lost their homes; and,
- Cross-referencing
children's metabolic screenings against immunization records allowed
parent notification, increasing immunizations for high-risk kids.
1. Utah(Image: Utah Digital Library)
Libraries provide an additional access point to Utah.gov's vast array of online services and information. In 2008, Governor Jon Huntsman dedicated the new digital library at Utah Valley University. Also:
- Launched in 2007, Utah GovCast is a comprehensive multimedia portal, providing access to over 27 unique channels and several hundred streaming videos, as well as blogs and online radio;
- Utah teamed with CrimeReports.com to present a more comprehensive view to crime information from over 40 state and local law enforcement agencies;
- Utah Geosights help students develop greater understanding and appreciation of Utah's diverse geology. Standard Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files, enhanced with imagery and other information, allow citizens to perform virtual flyovers using Google Earth, or simply create map views with tools like Google Maps or Microsoft Live;
- Utah interacts with citizens through a variety of social media including Swivel, where the Utah Data Group presents visual charts of state data; and,
- Utah is working to improve the overall efficiency of its data center operations. In 2007-08, numerous state and local agencies created efficiencies by working with DTS to move their operations into the two primary data centers in Richfield and Salt Lake City. The connectivity between the two centers is being upgraded to 10Gb in 2008 in a cooperative venture with the Utah Education Network
As part of the state's sustainability program, Governor Jon Huntsman implemented a four day work week for state employees in August 2008. The move promised to save trips but the Utah plan called for closing governments each Friday. Closed buildings can go dark and cold, netting energy and cost savings from reduced heating, air conditioning and lighting use. Significantly, the governor was satisfied that the state portal, Utah.gov, and its suite of more than 600 online transactions were sufficiently broad and deep that the public would be able to conduct business with its government even when the buildings were dark and the employees were at home.
This ability to go green -- or, more precisely, introduce a four day work week in the name of going green -- is a function of having a robust suite of online services. This table shows, on a percentage basis, the implemtation of major transaction types by state governments over the years. The first thing to notice is that the majority of transaction or application types have matured out -- that is, all the states that are going to implement a particular online transaction likely have.
The other thing to notice is that those applications with the lowest implementation rates are those that require more sophisticated inputs to complete the transactions - VIN validations, vital records, credential lookups and drivers license renewal among them. These categories lag the others categories because they are tougher nuts to crack. The harder work requires rethinking the data sharing needed to complete the transaction. The data exists somewhere, and the Web 2.0/3.0 challenge and opportunity is to get the data from where they are to where they are needed. This involves machine-to-machine Web services - the type of Web service that we don't think about because we don't see or touch it. By definition, it does not involve human intervention or - the way the machines see it - human latency.
The Center's analysis of the data will continue into 2009 with ongoing reports and commentaries.
How Did We Get Here? (Or, About the Digital States Survey)
The Digital State Survey from e.Republic's Center for Digital Government is the nation's original and only continuous assessment of state government's use of information technology (IT) in service to the citizen. The 2008 survey, conducted with the underwriting support of Verizon Business, included more than 175 questions about citizen self service - including Internet portals, applications and Web 2.0 features such as blogs, wikis, social networks, mashups and viral video.
As importantly, the Digital States survey provides a comprehensive view of state information technology programs as a whole, with measures of the alignment of the architecture, infrastructure, policy, planning, methodologies and organizational maturity of delivering on technology's promise for improved service delivery and operational efficiencies. The 2008 Digital States survey results also provide a first-in-nation benchmark of state sustainability activities, particularly in the area of the greening of IT.
The most recent Digital States was the most competitive in the survey's decade long history. The top ranked states include a number of jurisdictions that have consistently made government modernization a priority over time combined with those that have made significant gains more recently.
The top states reflect the whole country - large and small, red and blue, and geographically diverse.
(This post was prepared with the assistance of Janet Grenslitt of the Center for Digital Government.)
