Empowering Internal and External End Users
The County of Hawai’i’s website was outdated: its code base was limited, it didn’t integrate well with modern applications, and it wasn’t compliant with ADA requirements. Departments had limited options for presenting the content they managed. The County saw opportunity for improvement, making it a priority to focus on the end-user experience, externally and internally.
“We were looking for a holistic solution that empowered each department and their end users to take ownership of their data and content and feel proud of their online presence.”
As a transparent government, the County wanted to provide citizens with easy access to services. Their desired solution would provide data and analytics to inform the development of the website’s design and content, and it would allow for distributed content management, giving all departments the authority to share relevant information quickly.
Purpose Built for Community, Crisis, & Government
The County decided to partner with Granicus because it offered the ability to collect data up front and survey the community to understand what services users seek and their preferred digital experience. In addition to data-driven website design, the County also cites Granicus’ govAccess CMS as a reason for their choice. The CMS is a user-friendly tool; each department has access to their content and can build webpages without help from a web developer.
During the website redesign, the Kīlauea volcano erupted, destroying over 700 homes and affecting thousands of individuals, their businesses, and livelihoods. Granicus helped County staff pivot to build a subsite for the Kīlauea recovery team. A few months after that, the new County website went live.
“Granicus also provided training with an emphasis on ADA standards. To be a successful content manager means that you understand ADA compliance.”
2.5 Million Page Views in 9 Months
The Kīlauea subsite provides a communication hub to support the recovery effort. The site has been pivotal in sharing information with victims and coordinating services with various relief agencies.
The new County website, powered by govAccess, is securely hosted and ADA compliant. It includes links to their seven subsites. A robust search bar provides easy access to public documents. In the first nine months of going live, the govAccess site saw nearly as many page views as it did in the prior year on the old website.
Each department can now manage their content and create online forms. The County is planning a new service request management system, a 311 model, through the govAccess CMS. Ung said the website came at the perfect time to provide access to the community.
