Transcript Standing Out In a Crowd: Improving Customer Utility on a Centrally

Standing Out In a Crowd:
Improving Customer Utility on a
Centrally Administered, Shared
Web Site
Barry Johnson [email protected]
Statistics of Income, U.S. Internal Revenue Service
The opinions presented here are those of the author alone and may not represent the official
position of the Internal Revenue Service or the U.S. Treasury Department.
Statistics of Income: Tax Stats
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irs.gov is the official source of U.S. tax filing information
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irs.gov design is administered centrally
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Includes forms, publications, frequently asked questions, etc.
Only permitted web presence for IRS business units
Look and feel strictly controlled
Web programming restricted through Content
Management Application (CMA)
Tax Stats pages on irs.gov are the primary source of tax data
for the U.S.
 4,700 tables
and articles currently available
 Major reorganization 2004-2005
Web Site Redesign
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Involve Customers
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Surveys and informal feedback
Card sort exercise
User testing
Research best practices
Focus on improving products
Educate irs.gov administrators
 Specific Tax Stats customer needs
 Best practices of other statistical organizations
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Form a web users’ group
Continuously monitor user experiences and web practices
Tax Stats Home Page
Links also
serve as
descriptions
Items grouped by user-provided topics
Topic Menus with Descriptions
Quick
navigation
to other
topics
Links to
related
items
Sub-topic
Links
Brief
Descriptions
Content Pages
Brief
Descriptions
Free
Readers
Future Plans
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Improved product formats
 Easier to use tables
 Improved formats for research papers
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Meta data
Table Wizard Pilot
Continuously look for opportunities to improve