LTC 250-2007 City's Website Redesign. .~ ~ ~ i
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. 250-2007 LETTER TO COMMISSION
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To: Mayor David Dermer and Member
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FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
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DATE: November 5, 2007 u: -o +C
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SUBJECT: City Website Redesign ~ '~ O
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This Letter to Commission is intended to provide you with information regarding our recent efforts to
improve the City's web site. As you know, internet technology provides an opportunity through which we
can increase ease of access to our services for our community, provide information on City services and
programs and improve efficiency of processes. The City of Miami Beach's web presence has evolved
over the past years to become a key communication channel for a wide variety of audiences, both
internal and external. The City's current website has 4,200 pages with an average of 3.1 million hits
every month.
In our Strategic Plan, the City prioritized certain Key Intended Outcomes to ensure the long-term
sustainability of our City government; including improved communications with our residents, which in
turn enables the delivery of enhanced level of services to our community. The redesign of the City's
website for ease of use and expansion of City services is currently underway as part of our FY07/08
citywide initiatives.
The primary goal of the redesign is to provide increased usability of the Miami Beach Web site by making
it easier for everyone to navigate through the site and to easily find information about the City of Miami
Beach. In addition, we want to continue to expand City services on-line through E-government
technologies to provide comprehensible online services to the users which are our residents, visitors and
businesses.
The redesign will occur incrementally and is based on analysis, design, and implementation. The
Information Technology (IT) department has researched award winning government and private web
sites in order to obtain "best practice" concepts that will comply with internet and design standards. The
IT and Communication teams have collectively focused on government web site designed criteria, which
include seven categories: usability, citizen responsiveness, accessibility for visitors, information tools,
online services, job opportunities, and interactive permits and payments. Next, a Content Management
system has been incorporated into the redesign to allow the users in each department to maintain their
website content accurate and current. Finally, the new website templates have been completed, which
includes our new branding; every department is working diligently to convert their web pages to the new
criteria.
The deployment of new active pages include the Home page, Visitors page, Public Works Engineering
and Transportation, City Clerk, City Directory, WiFi, Labor Relations, Parks and Recreation, Fire, and
Police. During FY 07/08, the website will be a work in progress, but all of the information that the users
are accustomed to accessinca is still available. Our goal is to complete the redesign of the entire website
by the end of FY07/08.
As always, please feel free to call me should you have any questions or require additional information.