IRS hopes for happier returns with redesigned Web site

Linda Rosencrance and Heather Havenstein   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Software Stories  

Windows Vista® Migration: What Really Happens? A Customer's Perspective What's Next? Real Answers for Tough Times Take Control! Managing Your Application Library Why Security SaaS Makes Sense A Synergistic Relationship: Marrying E Family Hardware and Windows Vista® Dell Client Migration and Deployment Services SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Compterworld Technology Briefing: Intelligent Users Use Business Intelligence Sign up to receive Software Resource Alerts

January 6, 2006 (Computerworld) -- As the 2006 tax-filing season swings into full gear, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is touting a redesigned Web site that agency officials said will better assist taxpayers and tax preparers. The redesign is the first overhaul since 2002, IRS officials said.
"Our primary focus was to really help our customers be able to self-serve and get what they need to fulfill their tax obligations in the most customer-friendly and efficient ways," said Susan Smoter, director of Internet Development Services at the Electronic Tax Administration branch of the IRS. "We wanted to introduce some best practices into our site by allowing people to get the information and/or services that they wanted with front-page visibility and the fewest click-throughs. We wanted to be able to actually promote services that we knew that people were looking for proactively, and that's how we designed the site."
Smoter said the redesign project was launched two years ago to address users' concerns about the site's search capabilities and navigation. These concerns were reported to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which measures user satisfaction with Web sites. The site overhaul began with surveying taxpayers and internal users about their goals for using the site, she said. Then, the agency sent several prototypes to a usability lab, while also actively working with employee user groups, such as call center representatives, who point callers to the Web site to ensure internal user needs would be met with the redesign. The new site went live in mid-November.
Using Vignette Corp.'s content management system and portal tool, the IRS has been able to fix one of the most vexing problems for users -- not being able to quickly access forms. To change the search function, the agency combined its forms collections with its other HTML content, said George Coffin, chief of the public portal branch in Internet Development Services.
"[Before, if users] went into the search engine and entered the form name, but didn't choose the forms and publications collection, they were getting information about the form," Coffin said. "By combining the collection and tweaking the back-end search information in our thesaurus ... one can enter a form number or a term into a search, and they get the most relevant piece of information. If they enter a form number, they will find that form as one of the top results."
While the portlets that power the new home page still have to be managed through the content management application, the agency envisions developing a Web service in the future that could manage the portlets automatically. It could also enable the Web site to automatically display the most requested forms

Continued...
1 | 2 | NEXT  

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"It's easy to set up or buy your own Linux desktop, but it's much harder to set up hundreds of..." Read more... "The much-maligned Microsoft Zune apparently has the world's most powerful man as its fan. President-elect Barack Obama was seen using..." Read more... Read more Software posts or See all Blogs

Windows users indifferent to Microsoft patch alarm, says researcher Tech jobs down sharply but not out Apple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site More top stories...

Microsoft slates 8 bug updates for year's final Patch Tuesday De Beers tries to force spoof news Web site offline over fake ad Microsoft confirms Yahoo's Lu to run online services

Review: The new MacBook Air, now with extra SSD goodness Thin as ever, the latest Air offers up to twice the storage and snappy performance. Cool Stuff: Your 2008 Holiday Gift Guide We've got an array of economical, expensive, and just plain weird tech gifts for your friends and family. Massive botnet returns from the dead, starts spamming The spam-spewing 'Srizbi' botnet that was shut down two weeks ago has been resurrected and is again under criminal control, say security researchers. Elgan: Why you can't trust 'friends' on Facebook Facebook is popular and growing -- especially with criminals. Here's why they love it. Windows 7 Get the latest news, reviews and more about Microsoft's newest desktop operating system More Continuing Coverage Windows 7 Voting Technology Google's Chrome browser Economy in turmoil: Latest news and tips iPhone 3G Bill Gates moves on Windows Vista A to Z Mac A to Z 2008 Salary Survey Find wage data for 50 IT job titles. More Special Reports 2008 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2008 Salary Survey 2007 Salary Survey 2006 Salary Survey 2008 IT Forecast 2007 IT Forecast 40 Years of Computerworld Top 12 Green-IT Users The FAQs About Going Green IT Schools to Watch iPhone: One Year Later Global Mobile Your Next Data Center Management: Reinventing IT Stop Data Leaks Web 2.0 Security Surviving Disasters Managing Storage Virtualization The Lean Storage Machine Storage on Trial Can Web 2.0 Save BI? Bypass These BI Potholes All Zones Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone The Security Zone See your link here

SaaS Solutions for Remote Systems Management Download this Technology Briefing, free, compliments of Dell. (Source: Dell) Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are extending their reach into systems management. Beyond the traditional advantages of cost control and rapid application deployment, SaaS helps organizations meet compliance, security, and business continuity needs. Learn more in this new technology briefing. Download this executive briefing  Moving to Windows Vista: The Promise, The Reality Moving to Windows Vista: The Promise, The Reality View this exclusive webcast today! Go to the webcast  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. 8 Things You Need to Handle Today's Network Traffic Next-Gen Load Balancing: 3 Keys to Successful Delivery of Advanced Web Apps Building a Reliable and Dynamic Data Center with PAN Manager by Egenera View more whitepapers

• Windows users indifferent to Microsoft patch alarm, says researcher
• Microsoft slates 8 bug updates for year's final Patch Tuesday
• Tech jobs down sharply but not out
• More top stories 

Security Directions: Strategies and Tactics for Protecting Your Enterprise in 2009 Attend the Security Directions virtual event, with sessions available live on December 16, 2008 and available on-demand from December 17 though March 17, 2009. Some topics that will be covered include: Best Practices around Data Leak Prevention (DLP). What exactly is security due diligence and why does it matter? Cloud security and privacy. End-point security - rising gas prices have caused an increase in the number of remote workers, which leads to more security issues. Register now for this event that happens on December 16, 2008, but will also available on-demand from December 17 - March 17, 2009. Register Now!

"Turning information into a Competitive Advantage" Companies today are realizing that competitive advantage is harder to sustain when based solely on gains in productivity and cost efficiency. The focus is shifting to invest more in business optimization initiatives which rely on trusted information to develop new insights that deliver better business results. But how can this be done efficiently in a business environment across multiple applications and processes. The answer is an Information Agenda - an innovative approach to transforming business information into a strategic asset for competitive advantage. View this webcast now!  See more Webcasts

Best Places to Work in IT Where can you earn top dollar, get the best benefits, the latest IT and more? Find out in our 14th annual survey.