Northumberland County Council's Key Features and Bespoke
Development
A key requirement of the web site was for
more council business to be conducted online, giving people instant
access to information and services, therefore reducing the need for
direct contact with the council.
Key features developed for the site include:
Other features
- An audio text reader
- Translation into 40 languages
for key content
- Alternative display options
for any visitors with visual impairments
- Interactive Search
- FAQ Search
- Online forms
- Online payments
The
A-Z of Council Services contains synonyms, aliases and
terms specific to local usage, for example visitors looking for
household waste disposal can also find information under bulky,
collection, pick-up, and special.
The
Contacts Directory. Specific contact details for each
council service are located on the right hand side of every
services page, giving direct access to the relevant department
rather than a central office. These are created from a customized
address book and the site is dynamically updated as information is
edited into the address book.
The grouping of services into logical
categories making information easy to find and the population of
the dynamic Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section were
priorities from the outset.
The most popular FAQs (the ones most often clicked
on) are displayed on the home page and also on the relevant
services pages. If a question is not available a form is generated.
The FAQs have a separate search facility and a rating form is
generated for the user to rate the usefulness of the response,
enabling the council to identify incomplete or misleading
information in order to improve the information service.
The end result has been the creation of a
highly intuitive, informative and interactive site; the website
automatically identifies the most regularly accessed pages, FAQs
and other popular items of content and then adapts to make these
items the easiest to find.
A
Rotating Bill Board picture is prominently displayed on
the home page which using a very small footprint, links with up to
9 key message areas at any time.
The
Feedback Form. To help the council improve the site and
keep it current, a page quality form appears on all services pages.
The form which includes space for feedback is automatically sent to
the person who last edited the page, enabling a constant review of
the relevancy of the content.
The website continuously learns over time what
visitors are most likely to want and so help them to find it
easily. The website itself will become increasingly relevant over
time and as a result, will help to ensure that traffic to call
centres and other offline sources of Council information continues
to reduce.
Service Landing Pages (bridges)
within the website structure, produce a list of bespoke
links allowing the user to navigate around the chosen service
area.
To read more about the Northumberland CC project go to
Technology Platform
Overview
The Vision
or contact susan.conroy@unified.co.uk
or by telephone 01753 775050