My Story: City of Rochester & New Website

Everyone has accessed their city's website at one point or another for what can seem like an endless list of reasons. But it's rare that you can find what it is you're looking for. NimbleUser had the pleasure of working with a client that everyone who works here had likely had some interaction with--that client being the City of Rochester (COR). (NimbleUser's headquarters is in a suburb of Rochester, NY.)

COR needed a way to empower more of its government employees and their respective departments to maintain, update and monitor the respective website content easily and without the help of a technical resource (i.e. without having to call the IT Department). Self sufficiency is a primary reason why COR chose the Ektron Content Management System.=

Goodbye Information Silos, Hello Information Architecture

The new City website was part of a larger initiative known as "One-City" which aimed to unify many of the city's disparate departments and information. Prior to the redesign, the city cited at least 30 different city-affiliated web sites. NimbleUser worked closely with the City of Rochester's Project Managers, Ted Capuano and Lisa Bobo to create a website that put the user in the driver's seat. In the past, information was kept in various silos based on the department that would oversee that particular city function. Tom Patros, Project Manager for NimbleUser stated, "This project included our most intensive information architecture (IA) effort to date. An incredibly large amount of content, the need for logical yet simple categorization, cross-referencing, and the requirement to make The City's departments appear transparent to the end user emphasize just how critical it is to have a thorough and rigorous approach to IA. Through detailed wireframes and process flows, an exhaustive content inventory, and most importantly a highly-motivated and flexible project team, an IA approach was developed that laid the foundation for a successful, long term content management strategy for The City. Best of all, this approach was created and actually provides a rewarding experience for users of the website." In the end, more than 700 pages of content were organized into a searchable and functional context.

At a ceremony after our Go Live date, Mayor Robert J. Duffy applauded the Project managers and The City staff involved by saying, "We have made it easier for citizens to access City services and information by redesigning the website around the customers we serve." As part of the long term strategy, it was decided that the Technology Department at the COR would no longer oversee the city's website. Instead now Ektron allows its users within the Communications Bureau to oversee the content as a whole. The COR then has appointed Web Coordinators in each department who are responsible for uploading and adding content. Each department is expected to make the website as dynamic, up to date and relevant as possible. These same Web Coordinators were instrumental in converting & auditing the old content during the content conversion portion of the project. Dawn VanDamme, coCEO at NimbleUser remarked, "The COR was a true partner and were invested in the success of the project and spent tireless hours making sure all of the content was converted in a well thought out manner." Not only did the COR staff participate throughout the every step of the project, but they also changed some of their internal processes to ensure future success with the website well beyond launch.

Some of the highlights of the site include:

• User Focus: With the help of NimbleUser Project Manager Tom Patros the site was completely reconstructed from a new Information Architecture perspective. Audience-focused portals on the homepage and the sorting of information by topics, tasks and other categories enable the website to function like as a "concierge" for the citizens of Rochester, NY. Services that were normally listed by various departments can now be easily searched and found together on one page.
• Powerful Search Capabilities & Information Architecture: Ektron's search capabilities use a number of cross-references and once on the page the user is presented with a "May we suggest" section that changes contextually based on what type of visitor you are. For example, if you navigate to Business Development you will be presented to a number of related topics in the right portion of the screen.

Check out the new site 

Below: The newly redesigned site offers a clutter-free portal approach to serving Rochester citizens. The COR also  increased their usage of images to really tell their story. 

Below: The old website was cluttered and many of the City departments competed for space on the home page. The site's new search capabilities provide all departments with visibility and better relevancy to site visitors.

Below: Press conference for new City of Rochester website. (From left: Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy, NimbleUser Employees: Dawn VanDamme, coCEO, Sig VanDamme, Founder, Matt Rist, Senior Project Manager, Tom Patros, Project Manager & Web Developer, Julie Tracz, Account Executive and Beth Farrar, Marketing Coordinator.)