One year ago, Gov. Minner unveiled the state's new e-government portal. At that time, she indicated that we are out to do nothing less than reinvent state government.
In this century, it no longer makes sense to organize government around bureaucratic and hierarchical distinctions that mean little to the average citizen. Instead of running a government that is centered around state agencies, we ought to build a government oriented to the needs of people. Hence, the intentions-based design of state government online. People find topics and activities that interest them, rather than just a listing of agencies. Use of the portal has surged from four million hits per month to 10 million.
This portal was just the beginning of a long-term evolution and improvement in state government. Our prediction: 10 years from now, Delawareans will not recognize state government as it is organized today. It will be increasingly user-friendly and effective.
Progress is made day by day, step by step. Over the last year and with the governor's support, we have made significant improvements. Consider the following activities Delawareans now can do online:
- Subscribe to a system that will notify them, by e-mail, phone or fax, of environmental releases in their communities (www.dnrec.state.de.us/dnrec2000/notification/pub). As state Sen. David McBride indicated, this system not only takes advantage of new technologies, it improves environmental safety. Registration takes only moments.
- Learn about license requirements, find necessary forms and learn about relevant rules and regulations for a variety of professions, from chiropractors to plumbers, cosmetologists to dentists.
- Receive automatic notification of school closings for snow days, thanks to a service conceived of by House Majority Leader Wayne Smith.
- See the Department of Motor Vehicles driver's manual in both English and Spanish (www.delaware.gov/yahoo/DMV).
- Receive real-time travel advisories from the Department of Transportation (www.deldot.net/public.ejs?command=PublicTravelAdvisory).
Many other services have been available for a longer period, such as paying state taxes, locating voter polling places and applying for state jobs.
So where do we go from here?
Working with Tom Cook, head of the Delaware Government Information Center, we are pursuing a three-pronged strategy to improve the effectiveness of state e-government.
First, we are making investments in Delaware's technology capabilities. The newly created Department of Technology and Information is off to a good start ensuring that taxpayers get the bang for the technology buck they deserve. In this period of limited financial resources, we have little opportunity to deploy expensive new technologies, but we can make selected investments where they make sense. For instance, we are developing an e-payments solution to make it as straightforward and cost-effective as possible for agencies to accept payments electronically.
Second, we will be reaching out to a broad array of Delawareans to guide us in focus groups, surveys and the like to further develop web-based capabilities. We want to re-invent state government based on the real needs of citizens and businesses, not our own guesses.
Third, we will work closely with state employees to make sure they begin to think of web-based functionality as an integral part of how they deliver services, not simply an add-on to the way they have done their work in the past. Agencies should be re-engineering their business processes to take advantage of technologies, rather than spending new technology dollars while keeping everything else the same.
Unfortunately, this last point is especially difficult, because it requires a fundamental change in doing business. But it's essential.
