TO: INFORMATION RESOURCE OF MAINE (InforME) BOARD
FROM: CARRIE GOTT, INFORME STAFF
DATE: APRIL 25, 2001
RE: MINUTES OF THE APRIL 25, 2001 INFORME BOARD MEETING

ATTENDANCE:

Secretary of State Dan A. Gwadosky
Jeff Harmon
Janie Higgins
Marilyn Lutz
Gary Nichols
Tamara Dukes
Anne Schink
Linda Monica
Leslie Sprague

GUESTS:
Elaine Stanley

STAFF:
Carrie Gott, InforME Staff
Rebecca Wyke, Chief Deputy, Office of Secretary of State
Shaye Robbins, Director of Marketing, InforME
Kelly Hokkanen, Site Architect, InforME

WELCOME
Chairman, Secretary of State Gwadosky, began the meeting by welcoming all board members present.

INTRODUCTIONS
Tamara: I would like to introduce two new employees to InforME: Shaye Robbins, Director of Marketing, and Kelly Hokkanen, Site Architect. Both bring valuable experience and expertise to InforME and we are delighted that they have joined our team.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
Today we have a Service Level Agreement for the Maine State Museum Electronic Storefront.
The electronic storefront and shopping cart will invite virtual visitors to view merchandise, place selected items into a shopping cart and "check out" with the use of a credit card. All fulfillment will be completed by the Museum staff. All references to Driver Records have been removed from the SLA.

All in favor of accepting the SLA?
SLA passed unanimously by the Board.

STRATEGIC PLAN

Attached please find the strategic plan with revision notes and suggestions for changes.

Mission and Vision
Suggestions:
Add the word "eCommerce" to this opening statement as it relates to government.
Broaden the term "state government" to include local.

The Portal
Kelly Hokkanen presents suggestions for portal improvements (refer to the portal handout):
Definitions.
· Portal: entryway to a particular set of information.
· Usability: Intuitive navigation, task oriented, user centric web site.
· User testing: Tool to assess the usability of a site. Give users specific tasks and measure success of navigation.
· Metadata: tags that go in to the code of a web site that are invisible to the user. These tags give clues to the web browser and assist search engines in finding information contained on the page. New NIC standards have been given to us to outline the standard metatags that should be implemented.
· Accessibility: Two new policies are being written and should be passed through the ISPB in May. On a national level, section 508 has been passed which is the new national accessibility standards legislation. It does contain language that addresses state and local governments. One action step in our portal strategy, is to create a portal accessibility plan which can then be posted on the home page.

The NIC Director of Creative Services, Diana Persell, recently visited Maine to assess the portal and offer suggestions for improvement. A two-part plan will bring the portal to a higher level of excellence within the next year. Plan A, includes quick changes to the current portal design and layout, and Plan B promises to bring the portal to the next generation of excellence through a complete redesign including extensive user testing.

Specific suggestions for improvements as outlined in the strategic plan:
1. Post State Accessibility Policy;
2. Usability;
3. New features and navigation.
Some highlights of suggested improvements to the portal include: add a text based map, move the search engine, have error pages contain more description and help, perform total reevaluation including user testing, reevaluate navigation and design and make changes as evaluated. Work with all agencies web sites to determine how to create consistent look and feel; formalize outreach and training; implement RemindME service to help citizens with government tasks through an automated email through a user profile. We will also be implementing a personalized portal.

Suggestion: It is the ISPB's responsibility to set standards. We could create a webmaster job description with five bullets and create tools for webmasters to refer to enable a consistent website that will bring the portal to a specific level of excellence by meeting specific standards.

Strategy: Speak with the Chair of the ISPB to see how we can partner and what resources InforME could create to help webmasters meet the standards of the next generation.

NEXT STEPS
Secretary of State Gwadosky suggests that the Board read through the suggestions for portal improvement within the strategic plan and email comments to Tamara and Kelly. The next meeting we will discuss online services.

SUBSCRIBER SATISFACTION SURVEY
Tamara: The subscriber satisfaction survey is nearly completed. We've conducted 80 phone surveys and have 20 more to complete. The attached report details what we are asking subscribers, what types of responses we have had thus far, and some conclusions we've made at this point. Our goal is to achieve 95% satisfaction rate, and currently we are at 92%.

The next customer satisfaction survey will target state agencies.

FUTURE MEETINGS

Wednesday, May 23, at 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, June 13, at 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, July 25, at 1:00 p.m.