Web hosting is now available through DII for all state and quasi-state entities, such as boards and councils via the Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) at no additional expense. This is possible because the  ECMS is  a product of the Web Portal Project, a self-funded project to promote eGovernment in Vermont. A self-funded program works by a series of small convenience fees added to certain transactions that occur online. These fees will fund the development of the entire project. Vermont Information Consortium (VIC), the contractor selected to run the portal, will collect these fees as payment for application development and ongoing maintenance costs. The transactions requiring fees will be primarily Business to Government transactions and are accepted by all parties. VIC will be providing value added transactions that more than justify the extra fees.

A "self-funded" system does not mean people will be paying twice for transactions conducted online. If we look at the options for obtaining state services all have some kind of cost. A trip to a state office to do business with the state in person will cost you whatever travel time is required to reach the office plus the cost of transportation to reach the office. Not all online transactions will require a fee. Those that do will carry a fee that will probably be comparable to a gallon or two of gas. Again, most fees of this sort will be generated by businesses that will receive value added service that is not currently available online or off.

The ECMS was envisioned as a tool for State of Vermont Web developers to much more easily and quickly design and implement Web sites. The infrastructure created for the CMS will be designed in such a way that it can become a tool available across the enterprise for managing Web resources. For individuals or programs that own online content the ECMS will allow non-technical staff of individual state government organizations to manage their own Web content on a remote server using only their current Web browser as a development tool.

The ECMS is an entirely new way to think about Web sites. With this system Web site creation, hosting and maintenance will no longer be issues that state staff members need to consider. Web hosting will be a service rather than project based. Just as email addresses are now requested for new staff members, organizations will now be able to request new Web sites. Within a few weeks of receiving the requirements for a new site the site will be created and ready for content to be added. Where today a new Web site can take months to get launched, with the web portal this time could be cut to a few weeks for a small site.

The ECMS also is intended to provide a stimulus to state organizations to improve the usability and integration of state Web sites. The State of Vermont has been ranked among the lowest nationally in providing state government content and services online over the last half decade. There are several aspects to this low ranking but some of the more important are:

• There is no consistency in the naming of official Web sites of the state, making it difficult for the user to determine if they have actually reached a state site.
• There is no consistency to the navigation on the various state Web sites. On each Vermont site the user must learn a new navigational system.
• State information and services are grouped by internal bureaucratic structure rather than in ways useful to visitors.
• There has been no search feature that is capable of searching all state web sites.
• Common information produced by organizations across state government, such as press releases and notifications, are produced in a wide variety of mutually incompatible formats.

All consideration in the design of the new portal will be secondary to whether the design provides a useful interface between our various audiences and the state.

The Web Portal also represents a large cost savings for agencies and departments. There will be no hosting cost, no development cost, no creation of RFPs to alter old or create new Web sites, no waiting for the RFP process to conclude, and no involvement in content creation or maintenance for technical staff.

Initially only the Vemont.gov pages and a few selected sites will be included in the ECMS. Over time the ECMS be the default platform for all state web development. Any site that is newly built or significantly redesigned from this point forward will need to move to this environment.

There are a great many positive aspects to hosting a site on the new system.

• Non-technical staff can substantially maintain the site.
• The site structure can be built and activated in a matter of days.
• There will be no need for creating an RFP or contracting with a vendor to create a new Web site.
• A site will not require the purchase or maintenance of any hardware.
• A site will have no ongoing maintenance costs.
• All new sites built in the ECMS automatically comply with ADA Web requirements.
• All new sites built in the ECMS automatically comply with all state Web standards.
• A site is hosted in a guaranteed 24/7 facility with redundant power and telecommunication infrastructure.
• Support will be available from experienced Web developers on ways to improve a site's performance.

All web development taking place after the launch of the new system will, by default, be developed in the new environment. There may be occasional very large or complex Web projects for which this model will not be suitable. These projects will be addressed on an individual basis as they arise.

Once a Web site is moved to the Web portal system, control of the site will improve markedly for most users. Currently, only a few staff members have access to update any given Web site. Under the proposed Web portal solution any staff member could be given access rights to update or add content. Access through the site will be through the ECMS accessible through a standard Web browser.

The actual server hosting the sites will be in a secure location with advanced site and electronic security. The facility will be able to provide 24/7 availability due to redundant power sources. The facility itself will be located in Virginia. No comparable facility exists in the State of Vermont.

One of the primary goals of the Web Portal Project is to provide an enterprise solution for online transactions. This service will be available for both fee-generating and non-fee-generating transactions.

Integration between the portal environment and systems developed outside that environment will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Third parties will need to work with the vendor to determine the role of state staff, the portal vendor and any third party vendors involved in the project.

The role of VIC will be to develope the infrastructure needed to house the portal system. This will include the hosting environment, the content management system, developing fee generating applications, processing online payments, and developing other Web based services. VIC will not maintain the content of individual web pages. Instead state staff members will have access to the system to edit, delete, add, or reorganize their online content.

Vermont joins a growing number of states who have begun using this model for maintaining their Web presence. VIC has created similar eGovernment portals for the following governmental organizations: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. Many other state and local government organizations are using transaction fees to finance their Web presence.

The Web Portal Project will be overseen by a new oversight entity. In 2006 the legislature passed Act 891. This act authorized the formation of the Web Portal Board whose responsibility is to approve convenience fees on the new portal and provide oversight in general.

For more information contact:

Harry Bell
Director of Web Services
State of Vermont, Office of the CIO, Dept of Information and Innovation
(802) 828-5338