Minnesota Department of Revenue

Beginning in 1997, I was a member of the Communications Division team that launched and maintained the department's first website. The site was developed to provide tax forms and information to help taxpayers comply with state tax laws. I managed the site as the department's Webmaster for six years, led two redesign projects, and helped migrate the site onto its current content management system.

Responsibilities

Develop web strategy for the department.
Manage the day-to-day operation of the site.
Work with tax experts to develop and publish relevant, web-ready material.
Manage project deadlines and deliverables.
Collect, prepare and publish content.
Build HTML and graphic files.
Lead web team through two visual redesign efforts.
Work with state and department IT staff to set-up and maintain website infrastructure.
Select, hire, and work with IT consultant to assess the department's web presence.
Work with department's IT staff and management to select web content management system.
Help migrate content from static HTML site onto content management system.

Considerations

The Department of Revenue's website was developed by the department's Communications Division staff in the mid-1990s as a means to use this emerging technology to encourage voluntary tax compliance by making the necessary information and forms more readily available. Revenue was one of the first Minnesota state departments to see the value of communicating through the Web and worked closely with the Minnesota Office of Technology Assessment to build the state's web infrastructure.

During my time at Revenue, the department's site grew from a handful of forms and factsheets to an interactive site with more than 7,000 content objects.