December 1, 2006

Lansing- Michigan received a grade of A+ for its government web site in the recently released e-government report card, a comprehensive examination of more than 11,000 official government web sites by the National Policy Research Council (NPRC).  Michigan was the only state to receive the highest grade of A+, followed by Idaho and Indiana receiving grades of A, and Nebraska and Utah receiving grades of A-. 

"This provides more validation that we are giving people the services and the tools that they desire from their government web site," said Teri Takai, Director of the Michigan Department of Information Technology and CIO for the State of Michigan.  "We've put nearly 300 services online and we are not done yet.  We are continually evaluating and improving the site."

Michigan citizens and businesses can access a range of services and information on Michigan.gov.  Whether it's finding a licensed day-care provider, reserving a campsite, obtaining permits, reporting potholes, using the e-Library, or renewing licenses, it's all available at Michigan.gov.  The site averages 35.8 million page views each month, with more than 60 million documents downloaded from the site each year. 

Some of the factors in the high grade for Michigan's web site include:

• Foreign language navigation which allows information access for citizens whose primary language is not English
• Text only functionality for sight impaired users and the ability to easily enlarge text sizes
• The ability to access Michigan.gov through wireless devices, with more than one million individuals viewing content on portable devices
• A "podcast" site that allows streamed media to be downloaded to portable players, a great mechanism for reaching young audiences
• Multi-channeled customer support, including help and contact features supplemented by a fully staffed 24x7 call center

Michigan recently ranked number one in the 2006 Digital States Survey, recognizing Michigan as the most digitally advanced state in the country.  Michigan also ranked first among the fifty states in the recently released Best of the Web contest.  Both of these recent number one rankings were conducted by the independent Center for Digital Government in California.

The NPRC is a Washington-based think tank, who in conjunction with ComputerWorld magazine, judged the web sites on 25 criteria, including whether people could use the site to pay taxes, bid for contracts, find government jobs and complain to local officials about concerns.