From data visualization to social network integration, TMP Government’s website design breaks new ground for citizen-friendly communications.
McLean, Va., Feb 7, 2011 - The U.S. Department of the Treasury has information that many Americans want to see: Financial stability and Wall Street reform. Interest and mortgage rates. Taxes and currency. Even tips on money management. Now, thanks to the redesigned Treasury.gov, anyone can access this valuable data quickly and easily. As part of Team Smartronix, TMP Government, a wholly owned subsidiary of TMP Worldwide, has created a user experience seamless with the best of the private sector sites.
The Department of the Treasury awarded the Treasury.gov redesign contract to Smartronix in June 2010. Team Smartronix, which consists of Smartronix, TMP Government, Synteractive and KPMG, with close collaboration from Microsoft and AWS, also developed the successful Recovery.gov 2.0 website released last year. The Team brings together visionary and creative industry experts in Web design, transparency, Open Government data, social collaboration and emerging Web technologies as well as SharePoint and cloud computing.
The Treasury Department has been pleased with the Team’s design results, including www.Treasury.gov, the anchor site launched on December 3, 2010, www.FinancialStability.gov which launched on January 14, 2011 and www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov scheduled to launch later this month.
“The new Treasury.gov website is a major step forward in our efforts to improve the way citizens access the wealth of data and information Treasury produces on a day-to-day basis,” says Dan Tangherlini, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Management, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Performance Officer.
One of the most dramatic changes designed by TMP involves the use of dynamic data visualizations instead of customary tables of statistics. The new Data and Charts Center offers visitors raw data, graphs and charts on topics ranging from Treasury interest rates to the Recovery Act to the International Capital System. For example, investors can take in, at a glance, the Daily Treasury Yield Curve with a click, seeing rates for different maturities.
“The new Department of Treasury website brings valuable information closer to citizens and opinion leaders,” says Lindsay Wozniak, Senior Vice President for Creative and Interactive at TMP Government. Wozniak has served as creative design team lead on both Treasury.gov and Recovery.gov for Team Smartronix.
She adds, “With this site, government has taken a major step towards transforming large amounts of data into easy-to-use information.”
Web 2.0 capabilities and social networking for Treasury
TMP, one of the nation’s leading interactive communications agencies, has further designed the site with a unique citizen-centric approach, confirmed by extensive usability testing. Consequently, the new Treasury.gov has the leading edge Web 2.0 capabilities expected in a public-facing Web channel. These features allow the agency to communicate with the public in a more open and transparent manner.
For example, the site integrates with social networking tools such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter. It not only has links to the sites but active content is pulled into the home page from these social sites so the user can view without leaving Treasury.gov. It also introduces faceted search, allowing users to filter information. Visitors can thus easily find information of interest as opposed to sifting through data presented according to a non-intuitive organizational structure. In addition to extensive multimedia resources, the site also marks the first time that the Treasury department has published a blog, cleverly named "Treasury Notes.”
TMP Government was chosen for this groundbreaking project because of our expertise in digital government outreach communications and award-winning website design. The company provided design, usability testing/analysis, content development, data visualization modules, Graphical User Interface (GUI) design, map interface design, IxD and Content Management System (CMS) template designs. TMP Government was part of Team Smartronix that redesigned Recovery.gov, the online presence for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and delivered an acclaimed world-class site.
Ensuring updated content in a rapidly changing economy
Economic information changes rapidly. News organizations, businesses and citizens often want the latest in-depth coverage from the Treasury Department, which has key policy and data resources. To meet this demand, Team Smartronix developed Treasury.gov on a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 platform, running on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), and accelerated by the Akamai Content Delivery Network The site takes advantage of a powerful, secure infrastructure and a flexible enterprise search and content management system.
The solution provides a robust workflow and collaboration capability that empowers more than 100 Treasury content owners to make updates at the individual office level as opposed to relying on a centralized departmental Web team. This approach marks a significant departure from the previous content management process. Consequently, this delegation of content ownership enables Treasury to provide more timely and relevant information to its constituents.
Please visit www.treasury.gov.
About TMP Government, LLC, The Digital Brand Authority
TMP Government, LLC (www.TMPgovernment.com) a wholly owned subsidiary of TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications LLC, is the leading advertising and outreach communications agency that focuses on total communications, encompassing interactive and traditional communications programs, exclusively for government, contractors and associations. Our government–to–citizen, government–to–government and organization–to–government programs meet the outreach, marketing and recruitment communications needs of a diverse clientele, from federal, state and local agencies to government contractors and national associations. Our singular focus on the public sector gives us proven, unparalleled experience in and understanding of government marketplaces, communities, processes and needs.
About Smartronix, Inc. (www.smartronix.com) is a global professional solutions provider specializing in Network Operations, Cyber Security, Enterprise Software Solutions, Defense & Commercial Products, and Health IT. Smartronix is headquartered in Hollywood, Maryland, with operating offices in Virginia (3), North Carolina, Florida (2), Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Texas and Arizona, with more than 550 employees throughout the United States and at strategic locations in Germany, Korea, Japan and the Philippines. The company has been recognized as the Best Technology Consulting Firm to Work For by Vault, an Employer of Choice by Northern Virginia Family Service, and as one of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the Greater Washington D.C. area and one of the top 500 nationally as ranked by Washington Post and Inc 500 media, respectively.
Back