IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Digital States Survey is the most complete survey of state government use of information technology and examines almost every aspect of how states utilize technology to improve service in each area of government. The state has consistently ranked high in this survey, but has not received an “A” grade since 2008.

To reduce energy costs and carbon emissions, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. announced in June that most state offices would be closed on Fridays. With more than 800 state government services online -- many boasting high user adoption rates -- Utah could close physical offices statewide without inconveniencing citizens.

The annual awards program recognizes the most innovative, user-friendly state and local government portals. Utah.gov was also awarded the honor in 2003, making Utah the only state to win the award twice.

Government Computer News (GCN), a leading provider of government technology news and information, recently recognized Utah as having one of the top government IT projects of 2009. The Utah Department of Administrative Services, Division of Finance was honored recently in Washington, D.C., at GCN’s 22nd Annual Awards Gala for the Utah Public Finance Web sitesite.

Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, and a team of researchers examined 1,620 state and federal sites. The researchers analyzed 1,559 state sites (or an average of 31 sites per state) plus 48 federal government legislative and executive sites, and 13 federal court sites. They completed their research during June and July, 2005. Previous e-government studies were released in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.

Utahns now have one more reason to use the state's most popular online government service -- it's better than ever before. Utah drivers will now see a new, user-friendly design when they renew their vehicle registrations with Renewal Express, which can be found online at www.Utah.gov, the state's official Web site.

Utah’s official state Web site, www.Utah.gov, unveiled a completely new design, with new features that aim to provide a more engaging experience and encourage users to increase their civic involvement in all state and local government issues.

Customer service and government may not always go hand in hand. But in Utah, they do. Utah's official Web site, www.Utah.gov, took home the top prize at the 2005 Government Customer Support Excellence Awards in the customer focus category.

In response to citizen needs, the Utah Driver License Division announced today the launch of the new Online Scheduler that allows citizens to schedule appointments to obtain, renew, and change driver licenses. This free online tool helps speed up the service by allowing citizens to arrange a convenient time to take care of their driver license needs.

Utah.Gov, the official Web site of the state of Utah, announced today the release of the free “Utah.Gov” and “Utah Professional License Lookup” iPhone applications, available immediately through the Apple iTunes Store. Utah is the first state government in the nation to develop and release an iPhone application.

The Utah.Gov application can be found directly at http://is.gd/rf8V. The Utah Professional License Lookup application can be found directly at http://is.gd/rffP.

"We are very excited by this improvement," says Utah's Governor Olene Walker. "We strive to provide online services that make life easier for Utah's citizens and businesses, and I'm pleased that Utah.gov has garnered national attention."

"We are very excited by this improvement," says Utah's Governor Olene Walker. "We strive to provide online services that make life easier for Utah's citizens and businesses, and I'm pleased that Utah.gov has garnered national attention."

The site received first place in the 2009 Best of the Web competition, sponsored by the Center for Digital Government. The annual awards program recognizes the most innovative and user-friendly state and local government portals.

Utah’s official website (www.Utah.gov) and its customer support team were recently honored with the 2010 Government Customer Support (GCS) Excellence Award in the category of Technical Excellence – Utah.gov’s 3rd GCS Excellence Award. The GCS Excellence Awards are presented annually on behalf of Cgov Community of Practice (www.fedhelpdesk.roc.noaa.gov) to recognize government excellence in customer service.

The awards spotlight the very best in government customer service in four categories: teamwork, technical excellence, customer focus, and overall excellence. Winners and other finalists are selected based upon independent scoring by a panel of judges from both the public and private sectors.

After at least eleven months of development, with some elements in the works for as long as two years, Utah.gov has turned hard core on Flash. The portal developers had long wanted to exploit Flash functionality, an industry standard program for creating interactive features for websites, but didn't want to leave anybody out. They were surprised, pleasantly so, to learn from statewide surveys that fully 97 percent of their audience used Flash.

Life in the digital information age is often touted as being super-connected and super-fast. But sometimes the speed and hyper-connectivity of the Internet can lack the human touch. Thankfully, www.Utah.gov, the official Web site of the state of Utah, has reintroduced that human touch to its site: 24/7 live, human, help.

The country is taking notice of Utah's official Web site. The state's Web portal (www.Utah.gov) captured first place among states in the 2003 Best of the Web national competition for government Web site excellence, marking the first time Utah has been ranked among the top five finishers. eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq:EGOV) manages Utah's Web portal on behalf of the state, and a total of eight NIC state and local partners were singled out from a field of more than 260 public sector Web sites in this year's contest.