Top-down approach: ● MDDS plans to reimagine the current Maryland.gov website and is looking for examples and best practices in developing a top-down, user-centered architecture that is focused on services and topics vs. state organizational and agency structure, including (but not limited to): ○ User research and data to: ■ Identify top tasks for Maryland residents, businesses, and those visiting or doing business with Maryland ■ Inform top-down Information Architecture (IA) and navigation strategy ○ Validation and continuous improvement of site structure ○ Plain Language and accessible content development of the new site ○ Management of content that may be used in both Maryland.gov services pages and providing agency sites, as well as strategies for: ■ Optimizing handoffs between Maryland.gov and providing agency sites ■ Minimizing duplication of content and functionality ■ Coordination between top-down and bottom-up efforts ● A primary goal of the future Maryland.gov is to allow anyone to easily locate essential information and services without special knowledge of Maryland’s Executive agency structure or operations 2. Bottom-up approach: ● As we collaborate with agencies to improve their sites using new templates and developing the Maryland Web Design System, we are seeking best practices in scaling site improvement and future CMS migration, including: ○ Identification of users, top tasks ○ Content inventory and auditing, including (but not limited to): ■ Review of content for ROT (Redundant, Outdated, and Trivial) at scale ■ Identifying content gaps ■ Identifying content and functionality for inclusion in the new Maryland.gov ○ Development of content governance and retention schedules ■ Cross-agency (for all bottom-up efforts) ■ Agency- or agency site-specific ○ Development of agency-specific site architectures, with a focus on repeatable patterns ■ Including validation and continuous improvement of site structure...
