On June 4, the Minnesota Department of Revenue (Revenue) announced the launch of their new website, www.revenue.state.mn.us. The website, which serves as hub for individuals, businesses, tax professionals, researchers, and government partners looking for specific tax-related information, was developed with the end-user’s experience in mind.

The work on this initiative began nearly three years ago, with usability testing done in 2016 and initial requirements documented in 2017. Work on Revenue’s new Drupal website began in July 2018 with a detailed requirements elicitation. Early in the project planning stages, Revenue used the technology tools it had in place on the old website to help determine trends and site traffic – data-driven decision-making that helped the Department of Revenue work with Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) to shape the look, feel, and content on the public website.

Strong Collaboration and Partnership

The project’s success was a result of strong collaboration across agencies, teams, and divisions.

“The teams working on this project, in my view, embodied what is possible with an iterative project approach. All teams – regardless if the team member was from MNIT partnering with Revenue, Revenue, or a vendor – were active, transparent, and supportive of everyone else. Everyone worked together to overcome obstacles and the whole project was better off as a result.”

Lexi Hafften - Business Analyst

MNIT technology leads supported Revenue in three key areas: 1) project management, 2) business analysis and quality assurance (QA), and 3) development. MNIT staff based at Revenue coordinated with the product owner (the Communications division at Revenue) to make sure that requirements for the website’s features and functions were captured and documented, that the business’s needs were being met during development, and that the schedule and budget remained on track.

An Innovative Approach, Learning by Doing

During project development, Revenue and MNIT put out a call to agency-based IT leads for additional support – anyone who was interested in working with Drupal and eager to learn something new was invited to participate in the project. This “grassroots” effort pulled in diverse skillsets, staff learned from each other in the process and ultimately enhanced Minnesotan’s digital experience with critical government services through the improved website.

By working in partnership with vendors who skillfully used Agile Methodology for project management, the project team was able to learn new techniques and efficiencies from them as well.

“The vendors were doing Agile really well, and we’ve been able to learn from that. We can apply some of those strengths to other projects, and our partners are noticing as we mature.”

Todd Meissner - Project Manager

Key Factors Driving Project Success

Several driving factors contributed to the project’s success, namely:

• Buy-in. It was an agency-wide effort to update the website content. The project stakeholders fully understood the project requirements and embraced the new technology.
• Transparency. The vendors, business, and MNIT teams worked together to ensure that any issue that arose and any question asked was clearly and immediately addressed.
• Focus on user experience. During development, the whole team put an emphasis on keeping user experience at the forefront. Responsiveness and accessibility were always included in the acceptance criteria.
• Strong project leadership. The MNIT project managers allowed the business Product Owner to stay focused on responding to decisions needed for the content on the actual website, and the project manager from MNIT worked closely with project managers from the vendors engaged on the project.
• Content management. Using data, the team was able to advocate for prioritizing content on the website that Minnesotans access the most during the migration. Having a clear vision and asking the tough questions about what Minnesotans really needed helped.
• User adoption. The Drupal lead from MNIT provided a lot of direct support and training to staff at Revenue, driving a smooth adoption of the technology behind the new website.

Screenshots of the New Site

Screenshots of the Old Site