MNIT Business Analyst nominated for Individual Leader Award and team behind unemployment insurance web rewrite receives Service Award

On December 14, 2023, members of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) were honored as award winners and nominees for the Golden GOVIT Awards . The awards program, part of the Government IT Symposium, recognizes government agencies and individuals that advance government technology through teamwork, innovation, service, and individual leadership. MNIT’s celebrated efforts included:

• Service Award Winner: MNIT partnering with DEED for Unemployment Insurance Responsive Web Rewrite
• Individual Leadership Finalist: Rachel Horne, MNIT Business Analyst

Service Award Winners

MNIT, in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) and vendors Deloitte, were recognized for their work completing a responsive web rewrite of Minnesota’s unemployment insurance (UI) system. The project focused on enhancing and improving the functionality of several vital features including:

• Automated testing
• Program integrity
• Fraud support
• Security updates
• Issue remediation
• Messaging solutions

With MNIT’s contribution, Minnesota’s unemployment insurance system excelled in providing timely payments to its customers during increased workload, fraud challenges, and a variety of difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

MNIT’s modernization efforts helped to prioritize improved customer service, reduce manual work, and lower defect rates. This successful project will serve Minnesotans in need with a UI system that is modern, responsive, and secure for years to come.

Read more about this incredible achievement here.

Individual Leadership Award Nominee

Rachel Horne, a Business Analyst at MNIT, was nominated for the Individual Service Award for leading projects with the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Rachel was recognized as an outstanding leader of the Google Language Project. Google Language is a revolutionary chat agent for Driver and Vehicle Services that offers real-time translation that improves accessibility and equity by providing information, assistance, and self-service in Hmong, Spanish, English, and Somali. This project could be a model for other groups wanting to:

• Enhance customer reach
• Redefine modes of service
• Adapt to changing accessibility needs

Rachel and her colleagues map the customer journey for products like Google Language through community-based testing and outreach, conducting multiple focus groups across different language communities which provide meaningful firsthand data to:

• Enhance user-friendliness and accessibility
• Reveal limitations in existing technologies
• Support the need for authentic input

It is projects like these that continue to demonstrate the benefits of inclusion and adaptability in how MNIT serves all Minnesotans.