The Central Business Licensing and Registration Portal (CBL) is Maryland’s cross-agency online business registration system that streamlines the regulations and permitting process for new businesses. CBL allows entrepreneurs, through a single website, to complete and submit the forms required to create a legal business entity, register a new business trade name, establish tax accounts and order certified copies. The system reduces the time it takes to register a new business from an average of 10 weeks to five to seven days. Up to 62 percent of all business filings in Maryland are completed online with 25 percent from mobile devices. https://egov.maryland.gov/Easy

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation offers a suite of new online services designed for the unique needs of commercial drivers. The free Commercial Driver License Knowledge Practice Test mobile application allows new commercial drivers the ability to prepare for tests prior to visiting a license branch for testing. While the mobile-responsive Commercial Driver License Guide, the first of its kind in the nation, enables both current and potential new commercial drivers the ability to check their eligibility and real-time license status for personalized step-by-step instructions and pre-populated documents based on what they want to do.

In 2014 the Governor’s Office of Information Technology completed the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Infrastructure Modernization initiative — an incredible project that completely upgraded systems, resulting in faster service and greater accuracy. The project modernized the core data infrastructure and facilitated the migration of mission-critical applications — the state’s core tax system, sales tax analysis, sales tax calculator, and motor vehicle renew by mail, emissions and accident reporting, among others — to a virtualized environment, and implemented security control consistent with state standards and security best practices. This was the single largest, non-enterprise infrastructure improvement since Colorado’s 2008 IT consolidation.

North Carolina’s Innovation Center is a "try before you buy" lab where state employees, students and industry collaborate to test technology before the state invests. More than $6 million worth of technology has been evaluated at no cost to the state, including digital and mobile solutions that improve efficiency and customer service. Agencies can be confident that the technology they’re purchasing will meet their needs, and the state has saved $22 million by aggregating its buying power. The iCenter has become a national model, with North Carolina leading NASCIO’s National Innovation Community of 44 states who share ideas about government innovation.

Georgia’s state CIO realized state agencies needed project management support, which led to the IT Project Management Professional Development and Certification Program. The program helps state agencies build expertise in IT project management and offers 15 courses, all at no charge to Georgia state employees. The program confers two professional certifications: (1) Project Manager Certification is designed to better align traditional project management to state business practices and (2) Project Assurance Manager Certification is designed to enable an agency to perform project assurance activities on its own projects. Four hundred people from 19 states agencies have participated in the program.

Maine Business Answers (http://www.maine.gov/businessanswers) is an online service offered by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. The service was designed to make it easier to conduct business in the state of Maine. Business Answers helps individuals determine the business licenses and permits they need to start a business by walking them through a series of questions. Once all questions are answered, a list of licenses and permits is provided with additional contact information for each document. Business Answers also includes a searchable directory of all licenses and permits, available to those individuals looking for a specific form.

The Maine Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions was just the second state agency in the nation to introduce an online corporate fraud monitoring service (https://www1.maine.gov/online/sos/cfm/). Users who sign up for the service create an online profile that will keep track of the business entities they want to monitor. This profile allows users to review, add or delete entities from their account, update email addresses for notifications and view a list of filings completed against the entity over the past year. If a new filing occurs, the customer will receive an immediate email notification informing them of the change.

Businesses that choose to display directional signage on Maine state roads have a new convenient way to process their annual dues. The Official Business Directional Sign (OBDS) Electronic Billing service (https://www1.maine.gov/mdot/traffic/obds-pay/) is provided by the Maine Department of Transportation. The online service replaces paper invoice processing for department staff by automatically notifying account holders through email that their invoice is due. Users can then log into the system to view their account details and pay by electronic check or a credit/debit card. Upon submittal the system provides immediate confirmation that the payment has been sent to the agency.

We can hear each other now, clearly and everywhere, as state police, wardens, forest rangers, marine patrol, and public safety personnel communicate on the unified Maine State Radio Communications Network, fully operational since December 2014. From conception through engineering and construction of the 40 mountaintop towers and microwave interconnections, 2500-plus state radios now communicate seamlessly, an unprecedented project orchestrated by Maine’s Office of Information Technology (OIT). Where once stood five antiquated radio analog systems, OIT now provides a single integrated radio service with unprecedented interoperability, reliability, security and safety for all.

The Maine State Campground Reservations service (http://www.campwithme.com) is provided by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. The online service allows the public to create or cancel a reservation at 12 different Maine state parks and provides the ability for a user to reprint their campsite permit at any time. The service features a mobile-friendly responsive design that adapts to any device the customer may use in order to complete their purchase. During the opening day for 2015, over 1,000 online reservations were processed in the first hour with a peak of 71 permits processed in a one-minute time frame.

In June 2014, the Maryland State Police (MSP) launched the statewide Vehicle Safety Inspection service. This service improves the vehicle inspection process by allowing authorized vehicle inspection stations to report inspection results to the MSP electronically. This service creates a database that the MSP can use to track all vehicle inspections throughout the state and helps to eliminate fraudulent inspection certificates. The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) also receives inspection data electronically which eliminates the need for the paper certificate to be provided to the agency by the vehicle owner and reduces foot traffic at MVA branch offices. https://egov.maryland.gov/msp/vsi

Indiana’s Gov. Pence signed Executive Order 14-06 on March 17, 2014, tasking the Office of Management and Budget and Indiana Office of Technology to create the Management and Performance Hub. The MPH creates a center of excellence around performance, data and transparency. The vision of MPH is to have the most effective, efficient and transparent state government in the country. What has happened since implementation of MPH is the creation of a culture of collaboration across the state agencies. MPH has built a real-time, data-driven management system using cutting edge technology that can give insights into state government operations.

In July 2014, the New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services launched the Notary Public Application, a portal that enables applicants to apply for and obtain new and renewed notary commissions online. The new service revolutionized the state’s commissioning process, turning a manual, time-consuming and error prone task set into an electronic workflow that automatically routes applications to the division and legislative offices throughout the state for electronic approvals. Thus, the system integrates multiple levels of government seamlessly, thereby reducing fulfillment time from two to three months to about one week. In less than eight months, the applicant adoption rate has increased to 90 percent.

Largely untouched for 15 years, NY.gov underwent a 10-month modernization project focusing on mobile use and citizen engagement. The objective was to make the site a customer-centric destination, allowing citizens to access the information and services they need, and conduct online transactions in a centralized location. NY.gov is now a cloud-hosted, open source website with simplified navigation and responsive Web design to account for mobile devices. In its first month, the investment in NY.gov showed a significant return on investment: unique visits increased 2360 percent, page views increased 251 percent and unique monthly mobile visits increased 277 percent over the same month in 2013.

The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, Information Services Division (OMES-ISD) and the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) have partnered in a multi-state procurement cooperative for technology equipment and services. The contract was signed in June 2014. The agreement puts each state on the other state’s preferred technology provider list, which allows both states access to one another’s technology contracts and services. “The Red River Deal” will save Oklahoma and Texas millions of dollars in technology purchases through an agreement brokered between the two state governments’ information technology providers.

OpenRange is a state of Oklahoma program that provides tools through which other governmental entities can utilize the state’s procurement power for their purchases of technology products and services. Created by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services Information Services (OMES IS), the program offers statewide contracts for products and services as well as enterprise technology solutions to governmental entities that include, but not limited to, higher education, K-12 school districts, cities, counties and municipalities.

In 2014 three major enhancements were made to the Program Eligibility and Application Kit (PEAK), the online service for Coloradans to screen and apply for medical, food and cash assistance programs. The new customer chat function has diverted an estimated 5,196 calls (38,450 minutes) since June 22, saving the state $322 permonth. The new PEAK email form has diverted an estimated 15,596 calls (115,410 minutes) since June 22, resulting in savings of $966 per month. The last enhancement, a customer self service for certain services, has diverted an estimated 7,844 calls, saving $549 per month since Aug. 1.

State of Oklahoma Security Education and Awareness Training (SEAT) Information Services, a division of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, implemented a pilot program for security education and awareness training for all state of Oklahoma agency IT staff. The program provided online access for 44 modules of core security training topics, including phishing, passwords and encryption, as well as compliance topics such as PCI, HIPAA and PII. In 2015 the program will be launched statewide to all state of Oklahoma agency employees at no cost to the individual agencies. Empowering state employees to use their security education in day-to-day job duties to prevent security incidents is the true value of the program.

The state of Oklahoma recently implemented an Oracle Hyperion financial system that will link performance of statewide programs to funding. This effort was led by the exemplary team at OMES. As Gov. Fallin announced at the State of the State, “Oklahoma will become the first state in the nation to develop a comprehensive budgeting system that ties spending to measurable goals and outcomes… for the first time in state history, we will truly hold ourselves accountable as a state government.” Agencies will collaborate on funding requests for statewide programs – reducing redundancy and driving superior performance and tax payer value.

The state of Tennessee’s IT Academy is an IT training program created as an organized effort to provide the state’s IT staff the skills to support the use of modern computer technologies. In addition, the IT Academy is an effort to attract and retain some of Tennessee’s top talent. The IT Academy’s goals are to provide the state’s employees with an increased level of technical subject matter expertise, as well as an overall performance improvement in creativity and technical problem solving among the IT population.

Maryland embarked on a vision to embrace a workday cloud solution, delivering benefits and innovative technologies for 165,000 state and non-state employees. Within 11 months, Phase 1 went live with 55,000 employees on time and under budget. Real-time data on mobile devices and self service across the workforce is now available. Accurate reports of positions filled and unfilled, and total picture of the workforce is now available to requesting officials and Maryland StateStat. Phase 2 of the project will bring another 110,000 non-state employees, across the university system, onto the benefits application in another innovative vision of shared services efficiencies.

Wisconsin's Enterprise Technology Team created an innovative "Strategy to Execution" Framework to guide the successful delivery of a number of major initiatives, including statewide agency infrastructure consolidation program, secure the enterprise program, BI program, portal management program and enterprise project management program. The framework links five major IT disciplines, including governance, portfolio management, service management, enterprise architecture and financial management into a single comprehensive approach to execute IT strategy. This innovative framework is used in every major enterprise IT initiative and has resulted in the ability to execute complex strategies, set priorities and orchestrate resources. This framework also provides a step by step approach to create strategy and has been used to develop the statewide IAM, BI and UC strategy.

The Case Connect system is a faster and more efficient way for family assistance applicants to check the status of their application online. It offers a self-service method for them to see both in-person interview dates and their application status online 24/7, dramatically reducing phone calls and visits to the local office. The application, specifically optimized for mobile devices, replaces a system that involved visiting or calling the local office twice in the course of the application process. Since its launch, usage over a four-month average is about 27,000 times per month, meaning 108,000 fewer calls and visits so far.

In 2014, the City of Los Angeles IT Agency launched a new Web platform to provide best-in-class digital services to its four million citizens. It replaced outdated technology with the Drupal open source CMS, a cloud platform and an innovative Acquia multi-site deployment tool. The Drupal project delivered faster site response times, responsive design for mobile devices, rich site content, resilient disaster recovery and integrated with the L.A. open data portal. In addition to managing the city’s enterprise sites, such as LACity.org, the platform is available to other city departments fueling digital transformation at the city of L.A.

The state of Maryland Department of Information Technology implemented the Maryland Cloud Program, an infrastructure-as-a-service solution based on a validated, integrated infrastructure to support several independent, decentralized executive state agencies. The solution accelerates application deployment, lowers overall total cost of ownership, reduces operational complexity, and speeds virtualization and application delivery allowing the agencies to better support its constituents, year over year.

The Vermont Content Management System is a no-cost enterprise-wide website development tool which hosts 85 websites for Vermont state government. Enhanced in 2014 with a self-service site launching tool and new template. The system has gathered the attention of other states which look to capitalize on its convenient, cost saving functionality and the empowerment it brings to non-technical staff now able to build their own websites. A collaborative effort between multiple agencies, the design of the new template is responsive and robust, and helps the state avoid over $200,000 annually in hosting costs. Recent website examples include www.FloodReady.Vermont.gov and www.Spotlight.Vermont.gov.

The VA launched an online application that allows veterans and active military the ability to apply for the VA Registry. If registered, constituents may apply for a driver’s license with veteran indicator or military honor license plate from the DMV. A solid partnership between these agencies provides an effortless process for constituents and at the same time, maintain accurate data and transmit approved applicant information to the DMV daily. This process eliminates staff from an enormous amount of data entry and proves advanced in technology by offering responsive design, mobile friendly application, 508 compliancy and document upload features.

Online vehicle registration renewals for West Virginia citizens were just a dream until 2014. The WV DMV had to get creative when they developed a solution, due to a statutory requirement that property taxes already be paid at the county level. The tax data was not easily accessible in the 55 counties, nor could it be validated automatically. To enable online renewals, the DMV created a Web-based review process that integrates with all available counties to allow one-click validation of tax payment by DMV staff. Possible savings total $10-$20 per renewal for citizens and 47,000 hours annually for the DMV.