A multi-faceted digital solution that fosters credibility to its stakeholders - the Public.

Developed in 1877, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is one of the oldest agencies in the state, serving seven regional offices, 3 labs, and approximately 1,100 employees. With an annual budget of $500 million, IDPH supports an ongoing mission to improve health and wellness through prevention, education and the control of disease and injury. Over 200 programs are currently spearheaded by the agency, many of which focus on education and science-based disease prevention and control.

Challenge

IDPH faced the challenge of creating a public-facing website that would speak to the agency's importance, timeliness and credibility. With goals such as fostering growth in the areas of the community, key stakeholders, and private partnerships, improving quality/availability of data, enhancing agency branding/marketing and adhering to regulatory compliance, IDPH required a multi-faceted approach to website design and implementation. Perhaps most of all, the agency needed a digital portal that made finding and accessing crucial information an easy process for Illinois residents.

Solution

Ameex worked with the team at IDPH to further work that had already been completed in-house in the development of the company's website. Tasked with understanding the business requirements the client had put forth, following pre-existing design mock-ups and analyzing existing gaps, formulating "Functional Specification" documentation and developing sitemaps/content structure, Ameex successfully helped reach various goals established by IDPH. Content and document search functionality via Solr and hosted on a separate index server resulted in a highly usable site, ideal for interacting with the Illinois public.

Managed by staff while providing access to stakeholders for updates and content development, Ameex's solution has saved IDPH 40% in hostings costs and helped take the agency's public image to an entirely new level.