Utah.gov 2013

We published the new Utah.gov portal last night and it looks like this:

Probably more important than what it looks like are what it offers to Utah citizens and visitors.  We continue to simplify things with the portal and part of that was eliminating the scroll in this year's version.  Instead of having left side navigation buttons that take you down a parallax-scrolling site, we have used zoom to help drive users to major features.  Each of the three main boxes zoom out to provide additional content: news services, location-enabled services, and Utah.gov highlights.

The top navigation remains consistent although our designer, Jonathan Higley, created all new iconography.

The next feature bar includes our latest Twitter post, a date featuring a top event for the day which is driven directly from Google Calendar (Utah went to Google Apps for Government in November), and a location selector (Utah.gov  defaults to your current location and provides data and information based on that location automatically).

The Utah.gov Smart Search is one of the most important features and has access to the Master Data Index (MDI) which underlies all of Utah.gov.  1100 state online services, 1700 Utah government and education social media feeds (take a look at our Pinterest page and Google+ feed for example), multimedia, government agencies, and a wealth of other content types are all indexed by the MDI and drive how the content is provided to Smart Search as well as other places on the site, such as Connect.Utah.gov

We hope you enjoy the changes. With over 1,200,000 monthly unique visitors, we feel an obligation towards regular improvement.  You've rewarded us by performing 31 million online transactions in 2012. Having citizens and businesses use Utah.gov's online services instead of standing in line helps us make state government more efficient.  We'll keep working toward that goal.

Getting Ready for a Utah.gov Upgrade

In a few days, we will be introducing some new features on the state's digital government portal, Utah.gov.  In advance, I thought that I could provide some information to emphasize that digital government is still an important concept.  Granted, it is one that continues to evolve and is having a significant impact on how we view government in general.

For me, digital government is still first about providing services and information.  Utah.gov provides a lot of that with millions of pages of content and almost 1100 transactional services.  In 2012 alone, in a state of only 2.8 million residents, we processed over 31 million transactions.  That is a dramatic change in just the last 15 years from the time we put our first such service online.

Utah Insurance Transparency

Information services are also still very important.  These kinds of services have changed as well and many of them are becoming more dynamic. For example, take a look at our Utah Insurance Transparency Website.  The graphical interface hides the fact that this site provides all kinds of new data to the insurance consumer by making it simple and easy to compare costs and quality of service.  The latest insurance cost increases are also provided, allowing consumers to comment online prior to any approvals from the insurance department.  More transparency is certainly a good thing.  By the way, our transparency portal now provides access to 84 million records from every state and local government agency in Utah.

Speaking of data, an average of 114 gigabytes of open data is now downloaded every week from gis.utah.gov.  This is the kind of data that has economic value and a multitude of uses. I'm glad to see that there are about 30,000 downloads every week.

Utah's online education initiative is also starting to pay off.  In fact, Utah was rated #1 in the recently published Digital Learning Report Card, receiving an "A" grade.  Florida is doing an outstanding job in this area as well.

Using Fusion Tables to Share Public Data

Google Fusion Tables is a great way to share public data.

Here's a table with data of the Utah Baseline Population Projections developed by Utah's Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.  Fusion Tables provides an easy-to-use interface for uploading data, whether you do it from an existing Google Spreadsheet, .xls file, of comma-delimited file, you can have the table ready to go in a few seconds.  Users can then analyze the data online, download it to a variety of formats, embed it in another site, etc.

Here's chart created and embedded using the population projection data.  It's nice because you can mouse over any of the data bars and get the exact number associated with it:

Mountain West Digital Library Anchors the National Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) went live last week with much fanfare.  It's great to see something get going like this and I hope that it continues to grow. What you might not expect is that the largest partner of the DPLA originated right here in Utah.  The Mountain States Digital Library (MDLA) currently has 693,469 objects in the DPLA, more than even NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration.

The MDLA, which presently hosts resources from Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Hawaii is a project of the Utah Academic Library Consortium and is growing by the minute.  One of its more prominent collections is supported by the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts digitization project, which is a major effort to digitize historic artifacts and records owned by the department.

It's cool to see the DPLA taking an open approach to development.  The new site already hosts a couple of apps and offers resources for developers.  I'm excited to see what happens in the future as this online public library continues to grow and develop.

See also: "Meet the Hubs: Mountain West Digital Library" and "Bringing the Power of Digital History to the Mountain West"

Best of Digital Government in Utah 2012

Another year draws to a close and this blog is now over 10 years old. As you know, each of those years includes an end-of-the-year post reviewing the top 10 digital government achievements for the state of Utah. I'm not sure how long I will continue this annual review, perhaps this will be the last year and we'll move on to something different. I'll have to see how things go in 2013.  Before I get started, here is a look back to my review in 2011.

Overall, 2012 has been a banner year for digital government in this state.  Progress has not begun to slow and there are still plenty of opportunities to do new and innovative things. Former CIO Steve Fletcher has moved on to work as chief of NTIA's new Office of Public Safety Communication. New state CIO, Mark VanOrden is now working hard to make progress in mobile government and information security.

Here we go with 2012:

1. Utah and Michigan remain atop the 2012 Digital State Survey. The biannual survey of state government use of digital technologies is the most comprehensive periodic review of digital government that exists.  Utah has remained atop the last three surveys, beginning in 2008.  This covers a lot of territory. Utah's digital government strategy is focused on results and the 2012 survey recognizes that.
2. Utah rolls out an updated portal based on a new Master Data Index.  I mentioned the Master Data Index in a May 1 post. It enables us to integrate many of the diverse digital resources that the state supports into a more integrated digital ecosystem.  It is a resource that we will be able to build upon as we continue to enhance our digital presence with multi-channeled, cloud-based services.
3. CPPA study identifies millions in savings from online services. This study, performed by the Center for Public Policy and Administration validates the argument that is behind digital government services and the effort Utah has made to deliver digital services. A second part of the study is now underway which will identify the value of digital government to business.
4. Emphasis on jobs creation and related online initiatives. Governor Herbert's emphasis throughout the recession was to create jobs. In January, the Governor's Office rolled out the Utah Job Plan, a dashboard to track the ambitious goal of creating 100,000 jobs in 1,000 days. By November, the unemployment rate was down to 5.1%, the lowest since the recession began. The Department of Workforce Services is committed to digital, supporting over 10 million digital service transactions a year.
5. Utah government completes transition to Google. The state's move to Google Apps for Government is part of the second phase in a more comprehensive cloud computing plan.  It provides a platform for collaboration and will support more collaborative digital government. 
6. Utah provides new open data resources. State agencies continue to grow the availability of online data resources. The Utah Transparency Portal added special districts in 2012.  Over 150,000 KML files are now available on Utah.gov, making this the fastest growing open data file type on the portal.  This supports the sharing of transportation data, wildlife data, water data, and more.
7. Utah Legislature's new portal. The state legislature implemented a complete overhaul of le.utah.gov in October.  The new site has enhanced search functionality, a simplified layout, and will support new mobile services in the future.
8. Increased statewide emphasis on information security. The security threat environment has changed dramatically with daily attacks and challenges for state government. Utah has a new plan and policies aimed at addressing these challenges. Trust is critical to the success of egovernment, so security must always be at the top of our agenda.
9. Point-of-Sale real-time service implemented for Controlled Substance Database at pharmacies.  This collaborative system is an example of how Utah is moving toward creating real-time services in partnership with business, local government, and other partners.
10. Social Media use in government reaches new highs.  In 2012, Utah government implemented new channels for social outreach including 23 Google+ channels, 25 Pinterest Channels, and a new LinkedIn site. The state's social media portal was recognized with the 2012 Excellence in Innovation for Social Media award by the American Council for Technology, along with PTI's award for Web 2.0 innovation.

Analyzing Mobile Visitors to Utah.gov

ZTE Chorus

In the past 30 days, the Utah.gov portal has received visits from 305 different mobile devices.  These visits now account for about 13% of the total visits to the site.  Thats a lot of different devices, A-Z, everything from the Apple iPad to the ZTE D930 Chorus.  The new visitor rate for mobile devices is 20% higher than for all platforms.

One area that really stands out is the higher bounce rate.  Even though Utah.gov has a responsive design that is particularly designed to support smartphone users, the bounce rate for mobile users is 47.66%, while the bounce rate for laptops and desktops is low at 15.6%.  Mobile users also spend 35% less overall time on the site and visit fewer pages.

Apple iPad

One exception to these numbers is the iPad.  The iPad's bounce rate, at 18.9% is about 1/3 the bounce rate of almost any other mobile device.  The closest competitor is the Samsung Galaxy Tab at just over 45%.

Xperia Arc

57.5% of all mobile visits to Utah.gov come from two devices, the iPad and the iPhone.  That means that 303 devices comprise 42.5% of the visits, the most significant of those being the SonyEriccson Xperia Arc.

I expect that these numbers will continue to evolve.  I was surprised most about the huge number of unique devices hitting the site.  We continue to discuss strategies for how to optimize the user experience for all of these uses and it is clear to me that we still have some ways to go.

Google Nexus 7

I had little personal experience with Android devices until this week when we got a Google Nexus 7 in order to begin preparing an Android User Guide for state employees that would be similar to our iPad User Guide.  I was pleased with the ease of setup for the Nexus and the interface for many of the apps, such as Flipboard and Twitter that I am accustomed to using.  We don't see many visits yet from the Nexus or the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The Efficiency of E-Government

We have always known that digital government saves money.  It also allows us to do things that we could never do without it.  Over the years, we have tried to quantify the savings, but this can sometimes be difficult often due to a lack of good data about the unit cost of providing services through traditional channels.  But now, we have some new data that quantifies some of the hard savings associated with providing government services online.

Last week, the Center for Public Policy at the University of Utah released a more detailed study that explores the cost of providing services online.  The Center spent months reviewing data from a five year period to be able to determine the actual cost of doing business through traditional channels in various state agencies.  They focused in on nine services where the data was most reliable and complete over a longer period.  The result was that, overall for this group of services, the state saves an average of $13 per transaction.  For these services, that represents a total savings of $46 million over the five years represented in the study.

This study is good news for those promoting digital government.  These kind of results also don't come without some work.  You can't just create online services and expect that they will be heavily utilized unless you are willing to invest some effort.  Our Utah.gov team meets every week to discuss how we can better market our services.  This not only includes working to improve our service interface, but also making sure that our portal makes the service easy to find. It includes search engine optimization - making sure that search engines rate the service highly in search results for related key words and phrases.  It includes marketing through press releases and social media channels.

Ultimately, our goal is for the online channel to be the primary channel, approaching 100% adoption whenever possible.  This study confirms the value of that goal.

Related articles

• The Daily Chronicle
• The Salt Lake Tribune
• KSL
• University of Utah

Thinking of New Online Services

Interactive digital government is falling behind.  Even though it seems that we are making progress, we are not doing enough and the challenge may be getting bigger.  Last year, we created 76 new online, interactive services in Utah. That seems pretty good and there was a lot of work to create these services and automate much of the business processes that accompany them.

The only problem is that during the time we created these interactive services, agencies put 2000 new pdf forms online.

Here's an example: the 2012 Property Tax Valuation Appeal Form.  In this case, the user is lucky.  It is a fillable form and the intended user can fill it out before printing it and mailing it in.  An address is listed for the State Tax Commission which will receive and process the form.  The last page has the addresses of 29 county auditors who are also involved in the valuation process for their respective jurisdictions.  This process starts long before this form gets filled out however.  Statements are generally mailed out by the county auditors in mid-year that have the tax valuation on them. This goes to thousands and thousands of land-owners across the state.

Think of what you might automate here.  Obviously, the valuation process itself.  In most cases, there is already a system that manages this and often, the valuation information is already available online such as this parcel search for Salt Lake County.  Salt Lake County also has their own appeal form, which also must be printed and mailed in.  So let's automate this submission process, make it easy for the reviewer to see the forms and supporting information from a portable device like an iPad so that the review can be done anywhere, anytime.  Then lets provide other relevant information and smart analysis to speed up the review.  Let's create a way for the taxpayer to know the status of his appeal.  Then, we can automate the response.  There can be even more than this, particularly if it involves multiple jurisdictions.  Be sure to leverage a process such as the state of Utah's universal template that makes the process usable in a variety of formats, including tablet and smartphone.

Like I said, there are about 2000 new forms a year just for Utah, so we have a lot of business process and automation work to be done.  Let's get started.

The Phenomenal Success of Jobs.Utah.gov

In reviewing the metrics for the Utah.gov domain for 2011, not many things stand out more than the number of online job referrals issued.  The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) has done an amazing job of using technology to help get people back to work in Utah.  It is totally committed to the online channel and to in its support of Governor Herbert's priority of building the economy.

In 2011, 10,481,154 job referrals were issued online.  That's a big number.  It's over a million and a half greater than the number in 2010, which was already significant.  It's also helped keep Utah's unemployment numbers well below the national average.  Making it simple for job-seekers to connect with Utah businesses is not just important, but critical to driving Utah's economic success.

Here's a few ideas that make Jobs.Utah.gov online services so successful:

• Open ID: Jobs.Utah.gov was probably one of the first state sites in the country to use Open ID and OAuth.   If users merely want to apply for a job and receive job referrals, they can use their Facebook or GMail account to sign up for services.  Or if they don't want to use those, they can sign up for a Utah.gov OpenID.  If they need something that requires additional levels of authentication, they can do that later.
• Facebook and Twitter: Workforce Services has done an excellent job of integrating social media into their outreach and marketing program.  If you're looking for a specific job, you can have the latest jobs fed to you through one of 22 different functional Twitter feeds.  If you're more into Facebook, get the latest online and on-site recruitment bulletins through the Department's Facebook page.
• GeoIP Integration with Utah.gov: In 2011, we added access to the latest jobs in your area to the GeoIP services available through the Utah.gov portal.  So if you're say, in Sugarhouse, and you pull up Utah.gov on your smartphone, it will identify where you are and let you know what the latest jobs are that are available in that area.
• The Utah Economy blog: All of these services wouldn't be complete without a good blog to provide current information about the Utah Economy.
• Utah Futures: Utah DWS collaborates with Utah K-12 and Utah higher education to support this career information service.  Utah students are trained on using the site fairly early on and information is provided through student counsellors to parents as well.  Utah Futures also supports mobile apps for iOS and Android platforms.

A Simple Comparison

Arkansas has done a great job with their website.  In 2011, they were rated #1 in the Best of the Web competition by the Center for Digital Government.  Their site is well-designed and has many useful services.  DWS.Arkansas.gov provides many similar services to the Utah jobs website. It is colorful and friendly.  It certainly does a good job of serving Arkansas citizens.  And, Arkansas has done a good job of keeping people employed with a jobless rate that is almost a full percent below the national average.

Unique Visitors in May 2012 (source: compete.com)

DWS.Arkansas.gov - 48,645

Jobs.Utah.gov - 365,123

Statewide Population (July 2011)

Arkansas - 2,937,979

Utah - 2,817,222

Unemployment Rate

Arkansas - 7.3%

Utah - 6.0%

National Rate: 8.2%

Certainly, there are many more factors involved in statewide and national employment.  I'm simply using this example to encourage states to continue to innovate.  We're still just scratching the service of what is really possible.

Utah.gov 2012: Built on Data

Today, we introduce a major change to the state of Utah portal, Utah.gov.  Going forward, the portal has a new underlying infrastructure that will drive the delivery of data and information.  In reality, Utah.gov is built on data and a new Master Data Index helps to ensure that the portal integrates information and services in real time.  The MDI indexes all kinds of data, including online services, social media streams, raw datasets, agencies, locations, and mobile applications.  For example, Utah.gov indexes over 850 Twitter feeds, aggregating and integrating streams on topics like tourism, business, and education.

Utah.gov 2012 is built using a parallax scrolling technique to create a more immersive, three dimensional experience using layers that scroll at different speeds.  The Utah.gov development team ultimately focuses on delivering a high quality user experience.  We continue to learn from our users' activity and a primary goal has always been to increase the total number of unique visitors to the site.  This ensures that our services and information are being seen and utilized by the largest number of Utah businesses and citizens possible.  Since 2007, this number has increased by an average of over half a million unique visitors every month.  This does not even consider the many successful non-Utah.gov domains also supported by Utah government agencies, such as the highly visual travel portal VisitUtah.com or our innovation portal InnovationUtah.com.

Utah state and local agencies have taken advantage of social media to a remarkable degree.  With some many options for connecting to government, it is easy to get distracted and it is somewhat remarkable that so many citizens continue to find their way to the Utah.gov portal.  They can find much of the information they are looking for in places like Facebook and Scribd.  Even the newer social media services like Google+ and Pinterest are becoming a second or third home to Utah.gov agencies and services.  For example, check out the beautiful pinboards of the Utah Travel Council.

One of the best ways to access Utah.gov data is using mobile platforms such as Flipboard and connecting to Utah.gov Twitter lists.  Simply subscribe to @UtahGov Twitter lists for government or education, then pull them up on Flipboard to get the latest information delivered to your iOS device.

We are exploring new ways to engage Utah's tech community and have created a new Utah.gov API page that developers can use to leverage Utah.gov MDI data to create their own services.

Utah.gov continues to work to support its growing base of mobile users.  Utah agencies have created about 40 mobile apps designed to meet the needs of these users.  The site itself uses responsive design to support various formats of smartphones and other smaller devices.

If you have suggestions for helping improve Utah.gov, we want to hear them.  We receive hundreds of comments each year that have helped us improve the way we offer services and provide information.

More on the Internet of Things and Government

You may not know this, but April 9th is Global Internet of Things Day.

In yesterday's Government Technology article, "The Internet of Things Comes to Government", 56% of senior level survey responders said that they had no Internet of Things projects underway or didn't know of any.  In reality, government is full of internet of things projects and has been for some time.  Probably the most significant work is happening in transportation and natural resources, but it doesn't begin or stop there.  Here are a few areas:

• Transit - Real-time data from government-supported transit systems is everywhere. Fortunately, most of these systems are making this data available through live APIs.  We're already seeing apps pop up in the Android and iOS app markets following UTA's announcement making their APi public for real-time bus tracking. An FAQ for this resource is available to developers.  There's even one to support SIRI requests.
• Intelligent Transportation Systems - UDOT's traffic app for iOS gives you an idea about how connected transportation systems are and why UDOT supports an extensive fiber network. From your phone you get real-time access to an extensive network of cameras and sensor data that monitors Utah's highways 24x7.  Utah reports on its lessons learned with ITS through the USDOT.
• Streamflow Monitoring - The Utah Water Science Center (USGS) monitors real-time stream flows, water quality, and also supports the Utah Active Water Level Network, which carefully tracks the levels of Utah's critical groundwater resources. You can get a nationwide view at http://groundwaterwatch.usgs.gov.  
• Weather Information - Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) have been around for a while, but are getting increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, finding new ways to present and integrate the data with other systems.

These are only the beginning, but the Internet of Things has huge potential for public health, agriculture, public safety, environmental quality, and just about everything else that government does.

I met with a group of Utah CTOs last week and the conversation was dominated by Internet of Things topics.  We discussed new trends in sensor interfaces and integration, technologies like Netduino and Arduino that are bringing computing to new areas that can all be connected and interfaced with. The ability to connect with the real world through technologies like Kinect offers additional potential for digital government in the future.

United Nations E-Government Survey 2012

I downloaded the 2012 UEN eGovernment Report to iBooks while in the elevator on the way out to get a spicy chicken sandwich at Carl's Jr. Great report this year. More comprehensive than any previous report I have seen on international egovernment. According to the report, the top five world e-government leaders are:

1. Republic of Korea
2. Netherlands
3. United Kingdom
4. Denmark
5. United States

According to the UN assessment, the US continues to drop. Scandinavian countries continue to perform well, along with other European countries like Estonia, Germany, and even Liechtenstein. Singapore also dropped down to 10th on the list. That said, there is some great innovation happening in countries that are pretty far down the list, like Brazil and Peru. 

Kazakhstan was #1 in Central Asia and #38 overall, jumping 8 spots. I agree that they've been doing some interesting things there. 

Spain dropped from #9 in 2010 to #23 in 2012. That's somewhat disappointing from my perspective, because they are a country that I watch very closely and one which has been doing some very creative things particularly at the local and provincial level.

Three countries were at the top of the online service index, perhaps the part I care most about, Korea, Singapore, and the US all received perfect scores. I certainly wouldn't give anyone a perfect score for online services because certainly improvement can continue to be made.

Take a look at the entire report. It's one I'll be keeping on the iPad.

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan048065.pdf

Setting the Agenda for 2012 and Beyond

I'm looking at the Federal agenda for 2012 as set out a few weeks ago by Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel. This is what I see:

• Cloud
• Mobility
• Modular Development
• Cyber Security

Nothing wrong with this, but it seems to me that for 2012 from a strategic perspective this is looking backward a little.  The federal strategy for cloud was layed out by Vivek Kundra and it was a good one and is moving forward.  Mobility is here, it is a fact. We should already be where it is we're trying to get to.  It is driven by the private economy and we are consumed by it.  We should be delivering services to it and we are so it is a matter really of continuing along a path that is already established.  NASA, for example, has some wonderful iOS and Android apps as well as EPA, TSA, and many others.  Continue to push mobile, that is good, but it is already a well established path prior to 2012.  I'm not sure exactly what all is envisioned with the modular development concept based on this information, but it too seems like a preexisting thing. And cyber security, now that has been water that we all must drink and it's not about to disappear any time soon.  Applying it to the cloud environments we are moving to is something that must be adopted to and incorporated ASAP as well as a new approach that is focused on a better understanding of threats and vulnerabilities.

The 2012 strategic agenda that I am looking at is more like this:

• The Internet of Things
• Semantic Web
• Artificial Intelligence
• The Social Web, eDemocracy, and the Explosion of Knowledge

I know that these concepts have been around for a while as well, but beginning in 2012, we have ways to leverage them as never before to dramatically impact government.  I'd love to hear your ideas.

Best of Digital Government in Utah 2011

It's time to move on to 2012 and it's now been ten years since I started posting the best of digital government in Utah.  I started this blog on Radio Userland in 2002 and moved it to Blogger in 2005. Every year, I've done an annual review of our digital progress in Utah State government. Here's some of the best of 2011.

1. The new Utah.gov. In June, we introduced a completely new look to Utah.gov. Although it was much more focused on search, the new portal also introduced a single page design that included new infographics, integration of social media, and an enhanced news format, along with new geolocation and contextual services. After being ranked #1 among state portals by the Center for Digital Government in 2007 and 2009, this version of the portal came in second among the fifty states. It also received a Gold Award in the W3 web awards and a Best of Class for government in the IMA International awards. 2011 was also brought new levels of involvement to the Utah.gov domain with at least 1.2 million unique visitors to the site every month of the year.
2. Online Redistricting. The Legislature took its redistricting efforts online this year in an effort to make the process more open and get more public participation. Although the process received some criticism for the way the final decision was made, this was a major step forward as citizens were able to draw up their own map proposals online and share them with those involved directly with the process.
3. Connect Plus. The new Connect portal was created specifically with tablet users online as a way to give them access to the growing body of social media content and news updates produced by Utah government. The site was created with HTML5.
4. Accident Reports Online. This great new service gives citizens access to current accident reports from the Highway Patrol and the Utah Department of Public Safety and will be expanded to include reports from local law enforcement agencies.
5. Google Apps for Government. Utah signed a contract with Google in 2011 to move applications and email into Google's collaborative cloud environment, freeing up resources that were supporting some of these services to do other creative things.
6. UtahPublicEducation.org.  Utah's State Office of Education moved into social media in a big way, not just by creating this constantly updated blog, but also adding Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook services to significantly add to education outreach in the state.
7. UDOT's new mobile app.  Overall, growth in mobile services loomed large in 2011 with many services being added to the mobile portfolio as the use of smartphones in the state continued to explode. UDOT's new mobile app was one of the best and is available for both iOS and Android.
8. MyCHIE. Utah continues to be a leader in supporting the delivery of electronic health record exchange and services, while supporting citizens' rights to exercise greater control over those records.
9. New Statewide Warrants Search.  Another popular service from the Utah Department of Public Safety, this service lets user search the database of over 100,000 warrants.
10. uGATE. UDOT creates a new agency data portal with lots of data in reusable formats, including KML for geodata. Nice addition to data.utah.gov services.

Also see: Best of Digital Government / IT for Utah 2010

Connecting the Data Dots

In our latest Utah Architecture Review Board meeting, we recommended moving ahead with a couple of related initiatives.

1. Add Data as a Service as a key element of Utah CloudPlan 2.0, the next iteration of our statewide cloud computing strategy.
2. Initiate a new process for identifying and cataloguing Enterprise Reference Data.

These two concepts are closely connected.  They also help support the future of Data.Utah.gov, the state data portal that we put into place 2 1/2 years ago.  

Establishing the reference source of enterprise data will enable a more agile and flexible information system development ecosystem which can respond to the needs of state and local government agencies as well as an increasingly integrated citizenry and business community, particularly if this is made available as a cloud-based service.

One of the largest tasks will be the completion of the enterprise reference data catalogue.  Within a state enterprise, there is often a lot of data that is duplicated among agencies and no single source may be identified as the source of truth.  Establishing that, and making sure that all reference data has a mechanism to ensure that it is current will be an important part of the process.  This pool of data resources, combined with the standardized services and automated discovery capabilities will enable much more rapid development of agency applications and services in the future as well as even more opportunity for cross-boundary / enterprise integration.