OPM launches redesigned Web site

When the Office of Personnel Management decided to redesign its Web site, officials spent most of the time researching how to meet the needs of federal employees, retirees and job seekers. It also had to figure out how many of the 86,000 pages on the site should be revamped.The new look affects about 10 percent of the pages on the site, said Vivian Mackey, OPM’s director for Web design and publications, at yesterday’s official unveiling of the new site, . “Many of the pages are not visited on a regular basis. We really wanted to concentrate on the most visible pages.”OPM officials divided the site’s most visited pages into three areas: strategic management of human capital, employment and benefits, and career opportunities. It also provides easy access to federal forms, human resources tools, OPM publications and provides a drop-down menu of the most often visited pages on the site.Mackey said the content is better organized that it was and that the search engine, from Inktomi Corp. of Foster City, Calif., is easier to use.“This new Web site captures the principles of e-government,” OPM CIO Janet Barnes said. “President Bush wants results and for us to use technology to transform government, and this new Web site does both.”In developing the redesign, OPM officials conducted an online user survey, conducted focus groups of federal employees under 30 years of age and of retirees, and evaluated unsolicited feedback from Web site visitors, Mackey said.Mackey said IT workers developed the site using Microsoft Active Server Pages as well as Cold Fusion and Microsoft ASP.Net.