Sarasota County, Fla., Clerk of Court Redesigns Web site

In 1998, the Sarasota County, Fla., Clerk of the Circuit Court became one of the first in the nation to provide free online access to public records. At the time, Internet development tools that allowed non-technical staff to handle content upgrades were in their infancy and financially out of reach for most organizations. All that has since changed.

According to the clerk of the Sarasota Circuit Court, the Web site was very well received by the general public, but after five years it was time for a facelift and to take advantage of technological innovations that would move content management out of the IT department and into the hands of the subject matter experts -- a move that reduced costs and sped public accessibility to current information.

The clerk of the circuit court is responsible for providing public records in accordance with Florida's sunshine and public records laws, including ensuring that public information is accessible. As such, the goal of the initial Web site was to provide access to public records and fixed content, such as court services and contact information.

And while that goal was achieved, Internet technologies have advanced dramatically. After establishing the objectives for their site upgrade -- easy-to-use content management tools, updated user navigation sets and off-site hosting in a secure facility -- the Sarasota Clerk of the Circuit Court Clerk's IT department began interviewing vendors.

E Solutions utilized a rapid prototyping approach to accommodate the project's short development cycle, which included daily communications between project managers to work through issues and the approval process. When launched, the upgraded website featured a graphical redesign, powerful yet user-friendly content management tools and a modified search capability to simplify access to public information.

The content management tool alone has reduced costs -- $25,000 a year just in man-hours -- by moving responsibility for site updates from IT to clerical staff.

The number of information requests processed by the county clerk's office is staggering, which makes an online information posting and retrieval system quite valuable. Now, the Sarasota County Clerk's office can deploy its resources to more strategic initiatives rather than dedicating them to the task of handling basic information requests, and the public has faster access to information. It's definitely a win-win.