The Client
The Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) is a nonprofit organization that works directly with local governments in Washington State providing consultation and a vast research and knowledge base. The organization employs a multi-discipline team of professionals tackling thorny problems of law, management, accounting, elections and fairness and best practices for providing government services.
The Challenge
The sheer number of research papers and insight on the old mrcs.org site had developed into a navigational nightmare with valuable information buried deep as text links on the site. As an organization dedicated to bringing clarity and efficiency to the business of government, the site left much to be desired in terms of a welcoming user experience. In particular, search delivered varied and often irrelevant results. For MRSC, their research is their product, so designing modules to display, promote and find articles, white papers and blogs is the website’s main objective. Document management was particularly challenging without a modern CMS.
The Solution
By conducting agile-like design workshops, card sorting and sketched wireframes, Roundedcube was able to quickly build consensus with MRSC on the information architecture and the website’s top navigation. Roundedcube developed a filtered search by document type, so users can browse by aggregate topic pages, view “inquiries” submitted by other users or gain access to the hundreds of published research papers. Kentico provides a solid platform for a variety of responsive content modules, enabling specific research, events and other news to be featured prominently for their customers.
The Results
Mrsc.org is now a responsive website built on a robust content model and a flexible content management platform. Content can be re-used and displayed in a variety of formats, lifting the burden of a MRSC’s research and writing staff from the more menial tasks of web content management so they can focus on their real mission: helping governments govern better.