Tim Evans: Using Web Analysis to Improve Government

Ever wonder how much money Social Security will provide when you reach those golden years? The Social Security Administration (SSA) has created the Retirement Estimator, AN online service that instantly determines how much Uncle Sam will pay you after you retire.

Tim Evans of SSA can tell you how popular this service is. He measures it every day. Evans' knack for using Web analysis tools has helped increase public satisfaction with SSA's Web sites.

According to a report issued in February by ForeSee Results, the Retirement Estimator was the top-ranked government site, with a score that was 20 percent above the government average. Its score topped the ratings for Amazon and Google.

Nextgov.com rates the SSA Web sites among its top five government sites for best practices. "It's clear the Social Security Administration is doing something right with its Web site," said Nextgov.com, which covers the management of information technology in the federal government.

After about 25 years at the SSA, Evans has become a leading advocate and spokesman for using business intelligence and user data to improve government Web sites.

"I started out with one customer satisfaction survey to try to figure out what works. Now it's up to seven," Evans said.

Evans, a program analyst in the SSA's Office of Electronic Services, manages data supplied to the SSA through the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), an economic indicator based on customer evaluations of the quality of their online experience.

He also works with related data on the behavior, outcomes and experience of Americans' visits to the SSA's suite of Web sites to pinpoint potential improvements.

"Tim makes sure the questions we're asking are pertinent and the results are properly interpreted," said Jeffrey Caplan, director of the Division of eService Governance at SSA. "The key thing is providing actionable items. Analysis is good, but if it doesn't come along with actionable items, then it does not improve anything."

Although the Retirement Estimator is the best known of the sites Evans monitors, he also manages surveys and data for many other SSA sites: Business Services Online, the Internet Disability Report, Medicare Subsidy Application, iClaim, which combines retirement and disability claims, and SSA's main site.

"Tim took the bull by the horns and wrangled it by himself. Other people were supportive, but he was the one ultimately responsible," said Renee Trujillo, director of the Center for Records Management at the SSA.

Trujillo said analyzing the experiences of site users was initially a tough sell to agency brass.

"He got management to buy in and talked to them about the benefits. He would do a lot of networking trying to convince people this was a good idea. Then, two or three years ago, there was a big shift. People started beating down doors to get his help. It represented a monumental culture change," Trujillo said.

This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Visit www.ourpublicservice.org for more about the organization's work.