Analytics, APIs and Open Content Resources

Dec 18, 2012

Agencies have been working away at building better digital services and here, at the Digital Services Innovation Center, we’ve been building resources to help.

We have been focusing on three areas,

  1. The Digital Analytics Program. We announced this program in early October to help agencies better measure performance and customer satisfaction to improve service delivery. It includes [digital metrics guidance and best practices](/guides/dap/"Digital Metrics for Federal Agencies"), training and a federal-wide Web analytics tool and support. We are rolling out the code for the tool to all agencies now. See more on the Digital Analytics Program and supercharge your analytics.

  2. Open Content Management. To support infrastructure and content needs across the federal government, we developed a CMS toolkit with resources to help agencies choose, design and migrate to a content management system (CMS). A CMS not only helps agencies efficiently manage their online content, but also can help them move to an open content model, making it easier for people to find, share, use, and re-use government information. And, for agencies who need a government policy-compliant platform and hosting solution, we’ve alpha launched sites.usa.gov, an enterprise-ready CMS service in the cloud. We’re happy to help you get started.

  3. API Resources. APIs have been called the “secret sauce” for digital services. They help open information (content and data) so it can be reused inside and outside of government. We’re helping agencies build out APIs by building out knowledge. Agencies can use the API Toolkit to learn API basics and see examples of APIs in government. We’ve also sponsored a six-part (and growing) API webinar series.

But much more important than the parts, is how this is working together to improve the service that government provides. Agencies are working on building out APIs and developer resources, like Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. They are making services available via mobile like solutions being offered by USDA and the Government Printing Office. And some are doing both at the same time, like the Census Bureau at the Department of Commerce.

Let us know what else you need, and what you have(!) to help build the future of anytime, anywhere and any device government.