Following the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the City of New Orleans has undertaken a model of Rethink – Renew – Revive, under the urging Mayor C. Ray Nagin. In the spirit of that model, Mayor Nagin called for an overhaul of the city’s e-government and IT systems in order to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, accessibility, and transparency for users and local government. With regards to how New Orleans’ e-government adequately and efficiently supports the goals of managers, employees, and residents, the system could earn a ranking of 9 or even a 10 on a scale of 10, according to the performance criteria guidelines by which the Government Performance Project evaluates local e-governments and information technologies.

            New Orleans’ e-government accomplishes several managerial goals – including those of greater efficiency and accessibility of services, accountability and transparency of government activity, and better safety and quality of life for citizens – at different levels simultaneously. For instance, the financial reporting system allows users to more easily create reports, which generates more money in the form of interest for the city to address its budget concerns. A paperless contract management system makes for greater accountability of city managers and employees. Centralized GIS data is used to map FEMA flood zones and more accurately provide flood assessments of various areas within the city. Furthermore, features such as surveillance systems and accident reporting aid the work of the city’s Police Department and reduce the amount of crime. These goals were achieved through comprehensive, multi-year technological planning by the Mayor, the Chief Information Officer, and the Mayor’s Office of Technology that aims to ensure that the restructuring and revamping would affect positive change for years to come.

            It is not necessarily clear if the city’s IT systems strive for coherent architecture that allows its different components to evolve independently of each other as technologies change on a global scale, while using proven concepts and principles; there is no mention of how the different components of the e-government are managed by personnel.

            New Orleans’ IT systems absolutely increases and supports the government’s ability to communicate with and provide services to citizens. Online services reduce wait times and allow users to easily and quickly pay fees, make reports, and view records and progress reports. Restructured and streamlined case-screening application systems and user forms allow employees to more quickly respond to citizen needs. Small businesses and private citizens benefit from kiosk-based systems that allow greater accessibility to municipal services. Residents can easily locate public facilities such as community centers, after-school programs, and brake-tag services; features even allow citizens to view photo galleries and read the news through a website. This could be beneficial for politicians who want to know the interests of the public and keep abreast of neighborhood activities, and who may want to have their own involvement and interactions with the public displayed. Specialized website homepages for residents as well as for businesses provide relevant links to resources and other information. Furthermore, employees and staff are afforded opportunities for input and access through the improved IT systems, as a considerable amount of data is centralized and accessible across the New Orleans network.  

             In many cases, training to manage the IT systems is not necessary, as the Mayor brought in many experts to help increase the simplicity and accessibility of the systems for users and employees. Furthermore, partnerships with Microsoft and Dell meant the ability to offer disadvantaged communities free, specialized technologies that allowed users to learn how to use the improved systems at their own pace. The interface of the city’s website is certainly simple and easy to use, with a table on the side that you could hover a mouse over for a pop-up menu.

            The investment in the city’s IT systems was not burdensome, as the city simply reevaluated its activities to identify inefficiencies and areas to reduce in order to reallocate more funding for the e-government revamp. The restructuring was timely and immediately effective; Mayor Nagin was elected in 2002, and the New Orleans IT systems began winning awards for outstanding digital government as early as 2003. E-government actually brings in funds by enhancing the convenience of paying fees and taxes to the city; this money can be reinvested to maintain the IT systems. Also, the city benefits from cost savings through more efficient processes. At any rate, the city wants to ensure that the site meets the needs of users and employees, so an experience survey is provided by phone or on the website; perhaps a patrolled forum where citizens and business owners could add their input and feedback on certain issues and policies.