[Case Study]
Protecting
Minnesota's
Water & Soil
Resources
The Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources (BWSR) is the state's soil and water conservation agency, and it administers programs that prevent sediment and nutrients from entering Minnesota's lakes, rivers, and streams; enhance fish and wildlife habitat; and protect wetlands.
[The Story]
The Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources
BWSR improves and protects Minnesota's water & soil resources and implements State of Minnesota soil and water conservation programs and wetland policies through a statewide partnership.
THE
NEED
BWSR’s website is a portal to communicate important information to local organizations, private landowners, employees, and the general public. Internal and external feedback received from customers and stakeholders provided the business justification to support a complete redesign of the existing BWSR website.
THE
SOLUTION
As demand increased for completely seamless website experiences, we reevaluated their web strategies in order to meet these expectations. The overarching strategy was to guide visitors to their desired destinations with clearly defined and consistent navigation across the site. Users needed a visitor-centric, rather than organization-driven, information architecture and navigation. Throughout the project, we worked closely with various internal stakeholders comprised of executive, technical, and division work group teams. We wanted the website to be a model of accessible and user-centric design. The design is responsive to adapt to all devices and screen sizes. We used a modular, component-based approach to design to allow for greater customization.
[The Highlights]
Conservation Tracking System
All BWSR grants are tracked through eLINK, BWSR's conservation tracking system. BWSR uses eLINK to distribute grant agreements, capture applications and funding requests, and to track grant progress from initial grant award through final closeout.
[The Highlights]
PTMApp Integration
Prioritize, Target, and Measure Application (PTMApp) is a vision for a state-wide desktop and web application used by practitioners as technical bridge between the strategies in a local water plan and the implementable on-the-ground Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Conservation Practices (CPs). PTMApp consists of an Arc GIS Toolbar application, which is the actual water quality model. PTMApp also includes a web application where you can view standard products developed from the model.
[The Highlights]
Online Learning
Not all training takes place in a classroom. We put together a searchable library of recorded modules, webinars, videos and other resources to help staff and partners find professional development information on a variety of topics. Learning modules are searchable by keyword, subject, skill, and/or format.
SERVICES
PROVIDED
OPEN/CLOSED CARD SORT
STRATEGY CONSULTING
USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE DESIGN
CONTENT AUDIT
WIREFRAME & PROTOTYPE
RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN
WEB DEVELOPMENT
CONTENT MIGRATION
TESTING & QA
ANALYTICS & OPTIMIZATION
WEBSITE SUPPORT
ACCESSIBILITY COMPLIANCE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
TECHNOLOGIES
USED
DRUPAL CMS
BOOTSTRAP
HTML/CSS/JS
SOLR SEARCH
ACQUIA ENTERPRISE
[Want to Know More?]