[Case Study]
Making
CMS Data
Accessible
Need to develop, design, implement, or provide technical services to improve your web presence like Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) did? As an affiliate of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, ResDAC leveraged Nighthawk Marketing's Drupal expertise to help support their initiatives.
[The Story]
Established in 1996
ResDAC is a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) contractor that provides free assistance to researchers interested in the CMS data. As a CMS contractor, ResDAC provides assistance to academic, non-profit, for-profit, and government researchers. Their staff members have diverse skills and backgrounds, including epidemiology, public health, health services research, statistics, and health informatics. ResDAC faculty are actively involved in research using Medicare and Medicaid data. The ResDAC Assistance Desk is staffed by masters’ level Technical Advisors and Executive Advisors with specialized training on federal privacy rules.
THE
NEED
ResDAC needed an experienced web agency to develop, design, implement, and provide technical services to improve their web presence. Due to the website’s age, they wanted to revise the site both in terms of visual design and some aspects of functionality. Major functional issues involve the search feature, identification of specific data request materials, workshop registration and administrative tools.
THE
SOLUTION
For many users, the home page is their first impression, a point of entry, and an initial way finding tool. We designed and built the home page to be dynamic, visually pleasing, and seamlessly intuitive. From user experience research (UX) to design, to copywriting, the home page flawlessly communicated ResDAC’s identity and brand. The website was built to be flexible and adaptable since the website and its content would continually evolve. As such, the new design was flexible and user-friendly to content administrators so they could most effectively enact institutional priorities and respond to user needs. The design showcased and elevated their content, creating a sense of unity across the content of varying types, styles, and production sources.
[The Highlights]
Request Material Tool.
The Request Material Tool is designed to guide site visitors to the documents they need to submit their request for research identifiable data. This helpful tool generates a customized output of request materials needed to submit a CMS data request. The tool walks them through an if/then question and answer algorithm to get the users the most accurate result.
[The Highlights]
Knowledgebase Repository.
ResDAC has developed over 100 articles that cover topics ranging from the CMS data request process through using the data for a study. This page showcases introductory, popular, and featured articles. It also allows site users to find specific articles using customized search filters for topic, program, data category, and level. Search results automatically appear once a filter is selected.
[The Highlights]
Powerful Search Capabilities.
CMS data files are organized by many data categories and CMS programs. Our team built a powerful search feature to allow site visitors to filter their requirements in order to enhance and streamline their search requirements.
SERVICES
PROVIDED
STRATEGY CONSULTING
USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE DESIGN
CONTENT AUDIT AND MIGRATION
WIREFRAME & PROTOTYPE
RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN
DRUPAL 9.X CMS WEB DEVELOPMENT
CUSTOM DRUPAL MODULE DEVELOPMENT
ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & QA
ANALYTICS & OPTIMIZATION
WEBSITE SUPPORT
ACCESSIBILITY COMPLIANCE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
TECHNOLOGIES
USED
DRUPAL CMS
BOOTSTRAP
HTML/CSS/JS
SOLR SEARCH
ACQUIA ENTERPRISE