SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwired - June 08, 2017) - The Texas Veterans Commission, the Texas Office of the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County were among the agencies honored at the 2017 Best of Texas Awards presented by the Center for Digital Government at the annual Texas Digital Government Summit this week in Austin.

"Government leaders in Texas are leveraging technology to make government services more accessible and easier to use for the Texas residents that want and need them," said Todd Sander, executive director, Center for Digital Government. "Making government services easier to access and use helps improve residents' lives and creates efficiencies and cost savings for the agencies involved. Congratulations to this year's Best of Texas Award winners!"

Highlights from the 2017 Best of Texas winners include:

• The Texas Veterans Commission and the Texas Department of Information Resources were recognized for their redesign of the Texas Veteran's Portal, which made the site mobile accessible and user-friendly and includes features important to the state's 1.6 million veterans. Collaboration led by a multi-agency advisory committee and the University of North Texas team, and participation by veterans during testing efforts, was critical to the website's success.
• The Texas Office of the Attorney General was honored for creating a mobile-accessible site and enabling kiosk access for their Child Support Interactive web portal. Both the website and the kiosks offer the same user experience and customer service options. The kiosks, in department lobbies throughout Texas, provide a secured network for customers who might not otherwise have access to a computer, mobile device or printer to access and print case forms.
• The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) was recognized for implementing a "social media customer care" agency strategy. METRO combined an open source software module with a user interface built in-house to enable their social media specialists to post and manage real-time service alerts for patrons. The new interface allows them to post the exact same alert to Facebook, Twitter, the RideMetro.org website, Google and the METRO trip-planning mobile app simultaneously. The social media specialists can also now respond to 90 percent of submitted queries within 15 minutes.

The Best of Texas Awards program recognizes public-sector professionals and local government organizations for their dedication and contributions to advance information technology in Texas. Winners are selected based on a number of criteria, including collaboration among agencies, innovative use of technology, economic benefits and improving public services and business processes. During the reception, 11 Outstanding IT Service and Support Awards will also be presented to those dedicated to Texas public service.

2017 Award Recipients:

Demonstrated Excellence in Project Management

• Karen Lewis, ITS Project Manager, Texas Education Agency

Best IT Collaboration Among Organizations

• Texas Veterans Portal, Texas Dept. of Information Resources and Texas Veterans Commission

• Dallas, Tarrant and Travis County Prosecutor, Defense Attorney and Local Law Enforcement Portal

Best Application Serving an Agency's Business Needs

• El Paso County E-Bond

• Harris County Law Enforcement Network Search

• Treasury Offset Program - Benefits Project, Texas Workforce Commission

Best Data Analytics / Business Intelligence Project

• Houston Community College Academic Dashboard

Best Application Serving the Public

• Comptroller.Texas.Gov Website Rebuild, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

• Texas Career Check, Texas Workforce Commission

Best Mobile/Wireless Project

• Child Support Interactive Mobile Web and Kiosk Project, Texas Office of the Attorney General

Most Innovative Use of Social Media

• City of El Paso Zoo Webcams

• Houston METRO Service Alerts, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DIGITAL GOVERNMENT

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on technology policy and best practices in state and local government. The Center provides public- and private-sector leaders with decision support and actionable insight to help drive 21^st century government.

The Center is a division of e.Republic, the nation's only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.