General Optical Council - Case study.

The General Optical Council (GOC) is the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. The GOC’s purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education and conduct amongst opticians. The Council currently registers around 22,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and optical businesses.

The website caters for internal and external audiences. They are:

• staff and members, hearings panel members, advisers and visitors
• current registrants
• student registrants
• potential registrants
• public and patients
• media
• optical employers/NHS trusts
• partner organisations
• suppliers

Though there are some overlaps, these audiences can be grouped in four core user categories: internal; registrants; public; partners.

Out with the old…

The GOC’s goal was to overhaul the design, content and structure of the old GOC website. Dubbed by its users as “dusty”, “old-fashioned” and “uninspiring”, the site was failing on a number of counts. Content was packed with jargon and legal terminology, which alienated GOC’s users - when asked about the written style of content, one user suggested “lose the iron rod”. The site failed to convey the organisation’s purpose, nature of work, culture, and visual identity.

…in with the new

The GOC identified six key objectives that the new site had to fulfill.

1. Support the core mission of public protection by ensuring anyone can obtain the information they need about UK optical regulation, when they need it. The new site must communicate:
     - What the regulatory standards for opticians are;
     - Who meets them (the Opticians Register);
     - The action taken if someone fails to meet these standards (GOC disciplinary procedures and outcomes).
2. Enable the Council to meet statutory requirements to publish certain types of information, including documents within the Freedom of Information scheme.
3. Reduce the administrative burden and costs of the organisation, by allowing registrants and other users to access information and documents directly.
4. Act as an archive for news, legislation, handbooks etc.
5. Engage with all stakeholders by disseminating key messages and inviting feedback.
6. Enhance the Council’s reputation by promoting a positive view of its work and achievements.

How did the GOC achieve this aim?

User feedback has shaped the project from day one. The GOC kicked off with a 12-month user consultation involving the public, partner organisations, staff, members and registrants. Many people participated by providing comments and suggestions on the design, structure and content of the website. Methods included questionnaires, observations and one-to-one interviews. Users were quizzed on possible new functions, features and content, and their favourite websites. The GOC also called in user help once development was underway to make sure they were on the right track.

The GOC selected Pixl8 Interactive following a 3 month selection process. We were chosen because of our extensive web application experience and some very strong and relevant member based experience, the power and ease of use of our PresideCMS content management system and the value for money this out of the box solution provided the GOC. Following a 4 month implementation the site was re-launched in October 2007 with added functionality, fresh design and new content. It now ticks the following boxes:

Transparent

Information is readily available (unless there are valid reasons to the contrary), and is written in succinct, jargon-free copy which addresses subject matter in an open way. Pixl8's Glossary Component has been implemented to explain key terms and acronyms. The GOC’s users told them they visited the fitness to practice hearings pages regularly. The GOC responded by creating a dedicated hearings section with explanations of the hearings process, plus details on sanctions and outcomes from past hearings.

Accessible

The site is designed to offer usability for everyone regardless of cultural, physical or technical barriers. It meets internationally recognised standards for website accessibility (WC3) and is AAA compliant. Pixl8 Interactive took an existing design and made it more relevant for an interactive medium as well as providing PresideCMS, a content management system to support easily navigable menus and consistent links. A policies, procedures and protocols area contains core documents, managed by PresideCMS, on issues such as complaints and declaring criminal offences. Standardised document download formats are used throughout.

Timely

Because of the simple and powerful content updating features within PresideCMS information, including news and policies, is made available quickly so that users can access what they need, when they need it. News items are clearly dated, and the GOC review pages are regularly to keep them fresh and relevant. Because of the tight integration achieved between the GOC website and their member database, optometrists and dispensing opticians can log in to the registrants area and update their personal details. They can also update and add practice addresses to their profile.

Accurate

The site is a reliable source of information, owned and maintained by those with the necessary specialist and technical knowledge. FAQs (using Pixl8’s FAQ Module) are updated and revised periodically, and can be filtered by category. GOC’s “search for a practice” function can be limited by postcode, and results pages contain a link to Google maps.

Relevant

The GOC wants its users to be motivated to visit the website by an experience that is informative, coherent, and engaging, and which reflects the best in UK optics and regulation. Explicit Audience based personalisation on the homepage drives visitors to audience specific “sub- homepages” that alert users to content and news that is relevant to them.

Best practice

GOC’s site reflects best practice standards for equivalent or similar organisations.

The verdict so far…

1. “Very clean looking and easy to look at.”
2. “Much better than the other regulators.”
3. “I like the ‘current registrants’ section – better laid out and there seems to be more information.”
4. “…it is far more sophisticated…”
5. "Checking the GOC register is easier now.”
6. “I enjoyed milling around the new site and exploring the new features.”
7. “…very impressive!”
8. “Someone considering a career in optics would find a lot of relevant information on the site…"