Photo taken September 27 at the Digital Government Summit, courtesy the State of Hawaiʻi

• Hawaiʻi ranks among the top performing states with an overall grade of A- in the Center for Digital Government’s 2022 Digital States Survey.

From the State of Hawaiʻi news release:

The State of Hawaiʻi received an overall grade of A- in the Center for Digital Government’s 2022 Digital States Survey.

An “A” grade reflects a state government that has demonstrated “very strong innovation, high performing solutions, and…excellent practices in all aspects of their operations, governance, and administration,” according to the Center for Digital Government. Hawaiʻi’s A- grade this year is up from a B in 2020, and this is the first year Hawaiʻi has ranked among the top performing states.

“We have made tremendous progress modernizing State IT systems, including our tax and payroll systems,” said Gov. David Ige. “I’d like to thank our employees for their commitment and dedication to making our State more efficient and effective in order to better serve our citizens.”

This year’s survey, released on September 29, is available here.

In addition, the Center for Digital Government presented the State of Hawaiʻi Office of Enterprise Technology Services with the Future Ready Award for outstanding work on developing the Safe Travels Digital Platform. The Future Ready Awards are presented to jurisdictions that are laying the foundation for the disruptive and converging forces that are shaping an uncertain future — through technology or process changes; innovation; engagement with partners; and by harnessing emerging technologies to solve problems.

“I am proud of the Enterprise Technology Services team and what they accomplished with the Safe Travels system,” said Doug Murdock, chief information officer. “The team developed and implemented the Safe Travels system in a very short timeframe. It allowed the State to reopen our travel industry during the pandemic while safeguarding our citizens. More than 12 million arrivals were recorded in the digital platform, and more than 270-thousand people took advantage of the digital SMART Health Card program.”

Hawaiʻi was also one of six states named finalists for the Government Experience Award. The overall Government Experience Award recognizes states who have redesigned websites with enhanced languages and accessibility features, developed apps to streamline the flow of funds to those with the greatest need, and used mobile apps, social media, e-newsletters and digital service analytics to improve constituent experience and customer service delivery.

The Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government, conducts the Digital States Survey biennially to evaluate the information technology practices of all 50 states. The Center evaluates use of technology to support their state priorities and policies, to improve operations or services, to achieve hard- and soft-dollar savings/benefits, to deliver innovative and citizen-centric services, and to assess the effective collaboration and progress since the last survey. States receiving high grades demonstrate strong results across all the criteria. Hawaii is among 18 states that received an A grade.

The Office of Enterprise Services provides governance for executive branch IT projects and seeks to identify, prioritize, and advance innovative initiatives with the greatest potential to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and improve transparency and accountability in state government. The office also supports the management and operation of all state agencies by providing effective, efficient, coordinated and cost-beneficial computer and telecommunication services.