Introducing Web &
Communications Management
& Governance to the Energy
Information Administration
May 13, 2009
Gina Pearson
Director
National Energy Information Center
Today’s Presentation
 Introducing the Energy Information
Administration (EIA)
 Why EIA needs web and communications
management and governance?
 Progress made since 2006
– Restructuring of the National Energy Information
Center
– Implementing user-centered, research-based web
design
– Developing an overall Agency web strategy
 What’s in store for the future?
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Energy Information Administration:
Mission, Program & Resources
Mission
Program
 Provide high-quality energy information
to meet the requirements of the
Congress, the Federal Government,
markets, and the public in a manner
that promotes sound policymaking,
efficient markets, and public
understanding.
 Collect, compile and publish reliable
energy data, information and analyses.
 In FY 2009, EIA will operate 65 surveys
and data forms:
Resources
 $110.6 Million in FY 2009
 375 employees
 National Energy Information Center
–
–
23 employees – 18 Federal & 5
contractors
$825,000 budget – FY 2009
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Petroleum (27)
Natural gas (7)
Ethanol (2)
Oil and natural gas reserves
and production (5)
Electric power (7)
Uranium (3)
Coal (3)
Renewable and alternate fuels
(5)
End-use consumption (3)
Greenhouse gases (2)
Finance (1)
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EIA’s Core Program
A wide range of data, analyses and projections
 Weekly Reports - This Week in Petroleum ♦ Weekly Petroleum Status Report ♦
Natural Gas Weekly Update ♦ Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report ♦ Weekly Coal
Production Report ♦ Coal News and Markets
 Monthly Reports - Short-Term Energy Outlook ♦ Natural Gas Monthly ♦ Electric Power
Monthly ♦ Petroleum Supply Monthly ♦ Monthly Energy Review
 Annual Reports - Annual Energy Outlook 2009 with Projections to 2030 ♦ International
Energy Outlook ♦ Annual Energy Review ♦ Natural Gas Annual ♦ Electric Power Annual
♦ Petroleum Supply Annual ♦ Petroleum Marketing Annual ♦ Annual Coal Report ♦
Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the U.S.
 Special Reports - A Primer on Gasoline Prices ♦ State Electricity Profiles ♦ Residential
Natural Gas Price Information for Consumers ♦ Country Analysis Briefs ♦ Energy in
Briefs ♦ Analysis of Oil and Gas Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ♦
Energy Market and Economic Impacts of S.2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate
Security Act of 2007
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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EIA’s Role in Current Energy Markets & Issues
 When energy issues are front and center, America looks
to the Department of Energy to interpret the current
energy market situation.
 EIA is the main U.S. government entity involved in
current energy markets and issues.
 In many settings, such as the situation following the
2005 and 2008 hurricanes, the MTBE/ethanol transition
in the spring of 2006, and the oil price increases in late
2007-mid 2008, both the Congress and the
Administration directly rely on and benefit from EIA’s role
as a trusted source of policy-neutral energy information
and analysis.
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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EIA Impacts Energy Markets
EIA’s release of its
Oil Inventory Data
has immediate
impact on the oil
markets
Data reflect NYMEX
Light, Sweet Crude Oil
(WTI) Near-Month
Futures Contract
January 16, 2008;
Source: Bloomberg
Finance LP (2/13/08)
Energy Information Administration
10:30 am EIA data released
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www.eia.doe.gov
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EIA Impacts Energy Markets
EIA’s release of its
Natural Gas Storage
Data has immediate
impact on natural
gas markets
Data reflect NYMEX
Henry Hub Natural Gas
Futures Contract Price
for April 2009 Delivery,
March 26, 2009; Source:
Bloomberg Finance LP
(3/30/09)
Energy Information Administration
10:30 am EIA data released
10:30 am EIA data released
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www.eia.doe.gov
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EIA - “Small But Mighty”
The Energy Ant
Mascot of EIA’s Kids Energy
Website
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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EIA’s Organization
ADMINISTRATOR
VACANT
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR
Howard Gruenspecht, 202 586-6351
Office of Information
Technology
Director
William Underwood
National Energy Information
Center
Director
Gina Pearson
Office of Oil and Gas
Director
Steve Harvey
202 586-5986
Statistics and Methods Group
Director
Stephanie Brown
Office of Coal, Nuclear,
Electric and Alternate
Fuels
Director
Scott Sitzer
202 287-1990
Office of Energy Markets
and End Use
Director
Margot Anderson
202 586-2589
Natural Gas Division
Electric Power
Division
Energy
Consumption
Division
Collection and
Dissemination
Division
Coal, Nuclear and
Renewable Fuels
Energy Markets and
Contingency
Information Division
Systems Support
Division
Integrated Energy
Statistics Division
Petroleum Division
Office of Integrated
Analysis and Forecasting
Director
John Conti
202 586-4430
Demand and
Integration Division
Coal and Electric
Power Division
Oil and Gas Division
International
Economic and
Greenhouse Gas
Reserves and
Production Division
Energy Information Administration
Office of Resource
Management
Director
Stephen Durbin
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Role of the National Energy Information
Center (NEIC)
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Media relations
Customer contact center
Customer / market research
and analysis
Communications, marketing
and outreach (including print
publications)
Some internal (employee)
communication
Graphic design and production
Content operations and
oversight for the Agency’s
public website
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
23 employees – 18 Federal &
5 contractors
$825,000 budget – FY 2009
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Current State of the EIA Web
 30.4 million visitor
sessions to the site, from
January – December 2008
 2.5 million visits per month,
on average
 Approximately 500K files
of all types
 1,300 publications and
products, 47 email
subscription lists, and
seven RSS feeds
 279,000 total subscriptions
to EIA’s email updates
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Current State of the EIA Web
 90% of customers satisfied
or very satisfied
 71% said they found what
they were looking for
 Google rankings indicate
very high performance on
relevant key topics, such
as “energy prices” and
“greenhouse gases”
 Top three words customers
used to describe EIA are
“informative,” “objective,”
and “expert”
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Current State of the EIA Web
www.eia.doe.gov circa 2008
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Current State of the EIA Web
www.eia.doe.gov has
been severely limited by
a lack of:
Standards & consistency
Print and paper-based modes of
presentation
Interpretive content that fosters
knowledge, understanding and
insight
Cross-cutting web products and
content; standard product lines
An overall unified, corporate
approach
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
The Many Faces of the EIA Website
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Current State of the EIA Web
The many faces and
voices of EIA:
A digital manifestation of the
Agency’s organizational
structure
A product of the duplicative
web operations and product
teams throughout Agency
70 employees authorized to
post directly to the website
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Current State of the EIA Web
The many faces and voices of EIA:
User experience - like
“drinking from a “fire hose”
Homepage did a poor job in
highlighting announcements,
hot topics, special features,
and other new and timely
information, and in serving as
a portal into different
dimensions of available
information
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
Too many basic inquiries from
customers; website did not
adequately facilitate selfservice
Content too often reflects an
insider, industry or expert
perspective
These shortcomings may be limiting
the agency’s potential to achieve its
mission to promote sound
policymaking, efficient markets, and
public understanding.
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Phased Evolution of NEIC: 2006 to Present
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Phased Evolution of NEIC: 2006 to Present
Web Services Division
 Led by a Division Director
 Includes:
– Web Project Manager (3)
– Multimedia Specialist
– Web Application Developer /
User Interface Designer (2)
– Web Analytics (function)
– Web Accessibility (function)
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
Communications & Outreach
Services Division
To be led by a Division
Director
Includes:
– Customer Contact Center
– Web Content Manager (3)
– Web Editor in Chief
(function)
– User Experience Advocate
– Media Relations Lead
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Improving www.eia.doe.gov Through UserCentered Design
User-Centered, Research-Based
Activities:
 Defining a “user experience” vision for the EIA website
 Conducting interviews with EIA staff and external
customers
 Analyzing contact center call logs and emails
 Conducing web traffic and search log analysis
 Implementing annual and product-specific customer
satisfaction surveys
 Conducting formal audience analysis and persona
development
 Performing card sort testing and analysis
 Conducting one-on-one usability testing
Research-based – Decisions about www.eia.doe.gov
(architecture, navigation, terminology, graphical interface,
etc.) will be based on data, not opinions
User-centered – www.eia.doe.gov will be based on users’
needs and wants, developed with continuous user input, and
tested with users
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Improving www.eia.doe.gov Through UserCentered Design
“EIA’s public website is tailored specifically to meet the core needs of the agency's
most important customers, with users relying on the site to provide knowledge,
understanding and insight on important energy topics and issues. The site
delivers just the information customers need, when they need it, in the right
amount, and through the appropriate communication channel. It serves the
needs of both novice and expert users equally well. Users also find the content,
presentation, format and structure of EIA’s web products to be consistently high
quality and easy to use. The site allows users to easily locate all products that
are available across multiple dimensions, including topic, type of document or
product, time, geography, and other key variables or facets that are found to
be important to them. And users regularly benefit from the agency’s pro-active
efforts to enrich site content and expand reach through the strategic use of new
technologies and communications tools.”
User Experience Vision
Adopted by the “EIA & the Internet”
Strategic Planning Study Group
October 2006
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Improving www.eia.doe.gov Through
User-Centered Design
Each EIA “user persona’ represents one of our major customer groups
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Progress Made Since 2006
New Content & Sections
 Frequently Asked Questions
 Careers Site
 Home Page Redesign
 Press Room
 Redesigned “About Us” section
 “Energy in Brief” series
– Explains important energy topics in
plain language
– 2,500 visitors per day – one of
EIA’s top 20 products
– 6,000 email subscribers – EIA’s
fastest-growing list
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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What’s In Store for the Future?
Agency-Wide Web
Strategy
Planned Improvements &
Enhancements
 Featuring a large focus on
management and governance
issues and structures
 May recommend:
 Re-architecting of site and
implementation of global
navigation
 Technical infrastructure upgrade
and consolidation
 Launch of “Energy Explained”
– Consolidated / centrally
managed web contracting
– New roles & responsibilities –
“Product Development
Directors” in each program
office
– Improved content management
and oversight
– Formation of a high-level web
governing body
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
Wish List
 Strategy for both
multimedia & social media
 Data integration
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Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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Energy Explained
 EIA’s best energy education
content in one place.
 Usability research helps us
deliver a great user
experience.
 User rating and commenting
facilitates continuous
improvement.
 Viral marketing tools are built
in to get the word out.
 Pages direct visitors to
related content from EIA and
other DOE and federal
agencies.
Energy Information Administration
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www.eia.doe.gov
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