Making the Department of Transportation One of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government

 
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The Overview

In 2010, Department of Transportation (DOT) employees wanted a new platform. They wanted to improve their workplace, innovate, collaborate and unleash their creativity, and since popular crowdsourcing applications like Kickstarter had recently taken off, DOT employees wanted their voices heard on a digital application.

The Challenge

Create and execute a user-friendly, crowd-sourcing application that would seamlessly allow over 60,000 Department of Transportation employees to submit and share ideas.

Our Approach

In nine months total, our NDi strategists, engineers, designers and web architects worked with the Department of Transportation, to: conceptualize the IdeaHub web application, build its online infrastructure, test its user design and quality control, establish a vibrant digital brand and deploy the application throughout the agency.

In other words, our NDi managed to create an application, kick-starting a new culture of innovation for over 60,000 Department of Transportation employees in less than a year.

The Results

Since take off, IdeaHub has flourished. Some of our specific milestones include:

  • Two years after IdeaHub’s initial launch, the Department of Transportation was the most improved large agency in the Federal Government according to its score on the Partnership in Public Service annual “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” survey. DOT’s standing increased by 4.1 points in one year.
  • In 2015, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government awarded IdeaHub “One of the Top 25 Innovations in Government.”
  • The Federal Aviation Administration has reduced over $110,000/year in costs thanks to IdeaHub contributions.

And we haven’t stopped there. Since we strive for continual growth, NDi has taken IdeaHub within the past three years to new heights, namely:

  • We have deployed IdeaHub on mobile phones
  • We have increased user engagement each year.