I was invited to be part of the Statistics Portal of the Tax and Customs department of the Portuguese Government. The idea was to create a web page to make all government fiscal data available to anyone accessing the website. The topic of taxes has always been very sensitive, and according to government research, the feeling of tax injustice is one of the main motivations behind this initiative.
Project Goals
The main objectives of the portal were to increase transparency about the government’s financial data, enhance understanding of taxes paid by citizens, provide real-time official information, and consolidate this information in one place. To start the work, I received a report from some workshop sessions with stakeholders. This document was crucial for understanding the needs of the different types of users mapped out and how they expected the data to be made available.
Tasks
After reading the reports, I conducted benchmarking to learn about some big data projects in other countries. I became acquainted with the famous project in the city of Melbourne, among others, and read some reports on Open Government Data to understand the concept behind the release of public data. I created personas and developed use cases based on internal personas, government employees, and external personas, citizens, and businesses.
Review
Finally, I began creating prototypes for the website, considering the possible impacts on both citizens and the government. The Service Ownership approach was planned for the project’s execution. The presentation was a success, and the development of the project has already been initiated.
