Iowa COMPASS (IA UCEDD) Receives National Recognition as Model Website

May 29, 2014

Iowa COMPASS, a program of the Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD), Iowa's UCEDD, was recently recognized in a report produced by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS), a national association that determines quality standards for information and referral agencies, as a model website. 

The report, entitled "An Outline of Good Practices and Accommodations," is the culmination of research conducted by Georgia Sales of LA County 211.  It highlights Information and Referral systems which demonstrate exemplary practices in four areas (URL, searching, search results, and other useful features) as defined by the AIRS taxonomy committee.  The Iowa COMPASS website was recognized for at least one exemplary practice in each area.  Examples included a URL which is easy to remember, usability of its keyword and guided search tools, positioning of text in displaying search results, and an application which allows the user to print, e-mail or send service details to a phone.

Employment of exemplary practices is resulting in high traffic to the Iowa Compass website.  During the first three quarters of Federal Fiscal Year 2014, a total of 10,056 information searches were completed on the public website using the Iowa COMPASS search tools. The website welcomed 29,734 visitors who contributed to a total of 108,029 web page hits.

CDD has administered Iowa COMPASS since the late 1980's, when Iowa DD Council funds were secured to design a statewide information and referral system.  Throughout its 25-year history, Iowa COMPASS has leveraged resources through multiple state and federal partnerships.  Currently, Iowa COMPASS' primary funder is the Iowa Medicaid Enterprise, a division of the Department of Human Services.

For more information, visit http://search.iowacompass.org/.