Digital Communications & Automation Systems
To support statewide communication needs, I led improvements to the Indiana Department of Correction’s digital communications ecosystem, with a focus on information accessibility, cross-channel consistency, and scalable production workflows.
​
The work centered on strengthening email infrastructure, standardizing content patterns, and creating more sustainable processes for high-volume communications across teams and facilities.
​
These efforts improved cross-team alignment, increased message clarity, and established a more resilient foundation for delivering timely information to staff, partners, and the public.
The Challenge
IDOC’s communications environment spans 21 facilities and multiple parole districts, each operating with small teams, varying technical capacity, and established workflows. Government silos and decentralized ownership made it difficult to maintain consistent messaging and accessibility standards across channels.
​
Key constraints
​
-
Small, distributed teams with uneven technical capacity
-
Decentralized ownership across facilities and districts
-
Established workflows resistant to rapid change
-
Subject matter experts working under significant time pressure
-
High-stakes communications serving staff, partners, families, and the public
Subject matter experts were understandably cautious about adjusting established language, adding complexity to efforts aimed at improving clarity and accessibility.
​
Opportunity
​
The opportunity extended beyond improving individual messages to establishing scalable, sustainable communication practices teams could realistically maintain within public-sector constraints.
Outcomes & Impact
The communications improvements strengthened how critical information is created, delivered, and accessed across the IDOC ecosystem.
​
By aligning templates, workflows, and accessibility practices across channels, teams were able to publish more efficiently while providing clearer, more consistent information.
​
Key Outcomes
​
-
Expanded access through more accessible, structured communications
-
Improved engagement across digital channels
-
Increased consistency across newsletters, web updates, social posts, and Scoop slides
-
Reduced manual rework through standardized templates and streamlined workflows
-
Stronger cross-team alignment around accessibility and plain-language practices
-
Established a more scalable communications foundation for statewide needs
Impact
Together, this work helped shift communications from reactive production toward a more sustainable, accessibility-first operating model.
Driving Alignment Around Customer and Business Value
To reduce cross-functional friction, I partnered with stakeholders to define how success would be measured across user, customer, and business outcomes.
​
Establishing shared value definitions helped teams:
​
-
Prioritize more effectively
-
Focus on the metrics that mattered most
-
Reduce misalignment across functions
My Approach
I took a cross-channel approach to modernizing IDOC’s communications workflows, working closely with the Communications Director and subject matter experts to better understand content needs, production pain points, and accessibility risks.
​
The strategy focused on strengthening the full information pipeline — from content intake through distribution — across newsletters, web updates, social media, and Scoop slides. Rather than optimizing channels in isolation, I prioritized shared patterns and processes that could scale across the ecosystem.
​
Key actions included:
​
-
Audited existing email and newsletter workflows to identify inefficiencies and accessibility gaps
-
Standardized templates and reusable components to support consistency across channels
-
Streamlined production and review processes to reduce manual rework
-
Supported automation and scalability efforts for high-volume communications
-
Strengthened accessibility and plain-language practices across recurring communications
This approach helped teams move faster while maintaining clearer, more consistent messaging across the statewide environment.
