Performance Tracking > 2012 Tax Websites > Introduction WebSitePulse 2012 Tax Performance and Uptime ReportBenjamin Franklin once said that "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". And once again the time for filing the tax returns is upon us. Fortunately, today you can use the fast track and file your taxes online. It is safer, cheaper, environmentally friendly and infinitely faster. In fact, this option is so popular that the IRS reports that last year’s taxpayers e-filed more than 133 million business and individual income tax returns, including 77 percent of all individual income tax returns. And if we are to judge from the cumulative stats for this year, yet another rise in e-filing is coming. However, in order to ensure that all taxpayers will be able to fill out their tax returns without a hitch, the major tax websites will first have to ensure that their sites will be running smoothly at all times. Of course, WebSitePulse will be keeping a close eye on their performance. That is why s April 03 through April 18, 2012 we will continuously monitor all thirteen websites. If you want to be up to speed with their performance, you can count on our daily reports and charts, displaying the results from the previous day and for the entire monitoring period to the current date. We believe that this information is helpful for the analysis of the End Users' experience, the reliability of the IT infrastructure of the Tax and e-file websites, as well as their estimated losses in case of downtime and unavailability of critical web pages, web systems, network devices, and web applications. The WebSitePulse Performance Reports measure Website Uptime and Website Response Time as the most important metrics for the availability and the reliability of any web-based operation, critical for the End Users' overall online experience. The 2012 Tax Performance & Uptime Reports reflect not only the performance of the websites home pages, but measure a complete web transaction representative for the End Users' interactions with a website. Measurements of the multi-step web transactions are made every 15 minutes, simultaneously from 3 different US-based monitoring locations. The WebSitePulse advanced monitoring system has automated false alarm prevention and error verification controls that ensure the reliability of the measurement results. The Reports reflect the most common website performance criteria: response time and availability - but in-debt analytical information is also collected and stored in the WebSitePulse system for future references. The WebSitePulse Application Monitoring service is used to collect data and produce the Report. WebSitePulse will be publishing the results from the Tax Websites Performance and Uptime Report after the 3rd of April. This page will display detailed daily reports including uptime, performance and availability. |