The challenge
The VCAA intranet supports the work of around 230 people. Developed in 2009, it was no longer meeting the needs of staff, and many staff tried not to use it. They felt that the intranet was frustrating and hindered their ability to do their work and wasted their time. Content was duplicated, out-of-date, and unsearchable. There were over 2,800 documents housed in the intranet and most of them were more than five years old.
Our challenge was to:
– engage staff in their intranet and co-design a useful tool that staff wanted to use
– enhance the value of the intranet as a digital asset that enabled staff to work more effectively and productively
– ensure content is easily accessed, up-to-date, reliable and well-governed.
Approach
We took an evidence based approach to the intranet design. This involved:
– conducting a survey of 66 staff, four workshops with 48 staff, and 7 interviews with execs to understand their requirements and priorities
– co-designing information architecture and wireframes based on site analytics and user research and testing
– working closely with a designer to achieve a user-centred design outcome
– preparing the functional specifications to inform the build.
Our content services included:
– identifying intranet content requirements using an audit tool and analytics
– developing editorial guidelines
– preparing a content development and migration plan
– preparing content templates for 12 different content types (both existing and new) using GatherContent
– delivering a content governance workshop and developing a governance model
– creating content for over 150 content pages
The project template looked pretty good at a glance, particularly that style of having the key milestones down the side. It works with key accountabilities.
Outcomes
We designed a new intranet that transformed the way VCAA staff worked and engaged with digital information.
The new intranet was re-designed as an essential tool that staff enjoyed using and championed to others.
New page templates promoted succinct, relevant, purposeful and task-based content to reduce the time and effort required for staff to complete administration and business tasks.
Project and policy page templates were introduced to ensure important content was easily accessible.
