Web Directions Year round learning for product, design and engineering professionals

Transform 17 kicks off this week in Canberra (workshop Wednesday 29/3, conference Thursday 30/3) and it looks like it might just as compelling as last year’s event. One of the aspects of Transform 16 that was especially pleasing was the range of perspectives represented by the speakers, including how the digital transformation of government information and services was going in different parts of the country, as well as from overseas.

At the time, Ann Combe was Executive Director, Communications and Marketing Bureau, Department of the Chief Minister, Northern Territory and reported to the conference on transformation progress in Australia’s top end, a region that has some very specific characteristics and needs. Here’s our Wrap magazine summary.

NT.GOV.AU, a Case Study

Ann Combe, Department of the Chief Minister, NT

Key points

The Northern Territory’s whole of government website, nt.gov.au, was launched on 21 April 2016.

The plan was to put all customer-facing information in one place, leaving individual agency websites to focus on corporate information.

Digital strategy was particularly informed by the need to reach remote and indigenous communities.

To be customer-focused, information would be organised by topic rather than organisation structure.

The plan was to go live topic by topic over a three year period. When the first topic was demonstrated, it was decided to make the whole site live within nine months.

A team of editors and subeditors was recruited to rewrite 5,000 pages of content, along with technical expertise in content management and search systems.

“We were ready with the site on time and on budget, but it was really, really hard work.”

Takeaways

Dealing with government should primarily be through digital channels.

Customers see government as one organisation and expect to be able to interact with it digitally when, where and how they wish.

Be customer centric. Learn and improve through customer feedback.

Content and features must be easy to find and easy to use.

Customers must be confident in the security and privacy of their interaction online.

Engage stakeholders early, often and with respect.

Caveats

Make sure dedicated project management resources are allocated – this is not something that business-as-usual staff should be doing.

Conduct extensive user testing to inform design.

Never underestimate the challenges of change management.

Build a solid foundation to support future innovation and improvements.

Challenges remain, like embedding the new editorial techniques into agency websites.

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