We went through a rigorous vendor assessment process. We engaged Vikki Hsieh from BeyondIT Consulting to assist us with the project. Vikki interviewed 38 people from different roles and areas throughout Northcott to identify common pain points and opportunities where the intranet could provide value. From there, a formal project was formed.
Vendors presented to quite a large team here including IT and the project sponsor. Each vendor was ranked with an internal score card based on a list of critical requirements. Elcom came out as the chosen vendor. Elcom’s responsiveness to all our inquiries and willingness to deliver a number of presentations for the team was also noteworthy.
Elcom’s project management team was really attentive and they delivered the project on time. Vikki designed the information architecture (IA) and wireframes. Elcom provided visual design and built templates for different page types identified. The Northcott team and Vikki then built out the site, populating about 800 pages prior to launch.
We named the new intranet Nula. It is heavily driven by Elcom’s flexible taxonomy feature. We can upload content once and add metadata. This content is then dynamically displayed on relevant pages. For instance, as we are a high compliance organisation, policies and forms have been given their own area on the site. If you work in a centre, you will see policies related to that location. Relevant policies can also be found in other areas, such as the Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) workspace.
The ECEI team works in centres away from head office and workspaces gives them a dedicated area to collaborate. It features relevant policies and procedures, a calendar, key contacts, tools, related resources and a forum to share and request information from each other. Key metrics such as the number of children seen and plans completed, are also prominently displayed on the page to highlight the positive work the team have done.
The corporate directory is really useful for our large and geographically dispersed workforce. The organisation chart lets you search by department or location and see who reports to who and who manages who. Search is a key feature for us. You can perform a global search or filter by several search categories. The ‘best bets’ tool allows us to tag content to ensure the most relevant content continually appears for common search terms.
The Supported Independent Living (SIL) form and workflow automates the quoting process for requesting funds from NDIA. Once a form is submitted, it triggers workflow paths depending on the criteria supplied, with different staff members being notified to action an item such as supplying or checking information. They can then approve it to move it along the workflow or reject it, which either moves it back to the previous person or on a different path. For instance, touchpoints could include the assigned contact who is responsible for overseeing the process, house lead, financial reviewer, senior manager and the claiming and compliance team.